Boss! I want to prorogue too!

I thought of this as well and wondered is someone would post something along this line! Obviously parliament is not an essential service since we can function quite well without it being in session and it can even prorogue when it is necessary to terminate bothersome committees and pack the senate with Conservatives. This is from midnorthmonitor.


But boss, I want to prorogue too! But boss, I want to prorogue too!
Posted By Rosalind Raby


Just over a week ago, Canadians gathered in several communities, including Sudbury, outside government buildings to protest the prorogation or suspension of the Canadian Parliament until March 3rd,.

On Dec 30th, Prime Minister Harper used the procedural maneuver to close the Senate and House of Commons until after the Vancouver Olympics in the midst of an allegation of torture of innocent civilians in Afghanistan.

In addition to this, 37 bills that were being debated in Parliament have now been suspended. Discussion on bills will need to start from scratch in March, wasting time and hard work invested by ALL parties.

Bills affected by prorogue include new crime legislation, limits on credit card insurance rates and more.

I wonder what would happen if I prorogued the newspaper for a couple of months? Or the police, fire or health services prorogued their jobs? Let's be blunt here - the Mid-North Monitor would likely have to close its doors, people would be fired and the public would not tolerate a loss in vital services, such as police, fire or health. So, how is that members of Parliament get to take this time off from their jobs with no wherewithal or thank you very much? I think it is absolutely ridiculous, especially when bills that MPs have been working on for months, let alone years, are scrapped because of this 'extended' holiday. Not a good move, Mr. Harper.

If it proves anything, it proves the public sector of government workers, we like to call them bureaucrats, are the ones that 'really' keep things going in this country. Do we really need elected officials? Why bother having elections, the wheels of government continue grinding as it is ... it's just a thought?

On Tuesday, January 23 an estimated 30,000 protesters gathered in over 60 communities across Canada to protest the suspension of Parliament. Many participants joined the movement through a Facebook group named 'Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament,' which now claims over 200 000 members.

While proroguing Parliament is legal and often innocuous, the disruptive nature of this interruption to the workings of the Canadian government has galvanized action with the 15-point lead Harper held over the opposition Liberals diminishing according to an EKOS poll released exclusively to the CBC. Further national and local protests are expected in the coming weeks including a torch relay planned to coincide with the Vancouver Winter Olympics. The new forum site, http://noprorogue.whyweprotest.net was created on the day of the national demonstrations.

In addition to providing a platform for sharing and preserving records of the January 23rd protests, the forums will give participants an opportunity to organize further events, discuss their concerns about governance and to educate the public.

Now isn't that interesting - Canadians working to bring back government because their government isn't working? To be fair, some MPs are taking advantage of the time off in Ottawa to travel through their constituencies and deal with the myriad of issues affecting individuals and groups. glad hand with the public and attend various winter events. But, I'd rather see them in Ottawa dealing with some hard, government issues, such as the recession, support for Haiti, job creation and so much more.

Rosalind Raby

Layton wants to limit power to prorogue parliament

Layton's changes would make prorogation much more democratic. But one cannot expect Harper --who wants an elected Senate but uses the time during prorogation to pack it with Conservative hacks-- to press for more democracy when it would actually make the system more democratic.


Layton calls for limits on powers to prorogue
CBC News
There should be limits on the ability of the prime minister to prorogue Parliament, NDP Leader Jack Layton said Wednesday.

He said his party will call for legislative changes that would require a majority vote of MPs for the prorogation of Parliament.

"This will inform the governor general of the will of the majority in the House of the people — that their work has been completed and they want to reset and prepare for the future," Layton said in Ottawa after a caucus meeting. "It shouldn't happen whenever the prime minister feels like it."

He also called for MPs to be brought back before the March 3 return date set by Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he prorogued Parliament.

The house was to have resumed sitting on Jan. 25, before Harper's move.

As with the Liberals, NDP MPs plan to be on Parliament Hill on Monday.

