Proroguing:A Year Later

My last post on this blog concerned Stephen Harper's request to the GG in December 2008 to prorogue Parliament to avoid a nonconfidence vote and certain defeat in the House. The GG granted Harper's request against the advice of some constitutional experts. Subsequently Harper campaigned aggressively against the proposed Liberal/NDP coalition, supported by the BQ. A photo showing Gilles Duceppe at the table with the Liberal and NDP leaders proved to be a fatal error.

Harper swayed public opinion waving the separatist card and resumed governing in the New Year. At the end of 2009 he appeared to be in a stronger position than ever, willfully ignoring votes by Parliament on many issues, including a request that the government produce documents pertaining to the raging issue of whether Canadian troops turned Afghan refugees over to Afghan forces for torture.

Harper again pulled the plug on Parliament by requesting that the GG prorogue Parliament again, which she meekly did. This time, however, Harper's prorogation gambit has led to a backlash. Editorialists and columnists across the country have widely condemned the government's action, seeing it for what it is, a cynical abuse of power by the most dictatorial PM of modern times.

You are invited to join the Facebook group : Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament and participate in upcoming rallies. Cardinal 47 will be there after a one-year hiatus due to the death of my wife.