Canadian Parliament Prorogued again, Part 5

It's ok Fidel, go put your head back in the hole.

Nothing to see here.

Deny, deny and deny. It will all be better.

Viva La Revolución

Slumberjack wrote:

Quote:

The NDP will have its own response"?  Really?  Were they planning on doing that anytime in the next month or two, because last I heard, the momentum is happening NOW.

The Layton gang must be a little wary of teaming up again with their turf rivals, the Liberanos.

I'd prefer we don't use the term Liberanos to refer to the Liberals - it puts a label on everyone.

And as has been pointed out in the past, it is also insulting to Italian-Canadians to link all Italians to crime.  I am Italian myself and I don't like the term.

I am a predator, a hunter, proud and strong.

I do not hide behind lies, false information, and deception as your ilk does.

The truth in the end will slay you.

Scott Piatkowski wrote:

it still would have been a publicity stunt.

If we called it a "media event" would that be better?

In other words, what's wrong with a publicity stunt?

176,776 Facebook members are organizing Jan. 23 rallies in 40 centres across Canada. Is that a publicity stunt too?

See you at the Jan. 23 rally in Kitchener, I hope.  

Wilf Day wrote:

Scott Piatkowski wrote:

it still would have been a publicity stunt.

If we called it a "media event" would that be better?

In other words, what's wrong with a publicity stunt?

176,776 Facebook members are organizing Jan. 23 rallies in 40 centres across Canada. Is that a publicity stunt too?

See you at the Jan. 23 rally in Kitchener, I hope.  

I'm planning to attend the Jan 23 rally in Ottawa.  

Right you are Boom-Boom. It seems though, that we need to awaken our MP's to this collective purpose.

The country wide protest is on the 23rd.  Parliament was scheduled to resume on the 25th. The NDP are meeting before then but no definite plans beyond that. The Libs are to be in Ottawa for the 25th as originally scheduled, and rumour has it they are going to have a meeting. But no mock parliament. Too unmanagable, I suppose.

I am hopeing for a Tennis Court event myself. The opposition parties, or any MP, is invited to address the court. Those who ran in the last election will also be automatically allowed to address the court as well. The debate will be about parliamentary reform; democratic reform in Canada.

I too wish the NDP would get its act together on this issue.  Then again, when hundreds of thousands of Canadians, and millions around the world, demonstrated against the war in Iraq, the NDP was onside.  But the votes never came...

The Facebook protest may turn out to be just as hollow.  But what if it isn't?

I think they are probably doing constituency work.  It might be possible that some of the time is the usual holidays, but I don't think any of them, whether they go to Ottawa or not, will be just sitting around until March.

The government is entitled to a short break for constituency work, but their proper place is in Ottawa to field Question Period and explain themselves on the Afganistan detainee file, all the various homeland issues such as aboriginal health, the economy, and international issues such as their response to the disaster in Haiti.

Conservitives = Lawful Evil?

Message is simple enough...

Layton To Harper: Recall Parliment

"I am calling on the Prime Minister to reconsider his decision to prorogue Parliament," NDP leader Jack Layton said on Wednesday.

"I call on him to change the date of the recall of the prorogation to January 25," he said.

"In exchange the New Democratic Party will agree to reinstate all of the bills that were sent back to square one to the place they were at prior to the prorogation, so that we can get on with the business at hand," Layton told a scrum of reporters outside the Vancouver Public Library.

Michelle wrote:

Now, Thomas Mulcair was EXCELLENT on CBC yesterday.  Check this out. (h/t Antonia Z)

Of course, they couldn't have picked a worse Conservative rep.  I guess Harper's been muzzling them so long that once they're let out of their box, they can't say anything intelligent.  Who's Tom Flanagan?  ROTFL.

The Conservative rep (new MP Shelly Glover) is certainly not as important an MP in her party as Mulcair and Goodale are in theirs.  It's interesting that the NDP and the Liberals each sent a high-ranking caucus member whereas the Conservatives sent a rookie.

I agree, Scott - glad to see Jack's stepping up.  Better late than never! 

That's a good message from Jack - finally!!!!

(was he waiting to see which way the wind was blowing?)

Scott Piatkowski wrote:

In contrast to yesterday, I think this a great initiative by the NDP... and one that Harper could potentially use as a face-saving measure.

The important thing is the first part: this is  a good initiative.

But I think its important to keep in mind that Harper doesn't want a face-saving measure. And it would be a serious underestimation of the challenge to think they need one.

