Liberals will topple Harper government: Ignatieff
Updated Tue. Sep. 1 2009 1:44 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says he will no longer support Stephen Harper's minority government.
In a speech Tuesday to the Liberal caucus, Ignatieff said Harper's time as prime minister, "is over."
"I cannot support this government any further," Ignatieff said to cheers and wild applause, following a meeting with his Liberal caucus which is on retreat in Sudbury, Ont.
"We will hold Stephen Harper to account and we will oppose his government in Parliament."
Sources have told CTV News that the Liberals will put forward a non-confidence motion to force an election this fall.
During his speech, Ignatieff attacked Harper's record during his four years in office.
"Mr. Harper, you have failed all four tests," Ignatieff said. "You've failed to protect the most vulnerable. You've failed to create jobs. You've failed to defend our health care. You've failed to produce a plan to restore our public finances."
Ignatieff said his party "can do better" at managing the economic crisis, protecting Canadians abroad and making the country competitive in the 21st century.
"Stephen Harper doesn't get it," Ignatieff said. "He doesn't get that Canada's in a race -- that we've got to position our country to compete in the 21st century. We've got to make Canada a world leader again -- and we've got to do it now."
CTV parliamentary correspondent Roger Smith, reporting from Sudbury before Ignatieff's speech, said some members of the Liberal caucus have been pleading for a more cautious approach in a bid to temper the leader's hawkish tone.
They're saying, "'It's only been a year since the last election; the polls show us in a dead heat, at best; the economy is starting to turn around ...What exactly is our message going to be?'" Smith said Tuesday morning on Canada AM.
The hawks, meanwhile, are telling their leader they can no longer prop up the Tory government, saying: "'This is as good a time as any, and we don't know what the situation will be down the road'."
The Liberals also find themselves in a far better financial situation than at the start of the previous election.
"They raised more money than the Tories in the second quarter. They've got ads ready to go," Smith added. "Ignatieff seems to be leading them to pull down the government in late September."
Liberal caucus chair Anthony Rota said the party is ready for an election, be it this fall or next spring.
"No matter what happens, when you're in a monitory government, you're always ready for an election," Rota told Smith Tuesday during an interview on CTV News Channel. "And when you look at the caucus, we're ready. We're ready for an election whether it comes now, or whether it comes a year from now."
Earlier Tuesday, Liberal finance critic John McCallum said that his party should bring down the Conservative government over its management of the economic crisis, saying the Tories were too slow at getting fiscal stimulus money out the door this summer.
McCallum also pointed to Monday's news that Canada's economy grew by 0.1 per cent in June, about half the growth the private sector had expected.
"Well I certainly think a strong case can be made for a change in government on grounds of economic mismanagement because yesterday's growth numbers showed that, far from leading the G7 out of recession, Canada was dead last in its economic performance in the second quarter," McCallum told Smith.
EI, stimulus spending at issue
On Monday, the Conservatives said talk of a fall election could risk derailing the nation's fledgling economic recovery.
On the cusp of Parliament's resumption, Transport Minister John Baird said economic stimulus spending could be threatened if Canadians are forced back to the polls by a non-confidence vote in the coming weeks.
Ignatieff dismissed Baird's statement on Monday as a "load of nonsense."
The big question mark is how Ignatieff intends to sell Canadians on yet another election, especially in light of yesterday's data showing signs of life in the economy for the first time in almost a year.
Smith said according to the hawks, the main issue that triggers a non-confidence vote may be failure by the government to provide the changes the Liberals want on unemployment insurance -- an issue that Harper and Ignatieff locked horns over when Parliament ended in June.
While the leaders held a series of meetings on the issue over the summer, Ignatieff has said the Tories balked at his efforts to build bridges on EI reform.
The Liberal caucus retreat ends Wednesday. The fall sitting of Parliament resumes Sept. 14, and Smith said opposition's first chance for a non-confidence vote will be September 30 -- "which could mean an election the first or second week of November."
With files from The Canadian Press
Minority again please?