chapter 52: prorogue-ies and sour cream

a week ago, most of us had never even heard of the word prorogue, now it's on the tip of everybody's tongue. and for some, it tastes pretty sour.

governor general michaelle jean decided today to grant stephen harper's request to prorogue, or suspend, parliament until he can come back to present his budget on january 26. here is his press conference after that decision:



the somewhat surprising decision comes after a constitutional crisis that threatened to unseat the government less than two months after a federal election. for the past week, there's been a pr war going on to win public opinion, and to nobody's surprise, the conservatives appear to have won that battle with another round of fear-mongering.

to wit, a few fun facts:

1 - the proposed coalition government would have been only the second in canadian history. the conservatives said the coalition's plan was undemocratic. in reality, the parliamentary system allows for it. parliament can only operate when it has the confidence of a majority of members, who represent the public. the coalition would have the support of the majority, unlike the tories.

2 - the quebec separatist movement is, for all intents and purposes, dormant, before harper and the conservatives started invoking it as a boogeyman. the conservatives used the specter of the new government being beholden to separatists to stay afloat. in reality, the searatist movement has been losing steam since 1995, and now it's almost irrelevant. quebec's provincial election is widely expected to result in a solid majority for quebec liberals, led by jean charest, a federalist. if anything, harper's divisive rhetoric could spark a renaissance.

3 - harper called a snap election for october in late summer this year, saying parliament was unworkable. now, the new parliament has been shut down for two months until the new budget announcement. frankly, i don't think either side deserves to lead. but i also don't see parliament working any better when mp's go back on january 26th. at that point, we'll probably find ourselves in the situation we're in now, except we will have wasted two months of valuable time, while other countries work to make the coming recession as painless as possible.

4 - the is the first time prorogation has been used to prevent a government from falling, in canadian history. frankly, i wasn't thrilled with either option, but i do know that while the house is away, no stimulus package will be set in motion.

one thing is certain.

nobody can complain any longer about canadian politics being boring. but for all the auto industry workers in oshawa, and others across the country who are worried about making house payments, the prospect of losing their jobs while the politicians screw around is more disgusting than exciting.