Harper charts Conservative course for ship of state.

Ivison could have mentioned that Harper also wanted to get rid of all the pesk parliamentary committees that caused him to issue directives on how to sabotage them. Also, the great helmsman who wants an elected Senate wants to pack it with Conservative appointees before the next session. Harper wil have to squeeze the civil service and wreck their pensions, do away with entitlements in the name of reducing the deficit. This will all have to be done while producing the least fuss possible. We will have to wait and see how much Harper is willing to cut. Certainly he will need to keep his eye on the polls or perhaps he will just do his duty and collect his reward after he is defeated with some nice job or jobs in the private sector.



Harper charts conservative course
PM preparing his government for fiscal prudence

John Ivison, National Post

Stephen Harper sees nothing wrong with power, as long as he is the one wielding it. He once said governments that avoid dissent rapidly lose their moral authority to govern. He doesn't think that any more.

He'd clearly prefer not to have to defend himself against accusations of war crimes from opposition MPs over the Afghan detainee issue while the world is watching the Vancouver Olympics. But that doesn't mean he is dissembling when he says the main reason he prorogued Parliament was the need to "recalibrate" the government's agenda.

The Cabinet shuffle Mr. Harper announced yesterday adds weight to the idea that the government is using the extended parliamentary break to gird itself for the period of fiscal restraint to come.

The mandate letters circulated to ministers by Mr. Harper before Christmas make clear that this time should be used to come up with low-cost policies to address the government's outstanding commitments.

....
,
The Treasury Board has traditionally been seen as backwater and the job of president a form of purgatory for errant ministers. In reality it is an incredibly powerful Cabinet committee that controls the public service and, consequently, the government of Canada. Since the Prime Minister has already ruled out tax increases and cuts to provincial transfers, the public sector is going to be the source of future cost savings. This explains why one of the government's most senior and highly regarded ministers, Stockwell Day, has been handed the spending reins. Officials were at pains to point out that the former Alberta treasurer has not been demoted.
....
With nearly one-third of his Cabinet in new jobs, Mr. Harper was smart to give ministers six weeks to master their new briefs before they face enemy fire in Question Period.

As we approach Saturday's fourth anniversary of Mr. Harper's 2006 election victory, he has now put in place his first truly conservative government -- that is a ministry that has been told to limit spending increases to a rate lower than its Liberal predecessor. The Conservatives will spend $50-billion more this year than they did when they entered government. Program spending has risen at an annual average clip of 5.9%, even if this year's exceptional stimulus package is removed from the equation, compared to the Liberal average of 2.9% through the Chretien-Martin years.

Stephen Harper has been accused of trampling democracy, of eroding democratic accountability and avoiding troublesome issues in the House of Commons. There's no doubt that his views on the primacy of Parliament have evolved since he became Prime Minister -- he now seems to think that Guy Fawkes was on the right track.

But the Afghan detainees issue wasn't hurting his government badly enough to risk the backlash against prorogation. Rather, the Prime Minister should be taken at his word when he says he is preparing his government to confront unequivocally the fiscal anxieties of the age. There will be blood.

jivison@nationalpost.com---------

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NDP slams parliament suspension..

While Harper may in part be trying to avoid criticism what is probably more important is to pack the Senate and get rid of parliamentary committees that bothered Harper. Harper considers parliament and parliamentary processes as some sort of barrier to be overcome or disbanded when he does not like what they are doing. Here is the champion of a party that wanted a triple E senate now packing it just as those terrible Liberals would do if they got a chance. So much for change and accountability.


NDP slams Parliament suspension
Posted By BRENDAN WEDLEY AND ANDREA HOUSTON, EXAMINER STAFF WRITERS


Two prominent local NDP members slammed the Conservative government for suspending Parliament until March 3.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is trying to avoid criticism from the elected members of Parliament on not properly handling prisoners and violating the Geneva Convention, NDP riding association president Norm Slater said.

