Better a prorogued Parliament than a Parliament of rogues.
(Am I the only person who thinks the lot of them should be standing in the corner for the next seven weeks?)
Surprised Jean decided on this course. I wonder what Harper said to her to get her to agree. It seems to me this sets a dangerous precedent. Any time a leader is facing a non-confidence motion (s)he can just hit the suspended animation button.
Now it's a battle of wills. How coalitious is that coalition? Can it last seven weeks in stasis? (I'm betting yes.) Will Harper come back at all chastened? (I'm betting no.) Will we be reliving this come Groundhog Day? (Aside: isn't Harper a hell of a lot like Bill Murray's character in that movie? at least early on?)
2 comments:
I don't understand this. When I heard this, my first question is "What?!!" So when the Parliament is "unsuspended" will the vote of NC resume or does this put the kibosh on the vote of NC?
You wacky Canadiens ;o)
Prorogation is normally done--when it's done at all--at times when Parliament is finished with the business of any given term of government--sort of like what America's going through right now, except make America an unimportant place where your Senate and House wouldn't have to deal with stuff every single day. Prime Ministers can ask that Parliament be prorogued at any time, but Governors-General do not have to oblige, and I still can't for the life of me figure out why this one did.
To answer your question, Harper has dodged that particular non-confidence vote, but there will be one right away on his budget. (In our system, any 'money' vote is automatically a vote of confidence, and a government can also stipulate a bill as a matter of confidence--if it doesn't pass, the government goes poof.)
Harper pulled this stunt in the hopes that the coalition united against him would splinter. It looks like it will: Ignatieff, the putative new Liberal leader, isn't overly impressed with the prospect of uniting with the NDP.
Mr. Obama down there's doing a fine job at coalition-building. Wish our PM had half his smarts.
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