"Prorogue"
So for those of you who weren't waiting with baited breath for the news from the Govenor General this morning, I'll break down what happened:
Basically, Stephen Harper went to the Govenor General and "advised" her to suspend Parliament for six weeks. This advisory meeting took something like two and a half hours.
For the rest of us, this means that in the midst of serious economic and environmental need, the Conservatives have decided that their holding onto power is more important than running the country. I think that Liberal leadership candidate Bob Rae said it best when he equated it to a kid pulling the fire alarm to skip out on an exam he knew he'd fail.
For my part, frankly I'm really disappointed in Harper, though not at all surprised. This is a man who goes on live television and outright lies to the people, fabricates stories in the House and even disavows any knowlege of his own disreputable past when confronted with the facts. Far from being Prime Minister material, Stephen Harper is both an autocrat and a coward.
I can only hope that the millions of dollars his party will likely spend on propaganda over the Christmas holiday will have little or no effect on the Will of the people and that the Liberal/NDP coalition will walk back into parliament in late January to finish what they started so we can be rid of this man for good. Until then however, barring revolution, Canada will have to live without Democracy through the Christmas season.
Comments
Louis
4 Dec 2008, 11:16 p.m. |
Amen to that. I also really enjoyed Bob Rae's "kid pulling the fire alarm" analogy. I don't know if you caught the rest of that particular interview with him and Ed Broadbent, but man, he was on FIRE. This guy should definitely be running the liberal party.
Janine Sebastian
5 Dec 2008, 2:31 a.m. |
Let me preempt this comment by stating that I am in no way defending Mr. Harper's decision to suspend parliament here.
That said, parliament would be suspended for six weeks as of a week from tomorrow regardless ("winter" holiday). I would imagine that the proposed shift to a coalition government would cause a lot of uproar and paperwork, so it kinda makes a little bit of sense to suspend it until parliament returns after the holiday break.
Yes, six weeks will give Harper's people time to attempt to formulate a plan to stop things (and the NDP & Liberal's time to do the opposite) but really, parliament would only be in session for another week at this point anyways, then there would be a six week lull. Really it's a question of one week of frantic scrambling to bring order one way or another, then a six week pause, or a six week pause then unlimited time to try to create that return to order...
That said, I do see the truth in the fire alarm analogy. I've never liked Harper... he gives me the creeps.
Daniel
5 Dec 2008, 5:52 a.m. |
I'd very much disagree. While it's true that there's bound to be chaos in the midst of a government shift, I think that it'd be best to have that chaos take place over the holiday rather than enduring it at the end of January.
On the point of running a propaganda campaign, we have to remember that financially, the Conservatives are far better off than any other party. They're the only ones in a position to wage a media war of any kind -- this move on Harper's part gives them just that.
Mike N
5 Dec 2008, 10:02 p.m. |
Bah... what is the point in a non-confidence vote before the budget was even tabled, on an issue the cons withdrew... this whole thing would have happened no matter what harper and the cons did or didn't do since the election... it's about sour grapes/personal gains for the people involved.
If our government always behaved like this, we'd be in a state of eternal elections, esspecially with, as you say, a five party system (with a provincal party in the bloc) always doomed to form a minority government.
The liberals couldn't even send a tape to CTV, and Llyod Robertson was pretty pissed... hahah.
Daniel
6 Dec 2008, 12:54 a.m. |
Mike! Long time no see!
I would argue that you're totally right actually... at least with regard to the inevitability of the whole thing. Harper does not know how to govern as a minority leader which requires comprimise with other parties in the House. Given that's he's clearly incapable of this, a Coalition of progressives was inevitable.
It's just a shame that it took this long to happen.
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