"When Jean Chretien prorogued Parliament in order to avoid criticism of the sponsorship scandal, Stephen Harper was the first one to criticize him," Slater said. "He's doing the same thing Jean Chretien did. I think the word hypocrisy comes to my mind."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government announced on Wednesday that Parliament would be shut down until March 3, with a budget presented the following day.

Parliament was originally scheduled to return on Jan. 25.

Proroguing Parliament allows the government to focus on the Vancouver Olympic Games, to fill the five vacant Senate seats to give the Conservatives a majority on Senate committees, and to disband Parliamentary committees, Peterborough Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro has said.

"We will effectively take a majority position in the senate in the coming weeks which will allow us to take... bills that have been blocked by the Liberal senators," he said.

Del Mastro said the proroguing of Parliament has nothing to do with the Afghan detainee issue.

MPs are elected to work, not to go home and to go on vacation, Slater said.

"For some reason (Harper) doesn't want to face Parliament and deal with the people who are elected to run the country. I guess he thinks he's the emperor or something," Slater said. "Democracy seems like a bother to him."

Local NDP candidate Dave Nickle said the Conservatives continuously contradict their election platform of being open and accountable with the Canadian people.


"But we are just getting more of the same," he said. "I don't think anybody who looks at the record of this government believes them."

Nickle said the Canadian people will view the decision to suspend Parliament "very cynically."

"I hope people really start to look beyond the fluff and look at the real workings of government," he said. "Whenever the going gets tough for this government, they take an extended holiday."

Peterborough Liberal candidate Betsy McGregor and local Liberal riding association president John Nichols couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff issued a statement after the announcement of the prorogation.

"The decision to prorogue is about one thing and one thing only -avoiding the scrutiny of Parliament at a time when this government is facing tough questions about their conduct in covering up the detainee scandal," Ignatieff stated. "By shutting down Parliament four times in just three years, Mr. Harper is showing that his first impulse when he is in trouble is to shut down Parliament."

The last time Harper asked Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to prorogue Parliament was in late 2008 when the Liberals and NDP agreed to try to form a coalition government.

bwedley@peterboroughexaminer.com

Expert: Jean's decision sets ''very dangerous'' precedent

I should think that if the governor general had denied Harper's request many experts would have regarded this as an even more dangerous precedent. Although Harper certainly used the prorogation to avert his government's devise it only does so for a limited time. It will give the Conservatives time to feed Canadians another huge helping of mush about how the coalition are undemocratic, separatist lovers, power grabbers, etc. etc. and that this prorogation is done in the interest of the Canadian people. It also gives the coalition time to fall apart. At least Ignatieff did nothing to fuel rumours that he would not support a coalition with Dion as premier.

