Going Rogue to Prorogue
The latest poll has the Tory lead evaporating and is now well within the margin of error. I spent Sunday reading the blogs; left, right and centre concerning the No to Prorogue rallies held across the country. Norman Spector has an interview up with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and asks him the question of the day – what does the no prorogue demonstrations mean to him?
Interviewer: Your staff tell me that we’ve only got a few minutes so I’ll get straight to the point.
What’s your reaction to the “hordes of protesters” we saw in the streets today — not far from where we are right now, as it happens — demanding that MPs get back to work?
PM: It’s always good to see Canadians actively engaged in politics, and I would hope that this level of engagement —particularly among young Canadians — will continue and be enhanced in the future, which — regrettably — appears not to be the case in the United States.
Interviewer: Prime Minister, I think we can all agree on that. But what do you say to the men and women of all ages demanding that MPs get back to work? Let me read you what a ten-year veteran of Parliament Hill who now co-owns a progressive media agency had to say about a demonstration that took place not far from where you and your family live: “I’ve had a front-row seat to all kinds of mass gatherings and rarely do you see one this co-ordinated, this large and this unified. It takes a lot to make Canadians take to the streets in numbers worth noting.”
PM: Well, I could cite other, more objective reports — including incredibly enough that of CBC, CBC French that is — that only 300 people turned out in Montréal and 100 in Halifax, but I’m not going to get into a numbers game with you. In a democracy, it’s unacceptable in my view to disparage in any way even one citizen exercising his or her fundamental freedoms and democratic rights.
As to getting back to work, I can only say to hard-working Canadians that most of our government have worked overtime along with our dedicated public servants during the Christmas holiday — one of several long breaks that MPs voted themselves years ago because of the particular nature of their jobs.
What Harper has in common with the bloggers of the so-called ‘right’ is this idea that the rallies and anger towards the prorogation of Parliament mean very little to conservative political fortunes. While it is all well and good to say that Tory MP’s are hard at work, the fact remains, sitting in the House of Commons just happens to be an important and large part of an MP’s job. Its not the only job requirement but it happens to be what makes being an MP different than being a federal bureaucrat. It’s the political equivalent of a surgeon refusing to perform surgeries. Sure, paperwork, and post-op supervision is part of the job of being a surgeon, but without the surgeries, well what’s the point?
What the political fortunes of the so-call conservative base is failing to comprehend is the people are not satisfied with their style of governance. I have lived in this country long enough that mostly Canadian are an apathetic lot politically. Anytime ordinary Canadians feel compelled to protest its your cue to stand up and pay attention – not sweep it under the rug with a wave of your hand and a stroke of the keyboard.
Go back to your keyboards and pretend its all screaming meany hippies and commie bastards and all significant of nothing much but when you loose natural conservatives like me from your base – your in trouble, big trouble and without big significant – ‘like on the road to Damascus’ style change your political aspirations will stall and sink. Tories are losing in Quebec and in Ontario. Hate us all you want but without Ontario and Quebec its ‘Hello, from the opposition benches’. So far, the Tories remain lucky that the Liberal leader remains a political lame duck but Fortune is a fickle mistress. Keep it you and I guarantee you we will all be saying Prime Minister Ignatieff.
But don’t you dare act surprised or say you weren’t warned.
And yes, because I am a such a cold-hearted bitch, I have to post this. And I don’t even really like Bob. He might be the King of Prorogue but he never prorogued the legislature to avoid a direct order from the provincial parliament. Oh, and Bob did have a clear majority I might add – something which remains elusive to our Prime Minister. Gee, I wonder why that is?
Uncle Bob at the Piano h/t Warren Kinsella.
Well Kateland, I have a different view.
I’ve found that a grade one class is way better behaved than the HoC and that’s the only thing shut down. Parliment is still running along.
Why is the MSM calling PMSH a dictator, yet when Jean Cretian prorouged parliment he was “the scrappy fighter from Shawinigan”?
As for the argument of the detainee issue, phtt. http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/2843/59/
Beachnut:
Why is it desirable to have the House of Commons as quiet and complacent as a grade 1 class? Quiet and complacency may have a place in the classroom but it would be a piss poor excuse for a Parliament to function that way. The opposition’s role is not simply to be seen and not heard. I think you need to expand your knowledge of historical parliamentary behaviour. Try googling parliamentary exchanges between Gladstone and Disraeli for starters and see what they had to say about each other – in the British House of Commons during the Victorian era – ours is rather lane and tame in comparison.
