Although the Governor General has approved Prime Minister Stephen Harper's request to suspend Parliament, putting the government on hold until the end of January, thousands of people continued to show their support for a Liberal-NDP coalition during a rally on Parliament Hill Thursday afternoon.
"I think [Stephen Harper] ought to step down and I am really sorry the Governor General prorogued the government. He's going to have six weeks now to dig even harder and separate everybody in the country," Pat Taylor told CTV Ottawa.
"The Governor General had a hard decision to take and I don't think it was a good decision. But I imagine it was very hard for her," added Rolando Hernandes of the Canadian Labour Congress.
Harper was seeking a suspension of Parliament in order to avoid a confidence motion scheduled for Monday that would have likely toppled his government.
Meanwhile, the Liberals and NDP had already agreed to form a coalition, with the support of the Bloc Quebecois, and signaled their intention to bring down the government over the fiscal update that was introduced last week and would have come before the House of Commons for a vote on Monday.
They had hoped Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean would deny the prorogation request and let the confidence motion go ahead. If it did, and the government fell, Jean would have to decide whether to send Canadians to the polls for another election, or grant the coalition the chance to win the confidence of the House of Commons and possibly take over government.
Although those demonstrating on the Hill Thursday denounced the Conservative government, opinions about the political showdown were varied on the streets of Ottawa.
"I think it was probably the diplomatic thing to do, but it is just delaying the inevitable. I don't think the Conservative government will stand," said one resident.
"It's too bad. It would have been nice to just get going with the coalition government and see what happened because this way parliament is stalled," said another.
"I wished she hadn't. I think it simply delays any proper decision," said one woman. "Personally, I'd like to see a coalition starting right now."
Despite the decision to suspend Parliament, rallies for and against a coalition government are still planned for various locations across the country. Among those protests is an anti-coalition rally on Parliament Hill at noon on Saturday.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Natalie Pierosara
