It is now tradition. Harper will do something to further erode the conventions of Canadian democracy to serve his own needs. We are in very real peril of having some bloody-minded little prick like Harper turn Parliament into the Government's whore.
Real democracy taking a real hit from a real autocrat.
This past week, it was the unelected Conservative senators audaciously killing a climate-change bill passed by a clear majority of elected MPs in the House of Commons.The week before, it was Prime Minister Stephen Harper, with tacit agreement from the Liberals, deciding to bypass the Commons in any debate over extending Canada's troop commitment in Afghanistan — a decision that itself flew in the face of a Commons vote to end the mission in 2011.
Harper, who only came to govern on a backlash punishment vote, all the while promising to diminish the limited influence of the Senate, has turned the upper house he claimed to despise into a weapon against the voters and representative authority.
And he's not done yet.
This is the time of year when the political animals running the endless Harper campaign from the PMO miss something or miscalculate and event. At that point, any shred of democracy standing in the way of their retaining power is trampled by the scramble to retain power. Government runs for the bunker in hopes of avoiding a pasting. Twice now, that has involved shutting the doors of this country's representative assembly.
I predict it will happen again. What will be the issue the gamers in the PMO have missed while stuffing their faces with cheese puffs?
Ahhh. There's one now. A showdown the Harper/Soudas gang didn't see coming.
It's November. Prorogue is in the air.
(h/t Scott)
3 comments:
Oh, there's another!
Yup! I smell the smoke of a prorogue in the air.
Could this be reason #4?
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/11/23/scott-reid-viewpoint.html
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