[War] Canada "Coalition"

[Alan Tang]

"Coalition"
Jennifer Bindahri
Leader of the Liberal Party Of Canada
Canada, July 18, 2006

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Jennifer Bindahri, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada was half dead and 
exhausted. She laid back in her bed, her back and feet bruised with various 
blisters and sore spots. She was relieved that the end was finally reaching 
the brink. It had been an exceptionally charged campaign between Bindahri, 
the brash young face of the somewhat tatered brand name of the Liberal Party 
and the incumbent, Stephen Harper…a brilliant political tactician who reaped 
the full benefits of a divided and leaderless party early in their sitting 
of his parliament. He also had an enviable tight control over his 
backbenchers and an excellent communications team. Unseating his government 
by far would be a difficult and almost excruciating impossible task. All 
Bindahri could have done was ride the high horse of being a visible female 
minority and chip away at the flaws of the policies of the Conservative 
government as opposite to traditional Canadian values.

During the campaign she released a platform for environmental reform and 
released a three point plan for combating Kyoto which thankfully polled high 
for Canadians. Harper wasn’t even able to release his ‘made in Canada’ plan 
before the dissolution of parliament and went nowhere with the file, one of 
the big reasons for her motion aligned with the NDP and the Bloc to dissolve 
had passed. Her three point plan included reengaging with the Kyoto Accord, 
present subsidies and tax cuts as incentive for Canadians to take on 
approved products designed to cut power and CO2 consumption and last but not 
least, a hard carbon tax for polluting industry and promised wide ranging 
tax cuts for companies who make cut established levels of GHGs. At the same 
time she had to ride the criticism her party has taken over their past track 
record and because of that it hit her polling quite a bit, but with the rest 
of the platform on restoring national child-care, the Kelowna accord and 
increasing funding for Health Care she had high hopes that this would pull 
them out of the abyss.

”Alright so what’s the story” she said straight up as she rolled off her bed 
and faced David her personal assistant.

”Our attack ads on Harper’s lack of environmental and social programs have 
finally chipped into his lead, we’re looking at a three point spread between 
us and them, us being 34% them being 37% according to CPAC SES…we’re 
essentially tied statistically… the team and rallied a final push with our 
grassroots base into winnable ridings and have diverted the one’s we’ll lose 
to those ridings…your riding has been polling at nearly 53% and-“

”Stop…I need a god damn coffee…” Jenny said as she headed into the kitchen 
and brewed a pot. She cursed herself for even asking David, her socially 
awkward, loner and pain in the ass assistant. She looked around for the 
table sugar and cream and walked back into the main foyer, still in her 
pajamas. “Look when I ask, you just tell me the polling numbers…that’s 
it…everything else can be taken care by the team…Just answer me this, are we 
going to win this?”

A few hours later, she had her answer. That answer being a thin maybe. She 
was stunned after releasing announcements after announcements, and aside 
from a few bumps on the road released a near perfect platform in Harperesque 
style she had only had a modest increase of ten seats, mainly in the BC and 
Ontario ridings who didn’t exactly swallow the cuts to Kyoto, Childcare and 
the Kelowna Accord equally in total 112 seats. The good news however became 
apparent when the Conservatives finally settled to 113 seats reducing their 
minority government to an even weaker position. What would need to happen if 
they were going to win this in an unprecedented maneuver would be to pick up 
the phone and call up Jack Layton, leader of the NDP and quickly form a 
coalition.

Layton himself had strung off attacks at the Liberals right off the bat, but 
soon after than he focused most of his attention with Harper’s policies as 
contradicting Canadian Values and socially and environmentally 
irresponsible. In his efforts Canadians from Ontario and even one in Quebec 
opened up to the idea of rewarding them with more seats thanks for a fairly 
effective campaign and spotless parliamentary record. It was the NDP that 
unfortunately cut and split the progressive votes in what were decided 
‘winnable’ ridings according to the War Room.

After a long discussion it was finally decided that in order to follow 
through with their own platform promises and solidify their support for 
environmental reform they had tentatively agreed to form a coalition 
government, the first in some memory in federal Canadian politics. Jenny 
herself was worried that this desperation move would backfire against the 
grassroots base and even their own backbenchers, but when faced with a 
choice of another conservative government she figured the choice of staying 
in obscurity and failing to get another government would be a shame too hard 
to take on. After another hour with her advisor she finally made her 
decision. “write a press release…we’re forming a coalition government… also 
schedule a meeting with the Governor General we’ve got a lot to discuss”

To Be Continued

OOC: I’ve kind of bend the timetable and had the liberal leadership 
convention a lot sooner as well as had the Conservative Government fall 
because of their leaving the Kyoto Accord, Childcare, Kelowna etc. which is 
a stretch in reality considering their decent polling as of late

Actions:

-Tentatively agree to a coalition government between the NDP and the Liberal 
Party

-Release a press release stating their intentions to form the first 
coalition government between the Liberal Party of Canada and the New 
Democratic Party

-Contact Governor General to convince that Bindahri has a stable coalition 
and can govern for the 40th Parliament