There are conflicting reports as to who approached whom the week before last. However, both the Conservatives and Liberals acknowledged that they had talks over delaying 38.

Conservative House leader Jay Hill laid out Conservative thinking for the media. First he said that the passage of bill 48 was basically a forgone conclusion. “eventually they're going to get C-48 anyway." (Needless to say, the same could be said of Bill 38 and 38 only effects people in 2 provinces (Alberta and PEI) and 1 territory (NWT).) Thus, "If we were to get a delay of C-38 (the marriage bill) until the fall and perhaps some other concession, we'd be happy." "[One?] [Our?] primary concern of ours is that we get out of the spring session with C-38 not progressing further".

What the Conservatives had to offer the Liberals, Hill explained, was the following: “What we would be looking to do for them is allow [the $4.6- billion budget bill] to go without having a full-court press and pushing them into a position where they would either have to bring in time allocation [a move to choke off debate and force a vote] with the public black eye that always brings with it, or extend the sitting into July.” Peter Mackay clarified Hill’s comments. "We will continue to oppose Bill C-48, but won't pull out all the stops or go to the wall in terms of debate”. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050616.wxsamesex16/BNStory/Natio nal/" title="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050616.wxsamesex16/BNStory/Natio nal/" target="_blank"http://www.theglobeandmail.co...
According to John Reynolds a deal was reached. "We agreed to pass the second finance bill. We agreed to do it last Thursday, but the government reneged on the deal”. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/st ory/CTVNews/1119492141499 _22/?hub=TopStories" title="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/st ory/CTVNews/1119492141499 _22/?hub=TopStories" target="_blank"http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/Art...
As result, he said on Wednesday the Conservatives would attempt to bring the government down over the budget. (Jay Hill and John Reynolds apparently were off two minds as to whether this was possible.) "I expect we're going to have every member in our caucus here [including as it turned out Gurmant Grewal who was supposedly on stress leave] whenever the vote is" "Whether it's tomorrow or next week ... we will have every member here, and this government deserves to be defeated."

Of course, the Liberals passed the budget on Thursday night and the Conservatives led by Peter Mackay and Stephen Harper screamed bloody murder.

Stephen Harper: “When push comes to shove the Liberals will make any deal with anybody. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s with the socialists or with the separatists or any bunch of crooks they can find.” http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServ er?pagename=thestar/Layou t/Article_Type1&" title="http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServ er?pagename=thestar/Layou t/Article_Type1&" target="_blank"http://www.thestar.com/NASApp...;c=Article&cid=111964 9810981&call_pageid=9 68332188492&col=96870 5899037&t=TS_Home& ;DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&t acodalogin=yes

(One of these days Harper is going to refer to the NDP as “Communists” and say it in the long drawn out manner in which various US politicians would pronounce the word.)

 

Peter Mackay: “We have to start thinking that Hannibal Lecter is running the government and they’ll do anything they have to do to win.”

(What kind school boy put down is this? It makes no sense. It was reported that there was beer set out for the Conservatives that were planning to stay around and filibuster the bill. I wonder if MacKay had helped himself to a cold one or two or three ….. Toronto Star “On the other side of the Commons, a beer-filled tub was being wheeled into the opposition lobby for the few Tories preparing to sit in for debate on a $4.6-billion budget bill.”)

So, let us review. The Conservatives at first said that if the eventual passage of bill 38 was put off, they would be “happy” and would not delay the “eventual” passage of "the NDP budget". A week later they said they would attempt to bring down the government for “renaging” on deal to delay the eventual passage of 38 in return for not delaying what was they described the week before as the “eventual” passage of bill 48. When the Liberals did pass the budget, the Conservatives implied that it was only possible because the Liberals made a deal with the Bloc to end a Conservative filibuster. 

In a radio interview on Vancouver radio station CKNW, Conservative House Leader Jay Hill went further and claimed that the media had singled the Conservatives out for unfair criticism. The media had made a big deal out of Conservative and Bloc attempts to bring down the government that, if successful, would have resulted in big electoral gains for the Bloc. However, the media had not complained when the Liberals made a deal with the Bloc to end Conservative obstruction in return for Liberals passing a Liberal Bill that did not affect the people of Quebec in any way. SSM marriage is already legal in Quebec.

School is out boys. It is time for summer.