Heres the linky:
vny!://beta.mytelus.com/telusen/portal/NewsChannel.aspx?CatID=National&ArticleID=news/capfeed/national/n113049A.xml
[span id="FullStoryHeadline"]Tories toss policy, release secret tapes to dodge defeat[/span][div id="FullStoryPhotoDiv" class="ptFSPhoto"][img id="FullStoryPhoto" src="vny!://ptimage.infospace.com.edgesuite.net/images/news/cap/national-n113049A.jpg"][/div][div id="FullStoryDateLineDiv" class="ptFSDateLine"][span id="FullStoryDateLine"]at 17:34 on November 30, 2008, EDT.[/span][/div][div id="FullStoryDateTimeDiv" class="ptFSDateLine"][span id="FullStoryDateTime"][div class="StorePanelDate"]11/30/2008 12:00:00 AM[/div][/span][/div][div id="FullStoryByLineDiv" class="ptFSByLine"][span id="FullStoryByLine"]Bruce Cheadle, THE CANADIAN PRESS[/span][/div][span id="FullStoryText"] OTTAWA - The Conservative government bumped up the federal budget date, scrapped a second controversial element of its economic plan and hinted at a stimulus plan Sunday in a frantic bid to save itself from being toppled.
And that was only the beginning of a tumultuous day of political intrigue in Canada's capital.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced the budget will be delivered on Jan. 27 - "the earliest date in modern times" - while he simultaneously relented on a plan to ban public service strikes.
But the Conservatives were not just playing defence.
They covertly taped an NDP conference call in which Leader Jack Layton spoke of plotting with the Bloc Quebecois to bring down the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper even before the economic update.
After waiting a day, the Prime Minister's Office released the tape and pointed to it as proof of an NDP-Bloc conspiracy hatched long before the government produced its fall financial blueprint.
The New Democrats - who apparently inadvertently provided the call's co-ordinates to a Tory - responded by saying nothing in the NDP-BQ talks is anything different than the contingency planning Harper himself engaged in with the two parties during the last Liberal minority in 2004.
And NDP MP Thomas Mulcair said his party will be "examining the possible application of the Criminal Code" in the Tories' clandestine recording and distribution of the private meeting.
He said the extraordinary event "shows the desperation of the Conservatives."
It capped a weekend of dramatic reversals.
Flaherty said the provocative, three-year strike ban in the fiscal update is now "unnecessary" because a settlement had been reached covering minimal wage increases for the vast majority of public service workers.
"So our view is that it's not necessary, given what has happened in terms of the agreement so far, to proceed with that."
The wage agreement came three days before Flaherty delivered the fall update last week.
The government dropped its incendiary plan to strip public, per-vote financing from political parties on Saturday, a move that would have financially crippled the Conservative's political opponents.
In a conference call Sunday with media, Flaherty refused to characterize the moves as concessions in the face of opposition negotiations to form a coalition government.
"It's a reaction to the reality . . . of the global financial crisis and the fact that Canada's not an island and is being buffeted by this," Flaherty said in response to a question about what's motivating the Harper government to change course.
"We need stability. We need to take a longer term view and we need to consult widely. That's the paramount concern."
But opposition parties say they've also been hearing from Canadians, and nothing in the government's weekend climbdown changes the dynamic of a Parliament that has been poisoned.
Liberal MP Scott Brison, his party's finance critic, said the putative coalition partners are being "overwhelmed" by supporters and non-partisans alike "in support of us moving forward and building an alternative government."
"Nothing in Jim Flaherty's offer changes anything," said Brison.
He said the absence of a firm economic plan coupled with what he called the government's refusal to come clean on looming budgetary deficits in the fiscal update make a Conservative-lead government untenable.
"It's very hard to work with a prime minister and a finance minister we don't trust."
A spokesman for the Bloc agreed, noting the government is still refusing to provide a stimulus plan for the economy.
Harper's government was clearly taking the threat of its demise seriously.
Flaherty wouldn't tip his hand on whether any big bailouts are in the works, but he did suggest a targeted "temporary, one-time" stimulus package is likely.
"Will we have to help a particular (business) sector, or more than one particular sector? The answer is probably yes," said Flaherty.
The prime minister, his cabinet and senior officials scrambled all weekend to derail opposition negotiations to supplant the Conservatives with a Liberal-NDP coalition supported by the Bloc.
The Tories are also using the crisis to issue an "emergency" funding appeal to their donorship base.
A Liberal-NDP coalition, supported by the Bloc Quebecois, shows the "Liberals are trying to take power through the back door," said the mass email from Irving Gerstein, chairman of the Conservative Fund Canada.
Gerstein appealed for donations of $200 or $100 - "whatever you can afford to protect . . . Canada's democracy from being hijacked by politicians who care about nothing more than power and entitlements."
The Conservative's claim that a coalition government would have no legitimacy does not accord with Harper's own position on the matter just four years ago.
In September 2004, Harper wrote to then-governor general Adrienne Clarkson to argue that she should "consider all your options" if the Liberal minority of Paul Martin was to fall on a confidence vote.
"We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation," Harper wrote.
Harper co-signed the letter with NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe.
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