No, Parliament is certainly not running which is the meaning behind prorogued. Yes, government bureaucracies/ministries are still functioning on a day to day basis but as I said above post– it’s the parliamentary equivalent of a surgeon who refuses to perform actually surgeries.
Since I am not the MSM I refuse to be accountable for what the MSM does or does not do. I am not sure I understand the rationale behind bringing up the ‘Chretien years’ when we are discussing PMSH term in office. Nor do I get why doing something a Liberal has done makes it perfectly acceptable or even desirable behaviour in a conservative – unless Harperites are the new Liberals which really does make a kind of perverse sense. Many people took a chance and granted Harper his chance in the PM’s chair in 2006 for the very fact they didn’t want another Liberal government. But since you bring up apples and oranges, my the short answer is this; Chretien had a majority government every time he prorogued and he never prorogued Parliament in order to avoid complying with a direct order of Parliament which is what Harper has done. Parliamentary speaking; it is within the his power to do so but to quote Harper back when he was a lowly opposition leader – .
I am not sure what it is about the detainee issue that Mark Steyn wrote which you wanted to me to read. I went to the link and it’s was mostly letters from his in-box about a column he wrote about pet goat farming in Haiti. I am sure I am missing something, but Beachnut, forget Steyn, I want you, in your own words, to explain to me why you feel the plight or the fate of an afghan detainee is unimportant or trifle, and yet, it’s okay for Canada to demand her soldiers fight and possibly die for those same Afghani people. My point is, if we allow the Karzai government to get away with acting like the secular Taliban – what’s the point of us even being there? One doesn’t pick sides between secular thugs or religious nutcases – one must simply get the hell out of Kabul.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with proroguing parliament. It’s an established procedure and completely constitutional, not to mention the fact that it keeps the legislators from continuing to pass intrusive laws on the citizens. Whether or not Harper is doing it for political benefit is no reason to oppose prorogation — politicians do everything for a political reason. If we don’t like it, we are obliged to vote them out.
That said, I find most of these protests to be disingenuous, to say the least. They are generally anti-Harper rallies, and prorogation is just the excuse. Most of those involved would jump at the chance to attack Harper and the Conservatives, no matter the reason.
I have no doubt that they are having an effect on the polling numbers now. However, I’m still waiting to see what he develops in his budget come March. If it’s a good budget and the Liberals aren’t able to deliver an effective argument against it, then the polls might begin to reverse themselves.
Again, if people were in that much of an uproad, there would be an impetus to defeat the government and call an election. We’ll see if the opposition is up for that after the budget is tabled.
I agree prorogation is completely constitutional, and I would go so far as to agree he is doing it for what he hopes is political benefit. Will it benefit him his political fortunes in the end, after 4 years of Harperite governance? That’s the question, but do you really doubt that if the Liberals got their act together behind a viable or reasonable leader Harper would stand a chance? I sincerely doubt it. The best polling the Harperites were able to pull was last fall when one poll had them at I believe 41% with weak Liberal party.
Those days are gone and I don’t believe they will be back. The smart thing for the Liberals to do would be to keep a low profile and let the Harperites hang themselves and then come into power under the we aren’t Harper banner. The conservative brand is losing its luster in Quebec, and love us or hate us, you cannot have a major government without carrying either Ontario or Quebec.
There is a great deal of anti-Harper sentiment in Ontario which sees the Feds as an enabler of the worse excesses of the McGinty government i.e., HST and the stimilus packages. There is a fair bit of bitterness for bailing out the big 3 auto makers – it just didn’t go down well here. The G20 will be a disaster for the people who actually live in Toronto and the bad optics will play havoc with Conservative fortunes throughout the province.
*flu bug delay*
I don’t think a HoC where everyone is yelling, pounding on desks, hooting and hollering is a mature display. Makes it hard to understand when people are talking over each other.
I brought up the Jean Cretien years to provide an example of the difference in the MSM (which you are of course not part of), in the way they report on PMSH.
Apples & oranges? Well, they’re both fruit.
The point I was trying to make w/ the Steyn link was the “I’ll wait for water instead of fixing the well…” mentality.
The detainee issue in my own words….
I can’t seem to feel empathy because a taliban prisnor got slapped upside the head with a shoe, when they are killing their own countryman.
As for the Canadian Soldiers in Afghanistan, I wish they weren’t there either.
However, as long as they are, I shall support them.