Today in Prorogation

1. From Tory MP MP Brent Rathgeber, comes this darling quote:

“Democracy and Parliament are not being sidestepped — they are only being suspended.”

I look forward to the campaign signs around St. Albert next election: "Suspend Democracy - Elect Rathgeber!"


2. The Economist weighs in, with a critical editorial on Harper's decision to go prorogue.


3. Two polls are out today, with Ekos showing a narrowing of the Tory lead.

Angus Reid shows a majority of Canadians against the decision to prorogue - which is all swell and good, but it is likely worth mentioning that only a third of Canadians are paying attention to this story, and only one in ten are paying close attention to it. Ekos asks the question a bit differently, and finds that 52% of Canadians are clearly aware of Harper's prorogation vacation.

Still, the polls found that 18% and 14% (on Angus and Ekos, respectively) of Conservative voters strongly disagree with the decision, so Harper may in fact be up against a bit of backlash on this. Getting Liberals and Dippers mad is one thing, but when your own voters turn against you, that's a sign you may have miscalculated.

Memory Lane

From a Liberal press release, some oldies and goodies:


“The Liberals, apparently, want to prorogue the House. They want to run out of town, get out of town just one step ahead of the sheriff. Is the Liberal government committed to staying here as planned throughout the month of November so that it can be held accountable in the House for its actions?” (Stephen Harper, Hansard, October 20, 2003)

“Now is it true that the government will prorogue the House so that it will not be held accountable for its shameful record?” (Stephen Harper, Hansard, October 20, 2003)

“I'm pretty convinced now that they intend to prorogue and run away from accountability.” (Jay Hill, Alaska Highway News, November 17 2005)

“It wouldn't surprise me one bit if they decided to prorogue Parliament... I'm sorry if I sound a little cynical... This is a government (for which) the rules of engagement don't apply. They'll move the goal post, change the boundaries and bribe the referee.” (Peter MacKay, Nanaimo Daily News, July 18, 2005)

“It's like hitting tilt on a pinball machine... I think it's a bald-faced admission that the government doesn't really have an agenda and... that there's a few contentious bills that I think they just want to deep-six.” (Peter MacKay, Canadian Press, September 16, 2002)

Happy Prorogation Day

(I'll be updating this thread if anything interesting happens today...)

I know every newscast these days has a constitutional expert citing precedence (that, and streeters with angry Albertans). But the fact of the matter is, this is unprecedented. Michaelle Jean is today setting the precedence future scholars will cite.

And, because of that, she needs to be very careful. Allowing a Prime Minister to escape a confidence vote in the House through prorogation allows a Prime Minister to govern without the confidence of the House. In my opinion, this breaks a fundamental rule of our parliamentary system.

What's worse, it sets a terrible precedence. Can you imagine Paul Martin proroguing in May or December 2005 to escape confidence votes? Who knows how this power could be abused in the future.

Because of this, I firmly believe that the Governor General has a duty to turn down Harper's request, and force him to face the House on Monday. That said, I won't blame her if she agrees to it, since Harper has placed her in a Kobayashi Maru by asking her to do something he should not have asked her to do.

But, from a principled perspective, the proper and responsible decision would be to deny prorogation until Harper demonstrates that he has earned the confidence of the House - something he clearly does not enjoy at this moment.

10:50 am: They've been in there for over 75 minutes now and still no word on what the hell is going on. I suppose it's a good sign that they're actually talking this over in detail, but I'm anxious to see how this horrifying experiment in democracy turns out.

11:45 am: CTV is reporting that Jean has approved Harper's request to prorogue.

12:25 pm: And thus concludes another productive session of parliament! See ya'll on January 26th.

I think I've been more than charitable to Harper throughout this entire ordeal. But any good will I had towards him has gone out the window with this move. You simply cannot govern in our system without the support of the House and that's what he'll be doing.