Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Prorogue? Sure, why not?


You can't even be outraged anymore:

Tories seek to suspend Parliament
The Conservatives will ask the governor general to delay the return of MPs until March after the Olympics

OTTAWA -- The Conservative government will ask the governor general to suspend Parliament today, delaying the return of MPs until the beginning of March.

Sources say the government is expected to prevent Parliament coming back on its scheduled return date of Jan. 25 so it can keep the House in recess until after the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Dimitri Soudas, press secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, would not confirm or deny the story, saying only that "no decision had yet been made" with respect to proroguing Parliament.

Preventing the return of Parliament until after the Olympics would effectively shut down all government committees, which would stop MPs from pursuing the Afghan detainee controversy until Parliament returned.

"If the government attempts this manoeuvre, it's a shocking insult to democracy," said Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale. "The government is in a very sticky place with respect to Afghan detainees and they're running from accountability here -- this is a cut and run government."

A Conservative source also said proroguing Parliament was considered the best way to give the Harper government the upper hand in the Senate.

In early January, there will be five vacancies in the Senate, all of which Harper could fill with Tory loyalists. Even though the new senators would give the Tories majority over the Liberals in the Senate, the Liberals retain their majority on Senate committees until the next general election or until Parliament is prorogued.

Suspending Parliament would allow the Tories to reconstitute Senate committees, making it much easier for them to pass legislation unchanged.

When asked about the possible consequences for democracy of such a move, the Manning Centre for Building Democracy's senior fellow Stephen Taylor explained, "Shut up."

5 comments:

Balbulican said...

"Until after the Olympics"?

Yeah, but in March the Science Fiction Channel is going to re-running the last Battlestar Galactica series. Could we maybe hold off until September?

M@ said...

Au contraire, CC. I can be plenty fucking outraged.

900ft Jesus said...

if fatso gets away with it again because MJ is enjoying her perks too much to risk them, then we have to keep the issues alive - the ones he hopes will fade away.

Seriously, I don't have a lot of hope that Ignatieff or Layton will do little more than plan how they can get the crown, and their tactics suck.

Those left of Harper really need to get their shit together, quit whining about each others parties, and make a co-ordinated, united plan and front, even if it's only until we get Mr. Petulant out.

Romantic Heretic said...

Quelle surprise.

Ti-Guy said...

Au contraire, CC. I can be plenty fucking outraged.

I'm sure that's the reaction they're looking for. Not that it isn't a normal reaction, but it's something that works for these assholes.

I suggest gleeful character assassination and lying about them cheerfully (in the way wingnuts lie about their adversaries), but I'll probably lighten up after my coffee kicks in. Besides, unlike the proto-fascists, the rest of us don't have any allies in the mainstream media to amplify dishonesty.