Stephen Harper's exit wouldn’t stop coalition government

Replacing embattled prime minister Stephen Harper with a new Conservative leader would not defuse the political powder keg on Parliament Hill, according to two opposition MPs.

In separate interviews ahead of a televised address by Harper on December 3, Burnaby-Douglas NDP MP Bill Siksay and Vancouver Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry told the Straight that their parties are determined to defeat the Conservatives and form a coalition government.

“I don’t know if it’s just Mr. Harper,” Siksay said by phone from Ottawa. “Clearly he’s a crucial piece of that and it’s his government, and he carries the responsibility for how they do their business. I’m not sure that that [replacing Harper as leader] necessarily solves the whole problem.”

Siksay insisted that the resolution of the standoff “goes beyond the personality of the prime minister”.

“It goes to the way the government”¦has basically decided not to address the economic crisis,” Siksay said, referring to the absence of an economic-stimulus package in the fiscal statement delivered by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in the House of Commons on November 27.

Flaherty’s statement also included what Fry called “nasty” measures, like cancelling public financing of political parties. The Conservatives have since withdrawn a proposal to deprive political parties of the $1.95 subsidy per vote received.

Fry said by phone from Ottawa that it was the Conservatives’ lack of response to the economic crisis that prompted the bid of the Liberal party and the NDP, with the backing of the Bloc Québécois, to form a coalition government.

“This is not just Stephen Harper,” Fry said. “This is [about] a government’s position not to do anything for Canadians.”

Siksay and Fry both claimed that their parties haven’t held discussions yet on the makeup of a coalition cabinet, and whether MPs from B.C. would receive portfolios. The two parties have agreed that the NDP would have six ministers in a 24-member cabinet.

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