Jean's decision sets 'very dangerous' precedent: constitutional expert
Last Updated: Thursday, December 4, 2008 4:55 PM ET CBC News
A constitutional expert says he's worried the Governor General's decision to suspend Parliament sets a "very dangerous" precedent that allows future prime ministers to use the same manoeuvre to avert their own government's demise.
"This is a major constitutional precedent and that worries me more than anything else," said Errol Mendes, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Ottawa and editor in chief of the National Journal of Constitutional Law.
"Any time that the prime minister wants to evade the confidence of the House now he can use this precedent to do so," said Mendes, who was appointed to the Privy Council Office by former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin in 2005.
Around midday Thursday, Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean granted a request from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to suspend Parliament until late next month, a move aimed at sidestepping a confidence vote set for Monday.
The New Democrats and Liberals had signed a pact to form a coalition supported by the Bloc Québécois, and intended to ask the Governor General allow them to govern after toppling the government.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay defended the Conservative leader's move, saying the Governor General was "duty bound" by precedent and parliamentary procedure to accept Harper's prorogation request.
He suggested concerns about setting a dangerous precedent were unwarranted.
"This is certainly an unprecedented situation that we saw unfold. I hope that we won't come to the brink of this type of effort to unseat a sitting government going against the democratic wishes of the people of Canada," he told CBC News.
While experts say the Governor General has always approved requests from the prime minister to prorogue Parliament, they note that the vice-regal envoy has never encountered a request so soon after an election. The Conservatives were re-elected on Oct. 14.
Mendes says Parliament should pass legislation to prevent abuse of the prorogation in the future.
"I think that this is a very dangerous precedent," said Mendes. "It's one, however, that could be curtailed by Parliament itself, passing legislation to prevent future prime ministers from seeking prorogation … [to limit] what a future prime minister can do."
Mendes said he wasn't surprised by Jean's choice, considering Harper sent a strong message that he believed the proposed coalition government's plan to bring down the government was endangering democracy and national unity.
That rhetoric will exacerbate tensions across the country, especially in Quebec and in Western Canada, during the two-month period before Parliament resumes on Jan. 26, Mendes said.
Dennis Pilon, a political scientist from the University of Victoria, said in a letter to CBC that he is "deeply worried" about the country heading into a "potentially violent situation."
"I do not mean to be alarmist in suggesting we may be heading for violence. But the actions of this prime minister are coming dangerously close to inciting mob rule," writes Pilon.
He says Harper has ramped up the heat by insinuating his opponents are attacking Canada's democracy and risking national unity for their own gain.
Pilon says there's a reason elections are "highly regulated affairs" meant to capture what might get lost in the crowd — dissent, minority opinions and the balance of views.
All three opposition parties have said they intend to continue efforts to bring down the government when Parliament resumes.
The current political turmoil was triggered when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered a mini-budget that included a number of controversial measures opposed by the New Democrats, Liberals and the Bloc.
The three parties said the fiscal update failed to include a stimulus package they said was necessary to address the financial crisis facing the country.
They also slammed what they saw as ideologically driven measures such as the proposed elimination of subsidies for political parties, a three-year ban on the right of civil servants to strike and limits on the ability of women to sue for pay equity.

Harper has prorogued parliament before..

If Harper prorogues parliament it will not be the first time he has used this as part of his bag of tricks and schemes. He prorogued parliament in 2007:


Harper prorogues Parliament, sets new session
Could set the stage for confidence vote and election
Last Updated: Tuesday, September 4, 2007 5:48 PM ET
CBC News
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday he will ask Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean to prorogue Parliament, short-circuiting the current session, which was set to resume Sept. 17.
MPs will be recalled Oct. 16 to start a second session of the 39th Parliament with a speech from the throne, he said in a statement.

There is no mention of any need for the opposition parties to consent to the action. I do not know where people get the idea that it would require the consent of the opposition. Here is what the official government site has to say about proroguing parliament:

Parliamentary Cycle
Prorogation of Parliament
The prorogation of Parliament ends a session. This is done by the Governor General, on the advice of the Prime Minister, either by means of a special ceremony in the Senate Chamber, or by the issuing of a proclamation published in the Canada Gazette. Both the Senate and the House of Commons stand prorogued until the opening of the next session.
During a period of prorogation (or recess), the Speaker, the Prime Minister, Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries remain in office and all Members of the House retain their full rights and privileges.
The principal effect of ending a session by prorogation is to end business. All government bills that have not received Royal Assent prior to prorogation cease to exist; committee activity also ceases. Thus, no committee can sit after a prorogation.
In order for government bills to be proceeded with in a new session, they must be reintroduced as new bills or they may be reinstated, if the House agrees to this.
The Standing Orders provide for the automatic reinstatement of all items of Private Members' Business in a new session. Committee work may also be revived either by motion in the House, or in committee, depending upon the nature of the study.
Prorogation does not affect Orders or Addresses of the House for the tabling government reports required to be tabled by statute. Requests for responses to committee reports or petitions are still valid following a prorogation. These continue in force from one session to another, but are ended by dissolution.