Tom Flanagan's op-ed piece published online and in this newspaper taking the coalition to task for promoting an anti-democratic agenda certainly had the desired effect — 270 comments and counting. Still, one passage puzzled me:
"Together, the Liberals and the NDP won just 114 seats, 29 fewer than the Conservatives. They can be kept in power only with the support of the Bloc, whose raison d'être is the dismemberment of Canada. The Liberals and NDP have published the text of their accord but not of their agreement with the Bloc."
Uh, no.
The following is taken from a document published Dec. 1, 2008, titled A Policy Accord to Address the Present Economic Crisis (PDF):
"Terms of this agreement
The Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party of Canada will adhere to this agreement until June 30, 2011 unless renewed. The Bloc Quebecois will adhere to this agreement until June 30, 2010 unless renewed.
Agreed on December 1, 2008
Hon. Stephane Dion
Leader, the Liberal Party of Canada
Hon. Jack Layton
Leader, the New Democratic Party of Canada
Gilles Duceppe
Leader, le Bloc Quebecois"
I asked one of the deal's negotiators Brian Topp about Flanagan's assertion and he responded:
"All the relevant documents (there are two — the coalition accord between the liberals and the ndp, and the policy accord between the liberals, the ndp and the bloc) were released and published.
Mr Flanagan is engaging in some 'big lies.'"
Any way you read this, Flanagan is fibbing (there is no way on God's green earth that on this subject I could know about something that Flanagan doesn't) and as Topp points out, it's a whopper. The false implication of conspiracy is Elders of Zion stuff and Flanagan needs to come clean.
