It's been interesting to listen to the debate in Parliament today. On the whole, it's much more civil than our House has become. The politics of the vote are pretty interesting. Canada is being government by a coalition of the Liberal Party, which holds the most seats, and the New Democratic which holds the fewest seats, and is to the left of the Liberals. The opposition is a combination of the Conservative Party (second most seats) and the Quebec block, Quebec's separatist party. So, the Conservatives/Block have been trying to alternately entice or shame the NDP members to vote against the bill. But there is some indication, which I'm not clear on, that the Liberals have declared this as a vote of no confidence. That means, if it fails to pass, the government will dissolve and new elections held. That upped the stakes for the NDP members, as they don't want to see the the outsized power they have (being the votes the liberals need) go away. So, while their leader and many members came out strongly for the bill, several took the "I'd vote no, but since it's a no confidence vote, I'm forced to vote yes.
Speeches by block members are always interesting, because they are usually about how more competent the Quebec government is than the national government. Naturally -- they don't want to be part of Canada. Votes are being counted right now, which means I'm listening to music. Voting is supposed to end in a few minutes. The site I'm listening through doesn't show totals as votes are being cast, like CSPN does for the House.
And I found this interesting language at the top of the comment board on the Convoy's official website:
Leave a comment. Trolling gets your IP address banned. Once your first comment is approved, all your next comments will be automatically approved going forward.
TO THE TROLLS, WE HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN GATHERING INFORMATION ON ALL OF YOU AND YOUR IP ADDRESS WILL BE EXPOSED.
That last line is in red letters. You can check it out here.
https://freedomconvoycanada.com But, not surprisingly, all of the visible comments praise the convoy.
ETA:
Interesting. That was just some kind of break. They are voting now. The leader of the conservatives demanded to know if this was a confidence vote and, if the motion failed, would the Prime Minister dissolve the government? It's not clear to me what the rules actually are on a no-confidence vote.
Wiki says that the vote of no confidence in Canada is a constitutional custom and is not codified. It can either be brought by the minority, or the majority can declare a substantive vote to be a vote of no confidence. If this is a no confidence vote and the measure to approve the emergency powers does not pass, the Prime Minister must either resign or dissolve the government and call new election. Man, it's like Canada is a foreign country or something.
The motion passed by about 30 votes.
Then, a conservative immediately filed a motion to rescind the emergency powers. It only takes 20 members to sign on to this motion. It was a stunt, as the house orders for the day called for parliament to recess until next Monday. But, I believe the Emergency Act will require them to take it up next week. And if it passes, guess what comes next? Regardless, the conservatives now have a week to try and whip their voters into a frenzy.
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