The four-time Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, has announced his departure from politics after the collapse of his coalition government in a row over immigration.
His decision means the end of more than 13 years in power for the conservative leader sometimes called “Teflon Mark” because scandals that plagued his four different administrations did not stick to him.
The Netherlands’ longest-serving government leader told an emergency parliamentary debate on Monday morning that he would not lead his People’s party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) into general elections expected in November and would instead leave politics after the vote.
Rutte said: “In the past few days, people have speculated about what motivates me, and the only answer is: the Netherlands. My position in this regard is now completely unsuitable. Yesterday morning I took the decision that I will no longer be available to head the VVD list. When a new government takes over, I shall leave politics.”
The coalition collapsed over Rutte’s plans to tighten curbs on reuniting families of asylum seekers, in an attempt to curb numbers or arrivals after the overcrowding scandal. He had announced on Friday night that his four-party government had broken down over the issue of asylum and “unbridgeable” differences.
Immigration has become one of the most contentious issues in the Netherlands since last autumn, when there were desperate scenes at a registration centre in Ter Apel, with people sleeping outside for days and a baby dying in a crowded sports hall.
Rutte will remain at the head of a caretaker government unable to take decisions on controversial issues such as house building, pollution, a cost of living crisis and asylum until a successor is in place following the elections.
Plaudits for Rutte’s long tenure came in from industry, relatives of 196 Dutch nationals killed in the shooting down of the airliner MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, as well as opposition MPs.
Rutte, 56, said he had “mixed feelings” but it was “also a relief to hand over the baton”. He was not interested in a job like leading Nato, he said, but might well expand his citizenship teaching job at a local school to two days instead of one.
GreenLeft on Monday withdrew the motion of no confidence in Rutte as caretaker PM, with its leader Jesse Klaver saying he had put “the interests of the country first” with his decision to announce his exit from politics.
The outcome of the expected mid-November general election is unpredictable in the multiparty, fragmented Dutch system, where trust in government is at historic lows.
After the resignation of Rutte’s government, the far-right anti-immigration PVV led by Geert Wilders started campaigning and the flags went out for Caroline van der Plas’s Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), a surprise winner in provincial elections in March. The rightwing populist BBB runs on a pro-farmer ticket at a time when the Netherlands must drastically reduce nitrogen-based pollution.
Wopke Hoekstra, the leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal, the traditional farming party, has already said he would not lead the CDA into elections after a collapse in support this year.
GreenLeft and Labour said at the weekend they would ask their members to form a leftwing coalition going into elections.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
