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A last-minute deal between Canada's ruling Liberal Party and three major opposition parties on Thursday evening has ended speculation over a possible fall of the new Liberal government.
The deal, which makes moderate change to the wording of an opposition amendment, was worked out just minutes before a confidence vote, which was to be held in the House of Commons and could have ended the new Liberal minority government in less than a week.
The vote was triggered by the proposal of an amendment to the Throne Speech, an administrative program of the government, by two major opposition parties, the Conservative Party and Bloc Quebecois.
The amendment, also backed by another major opposition of the New Democratic Party (NDP), asks the government to respect provincial jurisdictions and take into account that federal taxing powers weaken provincial ability to raise revenues.
The Liberals claimed the initiative undermined parliamentary control of public finances and said they would vote against the motion.
Parliament had been due to vote the amendment, which Prime Minister Paul Martin had deemed to be a vote of confidence. But minutes before the vote was due to be held, Martin and opposition leaders agreed to a modest change to the wording of the amendment.
Language that government lawyers found objectionable has been altered in the new deal and the opposition will remove a reference to the prime minister and the government of Quebec.
According to reports in Ottawa, the government does not mind dealing with all of the provinces, but it did not seem to want to give the Quebec Province a veto on federal budgets.
Analysts believe that the Liberal minority government may have survived its first test, but the opposition parties have clearly demonstrated that Thursday night's almost vote of confidence is just a taste of what is in store for the ruling Liberals.
Among the 308 seats in the House of Commons, the ruling Liberal Party has 135 ones while the Conservative Party, the BQ and the NDP have a total of 172 seats. Therefore, the Liberal government has to win support from at least one opposition party in passing major bills.
(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2004)
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