Toronto: The leaders of Canada's three opposition parties have signed a historic accord to topple the country's Stephen Harper government.
Liberal leader Stephane Dion signed the agreement first, followed by the NDP's Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois's Gilles Duceppe yesterday at the Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

For Dion, it was a revival of his ambition to become Prime Minister. Only weeks earlier, he seemed destined to go down as one of the most listless Liberal leaders in Canadian history.

Layton asked Harper to accept his fate graciously and get used to life as opposition leader.

However, Harper told supporters at a Christmas party that the party would use every legal means in its power to thwart the coalition. "On Monday morning, our attitude was,'If you want it, you can have it," an aide of the Prime Minister said.

"By Monday evening, it was,'If you want it, come and get it." As public protests for and against the coalition flared across the country, the Governor General Thursday granted Harper's request to prorogue Parliament until late January 26, saving the government from all but certain defeat.

Politicians and legal experts were divided on whether Governor General Michaelle Jean's decision to suspend Parliament was Constitutional or not.

Source : PTI