The market says no

The PM has a penchant for political manoeuvres that make little economic sense, but prolonging uncertainty by proroguing Parliament when markets are jittery would be his worst business move yet.

Ten reasons why proroguing Parliament is Harper's worst business idea yet:

1. Proroguing is an even worse business plan than inanely implementing GST cuts during a time of inflationary versus recessionary pressure on the economy and then claiming they are part of some "already delivered" economic stimulus. It is now clear the GST cuts frittered away a bountiful surplus just when we needed it most.

2. It's a worse plan than starting an election bid by scorning art creators and art appreciators, even though they represent a huge recession-resistant economic engine in this country.

3. It's a worse plan than choosing to forsake Quebec- and mother-appeal by courting the pro-youth-incarceration vote instead. Not only is it counter to family values, but imprisoning children is both nasty and expensive.

4. It's a worse plan than the mystifying belt-tightening Finance Minister Jim Flaherty offered up to the country in the middle of a global crisis that absolutely demands deft government spending and intervention.

5. It's an even worse plan than launching a partisan party funding attack that financially destabilizes the political system at a time that requires calm stability to sooth jittery investors.

6. It's a worse plan than launching a completely unprovoked attack on union rights and the civil service in his economic statement, thus shaking the consumer confidence of our huge public sector during the big retail season.

7. It's a worse plan than trying to choke off female spending power released by pay equity. Women who were formerly paid less than men to do equivalent work are just the kind of people economists want to see having cash to circulate during this economic downturn.

8. It's worse than a government that actually breaks the law (or comes damn close) by recording its competitors' private conference conversation without permission of any of the participants, thus modelling renegade behaviour that's a nightmare for the legitimate business sector.

9. It's also a worse plan than sending the message that the government of Canada is so careless of international investor confidence, it would release a dubiously taped conversation devoid of any true wrongdoing into the public realm for purely spin purposes.

10. Proroguing parliament would be a way worse plan than any of these really bad business ideas, because there can be no worse business behaviour during an economic crisis than action that prolongs it. Instability and uncertainty are what markets hate most. It's foreseeable that drawing this situation out would cause investors to further drain value from our ailing stock market. There is only one way for this crisis to end: quickly.

It is said that if you don't learn from history, you will continue to make the same mistake over and over again, only on a grander scale.

Don't make Canada pay for your mistakes any longer. Take it like a man, PM, and go now.

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