Guardian UK: Going prorogue (Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper)

[marmar]

Going prorogue
Did Canada's prime minister suspend parliament to shut down investigations into the torture of Afghan detainees?

Colin Horgan
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 31 December 2009 21.30 GMT


Here we are again. A year after Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper prorogued parliament in order to save his political skin from a potential minority coalition, he has chosen to suspend it again. Shortly after the announcement, Maclean's columnist Andrew Coyne asked on his blog: "In what other democracy is it permissible for the government of the day to hide from the legislature for months at a time?" Not many, evidently. It will take a special kind of apathetic populace to collectively shrug off back-to-back cut-and-run attempts like this.

Parliament had been scheduled to return from its holiday break on 25 January, but now that will be delayed until early March – enough time for the Tories to rally from a tough end to 2009 and to gain a majority in the Senate by filling five seats in the upper chamber. The prorogation will also scuttle pending legislation and halt parliamentary committees – and it's the latter that will have opposition parties and many Canadians questioning the motives behind Harper's move. Since diplomat Richard Colvin made his accusation in late November that all detainees handed over by Canadian troops to Afghan officials were tortured, Harper's Conservative government has been on the defensive – a position it clearly hates.

By effectively silencing the Commons committee on Afghanistan, the Tories might be hoping that the story will fade, lost behind the buzz of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver from 12 February. Even yesterday's prorogation announcement appeared to be strategically released around the same time as that of the Canadian men's Olympic ice hockey squad, because compared with a possible gold medal in Vancouver, who cares about politics in Ottawa?

It's that attitude that will see Harper through the next few months. Certainly, proroguing of parliament has taken place in the past – the Chretien administration's Liberals did it four times, albeit over a span of 10 years. This is Harper's third prorogation since 2006, all of which have come while heading a minority government. And although last year's prorogation was met with a flurry of opposition and questions about our democracy, the political waters quickly calmed, buoyed by a successful post-recession-panic economic action plan marketing campaign. Our collective political discourse was reduced to questions about how long Michael Ignatieff had been living in Canada, or Stephen Harper's piano-playing ability, rather than debate over long-term national goals. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/dec/31/stephen-harper-prorogue-parliament

[LakeSamish706]

1. Michael Ignatieff had his chance to take this Gov't down and didn't do it.

When are they going to finally get rid of Harper and his minions?

[Oregone]

2. Good for Harper! He killed C-15

[Grey]

3. I just can't believe people vote

for that person. I was going to say "man" but I have my doubts.

[Canuckistanian]

4. My wife and I are furious about this

We can't believe the Governor General approved it so easily.

Now, our Parliament can't meet until March, with a major scandal going on (the Afghan prisoner debacle).
And Harper gets to prance around getting wined and dined at the Olympics without having to worry about silly things like "inquiries" and taking questions from the opposition.

PLUS, a lot of bills are being killed for this.

God, we hate this man.