Canada's Pm Clings on to Power As Parliament Suspended

Canada's prime minister managed to head off the fall of his conservative minority government and cling to power yesterday after engineering the suspension of parliament.

The extraordinary decision by Canada's governor general, Michaëlle Jean, to grant Stephen Harper's request to suspend parliament saved him from a confidence vote set for Monday that he was almost certain to lose. It also spares Canadians from going to the polls again, just weeks after elections in October.

But the reprieve for Harper takes Canada into uncharted constitutional territory and creates a political vacuum at a time of global economic crisis. It is also temporary. Parliament will resume in the new year and the government is due to introduce its budget on January 27.

In attempt to shore up his political prospects in the interim, Harper told reporters in Ottawa yesterday that his budget would include measures to help the economy, and that he would try to regain the confidence of the opposition. "Obviously we have to do some trust-building," he said.

Yesterday's decision brought angry protests from the opposition Liberal and New Democratic parties, which had called on Jean to refuse the prime minister's request to prorogue parliament. They accused her of disregarding the will of the majority in parliament.

Canada's crisis was provoked last week when Harper introduced an economic plan that included no stimulus measures but called for a three-year ban on strikes by civil servants and the abolition of public financing for political parties. The Liberal party leader, Stéphane Dion, accusing Harper of seeking to politicize the economic crisis, formed a coalition with the leftwing New Democratic party. The two also secured support from the separatist Bloc Québécois to bring down the government.

Although Harper retreated on both measures, the opposition refused to back off, raising a political skirmish to yesterday's crisis proportions.

Donna Dasko, one of Canada's best-known pollsters, said the move to scrap public financing was the tipping point for an opposition that had been demoralized by Harper's re-election. "It was so provocative," she said. "It was purely an effort to take away the modest public support that the political parties have."

As tensions rose, Harper appeared on national television on Wednesday night vowing to block a coalition from coming to power. "Canada's government will use every legal means to protect our democracy, to protect our economy," he said.

He said his opponents were undemocratic and accused Dion of being allied with Québécois separatists. Harper used the word "separatist" four times in the five-minute address.

Speaking after Jean's decision, the NDP leader, Jack Layton, said his party would vote down the government in January.