Observations of a News Junkie

I don’t want an election this summer. I think it would be ridiculous.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and opposition leader Michael Ignatieff are meeting for the third timetoday to discuss how to avert the election before the confidence vote on Friday. The government is tabling their latest economic report; both the NDP and Bloc have said they’re against it. The Liberals have asked for changes to fix employment insurance, the isotope crisis and other issues.

Chris Wattie/Reuters

I’m impressed that Harper and Ignatieff have actually had meetings on this (and saddened that I’m impressed) and are hopefully coming to a - dare I say it? - compromise. Isn’t this what minority governments are all about? The constant threat of an election hanging over the country can’t be healthy, but at least we might see the parties working together to actually make changes and run the country. They’ll never agree on everything (anything?) but it’s a good sign that they’re working on it. Now they just have to sell the deal to the rest of their parties.

It might look like Ignatieff is being weak by supporting the Conservatives instead of just pulling the plug. But I disagree, and maybe that’s just my lack of desire for an election showing through.

Seriously though, Harper laid out his plan. Ignatieff said it wasn’t enough and described what he would like to see happen. Now they’re talking about it like civilized people. This is much better than the Liberals automatically calling an election on a confidence vote. Compromise is key.

Yes, EI needs to be fixed and the isotope crisis addressed. Though voting down the government on Friday would prove how serious the opposition is about the issues, it won’t bring resolution any faster. Those will still be problems after the votes are tallied and the new, or previous, government takes the reigns. Why not fix it now and save the nation millions of dollars on an election campaign? We have a $50 billion deficit and we – especially the Liberal party – can’t afford it anyway.

What do you think? When will the next election be?