The PR battle is not going well for Harper Crew so far. But I don't think they need or expected it to. They still hold all the cards for changing the channel to management of the economy and the public purse. There is no question that is and will be the number 1 priority for all Canadians. They have 2 months to change the channel, and I still think they have the tools and resources needed.

Thats not defeatism... its just mindfulness of the challenge. And thinking that Harper is on the run is the opposite of that mindfulness. They can easily roll with being on the defensive in the early stages.

Just watched the Goodale, Mulcair and Shelley Glover interview.

Can I nominate Shelley Glover for the "Sarah Palin Deer in Headlights Award" ?

I don't understand how a Conservative MP can't have heard of Tom Flanagan.

I also think its critical to have another narrative 'queued up' that deals with economic issues. One that can and should tie to the narrative about fundamentals of democracy and simple trust... but is distinct enough that it could stand alone [in principle].

I don't see how a broad based movement can pull that off. So thats one for the NDP. But I think we're all just sideline watchers / wishers when [if] it comes to that.

Debater wrote:

I don't understand how a Conservative MP can't have heard of Tom Flanagan.

I don't believe it -- I think they sent someone who could appear not to have heard of Tom Flanagan to marginalize the significance of his comments. "He can't be that important if I haven't heard of him and, therefore his comments are likewise unimportant." -- that sort of thing.

ETA: PM Harper has killed these bills because the Senate Committees are changing them from what he wants them to be into something else that he doesn't necessarily want. Now, with the appointment of new Conservative senators, he can restart the bills (such as the crime bill) without the same "problem" facing those bills in the Senate (imho). This is not uncalculated.

Debater wrote:

ndpman wrote:

Man that Harper has nine lives! Now he'll use this Haiti earthquake to dodge criticism for a spell......Jean too. How can anyone be mad at her now?

Hopefully they will not be able to get away with using Haiti for political purposes.

The earthquake in Haiti will only be a temporary distraction from the prorogation scandal. In one week the media will focus on politics again, even with the Olympics on. When Parliament returns the detainee investigation will once again be the topic of discussion, with more people paying attention this time since Harper has actually drawn attention to it with his contemptuous prorogation.

Harper has reached too far this time, and he will never recover. The rest of his term will see a slow unwinding of whatever moderate support he may have been holding onto for lack of a better choice. Expect a Liberal/NDP minority government by the end of 2010.

Post prorogation polls show a dramatic drop in Conservative support.

Ralph Goodale said something that should strike home for Canadians. He said Harper is acting more like the Reform Party staffer that he was and not like the leader of a G7 nation. Harper is not leadership material. He's a divider.

Somebody around here has to play the contrarian. I guess its me on the this.

So, proceeding from central characteristics of what is going on, to be a contrarian on stuff of secondary importane... at most:

NoDifferencePartyPooper wrote:

Thank heavens for the testimony of the Intelligence Officer in Washington which began this phase of Harper's political takedown.

Certainly not from any efforts of our opposition parties.

On the contrary, without the opposition parties... and later to the plate for the Liberals but them included... he would have been comsigned to the back pages of the newspapers.

NoDifferencePartyPooper wrote:

Suddenly all and sundry feel free to let fly at Harper, even Tom Flanagan can knife him in the back on national TV. Something's up..

Pickier still: when it comes to Flanagan and others in Harper's camp at least more often than not, it isn't that they feel 'freed' by what you assume to be Harper's vulnerability. It is just what they are saying: like the rest of us, they just dont like this free use of prorogation.

Scott Piatkowski wrote:

In contrast to yesterday, I think this a great initiative by the NDP... (recall parliament) and one that Harper could potentially use as a face-saving measure.

And, just so everyone who was criticizing the NDP yesterday can do the same for the Liberals today, the Liberals seem to be spinning this as "the NDP supporting the entire government agenda".

Well I think it's a dumb-ass strategy for precisely that same reason - why give Harper a face saving measure? Say nothing. Right now, he is doing an excellent job setting his own tent on fire. And if Harper does does exercise that option, we are back to the same mess we started with.

All MP's better be around to say something on Jan. 23 when the rallies happen across Canada. And they all better be in Ottawa on the 25th, like the original plan. MP's who are missing in action do so at their own peril. What part of "Get back to work!" do they not understand?

It could be as you say....we'll see how quickly and heavily he falls down and who rises up. I do think the Cons are going all the way down on this one.

NoDifferencePartyPooper wrote:

Actually Harper's perfect G7 Leader material!

Ya he's so good that he's afraid to show up for work second time in twelve months.