Local Tories acknowledge party's role in triggering crisis, coalition

Some Conservatives in Ottawa say their own party is partly to blame for the current crisis in the House of Commons.

Michael McNeil, a longtime Conservative who has worked with former party leaders Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney, said he is dismayed at the actions of the opposition parties, who have formed a Liberal-NDP coalition, supported by the Bloc Québécois, that they hope will replace Stephen Harper's Conservative government in the case of a no-confidence vote.

But he added, "I'm also dismayed at the government in the way it has brought itself to this point."

The parties announced the coalition after the Conservatives issued an economic and fiscal update last week that proposed controversial measures such as cutting subsidies to political parties, on which the opposition parties rely to run their election campaigns, and temporarily suspending the right of public servants to strike. The government has since withdrawn those proposals, but the opposition has not backed down.

Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean was expected to return home early from a state visit to Europe to deal with the upheaval on Parliament Hill, arriving back in Ottawa Wednesday instead of Saturday.

McNeil said he thinks the proposed coalition is not representative of what Canadians voted for.

He doesn't blame the prime minister for the mess.

"But I do fault the party and the way in which it has handled this," he said.

He called the advice given to the prime minister "ill-conceived," and said the plan to cut the subsidies to political parties "certainly was the trigger on a very loaded gun."

'We all could have handled it better': McGarry

Brian McGarry, who ran for the Conservatives in Ottawa Centre, also acknowledged Tuesday that Conservatives share some of the blame in the current situation.

"Hindsight tells us that we, his advisors, the prime minister — we all could have handled it better," he said.

He also acknowledged that "the buck stops at the prime minister" and the economic update is something pretty important among the many items that come across the prime minister's desk. Regarding the cuts to political subsidies, McGarry said, "I'm going to guess that he didn't realize that it would trigger such a backlash."

Parliament is set to vote on a Liberal no-confidence motion on Dec. 8. If Harper's government loses, Dion would request Jean to approve the proposed coalition government. The Governor General could instead call an election.

There is also talk that Harper could try to block coalition efforts by proroguing Parliament, suspending it without dissolving.