Canada’s Harper vows to fight planned ouster
« Thread Started on Dec 3, 2008, 7:26am »

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Canada’s Harper vows to fight planned ouster
Posted: 07:40 AM ET

(CNN) — Canada is bracing for a political battle royale as its three
opposition parties jockey to wrest power from Prime Minister Stephen Harper
less than two months after they lost ground in parliamentary elections.


Harper’s Conservative Party, which has governed with a minority in the
House of Commons since 2006, gained seats in Canada’s October elections. But
the Tories fell short of a majority again, leaving an opening for a coalition
of the country’s opposition parties to take power in a dispute over how to
address the slumping economy — without new elections taking place.

The Liberal Party, which lost seats in the October vote, and the leftist
New Democratic Party announced plans earlier this week to form a governing
coalition with the support of the Bloc Quebecois, which supports independence
for French-speaking Quebec. In a raucous session of parliament Tuesday, Harper
accused coalition leaders of “betrayal” by relying on the support of the
separatists and said new elections should be held if his government falls.