News

The Prime Minister vowed in a national televised broadcast to use all legal means necessary to prevent separatists from wielding power, preparing the public before an expected attempt to shut down Parliament in the face of his minority government's imminent defeat.

Stephen Harper is scheduled to meet with Governor-General Michaëlle Jean on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET to ask her to prorogue Parliament. If Ms. Jean approves, it would allow the Prime Minister to avoid a confidence vote scheduled for Monday, where the three opposition parties have vowed to defeat the minority Conservative government.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion followed Mr. Harper's speech, saying he has written a second letter to Ms. Jean asking her to refuse any request by the Prime Minister to suspend Parliament until he has faced a confidence vote in the House of Commons.

Speaking from behind his desk in a taped message Wednesday evening, Mr. Harper said his government has already taken action to assist the economy and is working on further measures for a budget in January.

He urged the opposition parties to suggest ideas for that budget rather than attempt to defeat his government and form a coalition.

"Instead of an immediate budget, they propose a new coalition which includes the party in Parliament whose avowed goal is to break up the country. Let me be very clear: Canada's government cannot enter into a power-sharing coalition with a separatist party," Mr. Harper said.

The Prime Minister's address made no apology for approving an economic statement that included measures, since withdrawn, that were deemed overly partisan and provocative by the opposition. In particular, the Harper government's proposals to end public funding for political parties and suspend the right to strike for federal public servants enraged opposition parties.

Rather than announcing a new approach, Mr. Harper's address restated his view that the proposed coalition is undemocratic and would be harmful for Canada during an economic downturn.

"At a time of global economic instability, Canada's government must stand unequivocally for keeping the country together. At a time like this, a coalition with separatists cannot help Canada. And the opposition does not have the democratic right to impose a coalition with the separatists they promised voters would never happen.

"The opposition is attempting to impose this deal without your say, without your consent and without your vote. This is no time for backroom deals with separatists. It is a time for Canada's government to focus on the economy and specific measures for the upcoming budget.

"This is a pivotal moment in our history. We Canadians are inheritors of a great legacy and it is our duty to strengthen and protect it for the generations still to come. Tonight I pledge to you that Canada's government will use every legal means at our disposal to protect our democracy, to protect our economy and to protect Canada. Thank you, and good night," the Prime Minister concluded.

In Mr. Dion's taped message, which was delivered late to broadcasters, he said the Prime Minister must be replaced because he has failed to introduce measures to stimulate the Canadian economy.

"His mini-budget last week demonstrated that his priority is partisanship and settling ideological scores," the Liberal Leader said. "Canadians want their MPs to put aside partisanship and focus on the economy.

"The Liberal  Party and the New Democratic Party are ready to do this. Jack Layton and I have agreed to form a coalition, a coalition government to address the impact of the global economic crisis. The Bloc has agreed to support this government on matters of confidence. The Green Party has also agreed to support it."

Mr. Dion said the coalition is ready to create jobs and build infrastructure in Canadian cities.

"We share the frustration Canadians have about a political crisis that has been allowed to take prominence over the more important economic challenges we face. Elsewhere in the world, leaders are working to cope with the recession, to bring forward the kinds of investments that will help their people and their economies. Politicians are working together. Rivals are working together.

"Mr. Harper's solution is to extend that crisis by avoiding a simple vote. By suspending Parliament and continuing the confusion. We offer a better way. We say settle it now and let's get to work on the people's business. A vote is scheduled for next Monday. Let it proceed. And let us all show maturity in accepting the result with grace and the larger task of serving Canadians in mind," he said.

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe appeared on television next, saying the coalition will produce many benefits for Quebec and that Mr. Harper has lost the confidence of the House and  should face defeat in the Commons. He noted the Bloc will support the coalition government for 18 months, but will not be part of the government.

NDP Leader Jack Layton spoke live in front of the doors to the House of Commons. He said he made policy suggestions to Mr. Harper following the last election and they have been ignored. 

"He seems to be more interested in his job than in protecting your job," said Mr. Layton, who argued that Monday's vote must go ahead and Parliament should not be suspended. "We will have a Conservative government without legitimacy at a time of an economic crisis. Th at doesn't have to happen, because this is a remarkable moment in Canadian history… Tonight Mr. Harper had an opportunity to chart a new course, to accept some of the ideas that we've been putting before him, but he did not."

 Mr. Layton said all NDP MPs are willing to express non-confidence in the Harper government. "A new kind of government, with a new kind of politics, is ready to serve."

Earlier, television networks carried the Governor-General's arrival live from the Ottawa airport. Ms. Jean's return cuts short a European trip to deal with the political upheaval in Ottawa. She did not speak to reporters Wednesday.

The Prime Minister's address was the first since Paul Martin took to the airwaves in 2005, also to fend off what appeared to be the immanent defeat of his minority government.

In that case, the former Liberal prime minister sought to address fallout from his party's sponsorship scandal. Mr. Martin promised to hold an election within 10 months, to allow time for the publication of the final report from the public inquiry into the affair.

Mr. Harper, who was then leader of the Official Opposition, called the speech a "sad spectacle."

"This government does not have the moral authority to govern between now and then and to deal with important issues such as the budget," he said at the time.

The Conservative Party did not pay for Wednesday night's address. The Prime Minister's Office asked networks to carry it on a voluntary basis, rather than issuing an order in council demanding broadcast time.

Mr. Dion and Mr. Harper squared off for a second day in a row in Question Period Wednesday, but the exchanges were less emotional than the back-and-forth shouting match that played out the day before.

Mr. Harper continued with his theme that the coalition government's arrangement with the separatist Bloc Québécois would weaken Canada and threaten national unity.

"[Mr. Dion] is proposing to govern with the Bloc Québécois and to give them a veto over all important decisions, over all financial policies in every sector of this country," Mr. Harper said in Question Period. "That is the price he is prepared to pay to become prime minister. That can do nothing but weaken the Canadian economy, weaken our democracy and weaken our country."

The Conservative front bench was quickly on the defensive however, when Mr. Duceppe revealed a written agreement that was prepared in 2000 toward a possible coalition between the Bloc and the two parties that went on to form the Conservative Party of Canada: the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party.

International Trade Minister Stockwell Day, who was leader of the Canadian Alliance at the time, said the document was a "fabrication" and that he saw it for the first time this week.

"It would be going against my very DNA to do a coalition deal with socialists. It would absolutely go against my heart and the hearts of Canadians to do a deal with separatists," Mr. Day said in the House.

With reports from Steven Chase, Campbell Clark, Jane Taber, Omar El Akkad and Brian Laghi

Follow the live blog: