Roger Gibbins: Michaelle Jean should refuse Harper’s resignation
Governor General Michaelle Jean faces a truly awful choice next Monday: she can call an election that no one wants, or she can bring in an unstable minority government kept in power at the whim of a party dedicated to the destruction of Canada. Fortunately, there is a way out of this box. She can just say no.
Many commentators argue that the Governor General in fact has no choice at all, that if the Conservative government of Stephen Harper loses the confidence of the House of Commons, he must resign and the Governor General must call upon the leader of the official opposition to see if he is prepared to form a government. If Mr. Dion has been able to cobble together a coalition with the NDP, and if the two can meet the ransom demands of the Bloc, then Dion would become prime minister.
However, the constitutional precedents are very few and far between, and generally lack any contemporary relevance. The constitutional wisdom tossed about is often thinly veiled partisanship where the commentator begins with the desired partisan outcome and then twists constitutional theory to fit that outcome.
Rest at link