Prime Minister Paul Martin and the three opposition leaders further reduced the temperature on Parliament Hill yesterday by declining to move new amendments like the one that almost sank the government Thursday night.
Sources said yesterday that Mr. Martin phoned Conservative Stephen Harper, Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québécoic and Jack Layton of the New Democratic Party, and there was general agreement among the leaders that the kind of razor's edge politics of the previous day is to be avoided.
Federal officials suggested that, barring unexpected issues, the first confidence vote in the House of Commons after likely approval of the Speech from the Throne won't come until December — when a vote is traditionally held to approve standard government expenditures.
Liberal House Leader Tony Valeri and senior Conservative officials said yesterday they were hopeful that a Tory amendment to the government motion to accept the Speech from the Throne would pass muster without the brinkmanship that on Thursday could have led to the defeat of the minority government and a general election. Source.
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