Canadian Parliament Prorogued again: Part 6

A lot of Canadians have a computer? 

Bookish Agrarian wrote:

I agree PR is crucial in reforming our system, but to think this is a time to lecture people about PR when they are finally waking up to the way our system actually works against the interest of average people is like giving a grade 2 student a lecture on calculus when they are on the cusp of figuring out how to add and subtract easily.

The first step, as we know from 13 months ago, is to get vast numbers of Canadians to tune out American TV for a moment and understand the parliamentary system.

To serve as prime minister a political leader must respect and defend our system of government.

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He or she must begin from the premise that to remain in office a government must enjoy the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Commons. That is the essence of our system.

Stephen Harper was not directly elected by Canadians to serve as prime minister. He is not our president. He and the members of his government are in office solely when they enjoy the confidence of the House.

This is not an academic point. It goes to the very heart of our democracy. It was what Canadians fought for, and some died for, in the 19th century. Before that, the struggle to make parliament supreme went on for centuries in Britain. Stephen Harper poses a threat to our democracy. If he understands it, he doesn’t respect it.

A good line was from the recent issue of The Economist: "The danger in allowing the prime minister to end discussion any time he chooses is that it makes Parliament accountable to him rather than the other way around."

201,033 CAPP members.

Ignoring him was probably the wiser option. 

And here is a list of all the rallies (non-facebook). It's got at least one that the previous list doesn't have (Kamloops). 

I think this analysis is a bit out to lunch, though..

She's comparing a small, spur-of-the-moment protest called a few hours beforehand on a weekday afternoon, way downtown, when most people are work or school, to the upcoming cross-country protest on Saturday that people have been organizing for weeks?  And then concluding that FB organizing doesn't work?

There were more than 200 people at the first organizing meeting ALONE in Toronto!  

I think she'll be surprised on Saturday.

I thought it was a letter to the editor. I don't know Delacourt's politics and should not have labelled her a "Harper supporter". 

Delacourt  is the Star's senior political writer in Ottawa.

I have followed her writing for a long time and find her to be a very strong journalist who writes well, is fair and well worth reading. She will call anyone on their BS. She has written very strongly about process and democracy so I would be surprised if she were impressed by prorogation but she is likely looking at the bigger trends than this single decision. She has questioned if the facebook numbers will translate to the real rallies.

Delacourt has spent a lot of time covering the Liberals in years past-- don't know if she actually is a Liberal currently although some claim her to be. She has written negatively about them at times as she has about others. I think she is more interested in the truth as she sees it than party loyalty and likely has a strong centrist political bias.

http://thestar.blogs.com/politics/

You should read her -- she is one of the best in the country at her craft. (I started reading her back in the Meech days 20 years ago-- I think that was when she really got recognized as a must read journalist).

Harper supporters will not cede an inch. If there had been 500 or 5,000 people there today, they would not have been "impressed". If all 206,000 facebook members show up across the country on Saturday, they will not be "impressed". This is just noise to Harper & co. and they will continue to disparage any opposition because that's the only thing they know how to do. Now if those 200,000 people were to commit to doling out political consequences - i.e. systematically defeating, let's say, 22 weak conservatives in the next election - one for each day of the prorogation - that would get their attention. Then we would see who will be laughing. 

On a small, but important positive note, the NDP is now calling for changes to the prorogation rules in Parliament so that a majority of MPs are required before the PM can prorogue the House.

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 And so today I am announcing that the New Democrats will bring proposals and legislation to limit the power of prorogation so that the Prime Minister cannot abuse it.

The government should only prorogue Parliament on a vote in the House of Commons.

I've been supporting this position since I read a detailed analysis a couple of weeks ago by Prof. Andrew Heard in BC who floated this idea. It's a good short-term measure but a lot more reform is required if we want a democratic Parliament. 

 

Iggy has posted an open letter to members of Canadians against Proroguing Parliament (CAPP) on his facebook page. 

You mean you weren't selected? Best of luck! Let us know how it goes.

I don't know about that.  The more often my hubbie hears Iggy on TV, the more he rubs him the wrong way.  I know I'm going to be there on Saturday counting the number of times he says "I", "me" and "my", drops his "g"s and says "stuff".  Yick.

Believe it or not, there are Liberals I like.  Fewer and fewer of them, but there are some.

So Harper came to Truro, Nova Scotia yesterday. Truro is a 'big town' by NS standards. Definitely 'major centre'... but we're talking 20,000 in the immediate area.

As noted above, I saw his even was VERY closed ...and I didn't relish being a lone heckler yelling at the limos as they whizzed past. So I didn't make any room in my schedule for the trip to Truro.

What a surprise: drove by and there were 20 people and signs there! Organized on short notice, and in Truro!

And I wasn't the only one honking my horn.

Here it is...

... that orchestrated channel change thats been coming down the track:

Federal deficit hits $36-billion

Deficit reduction plans must begin: PM

PM hails accomplishments on eve of protests

Local MP says people 'pleased'with prorogation

I almost didnt include that last story- 'people like proroguing'- because its not really part of the channel changing- which taps into concerns shared by Canadians across ideological lines. That last story is just for the benefit of the Conservative core.

How does a minority government in Canada become a despotic oligarchy?

Show open contempt for and try to bipass Parliament and hope enough people accept this spin/narrative.

The House of Commons, House of Representatives (call it what you like) is the Peoples' House.

In Canada, when a government bipasses the House and rules by decree on its own and attempts to get a 'mandate'(?) to do this 'directly from the people', this is populist fascism.

Canada is taking a new and very frightening direction in politics.

 

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Canada is taking a new and very frightening direction in politics.

Even the Globe and Mail agrees. 

Time to stand up for Parliament

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 The age-old struggle for parliamentary rights against an arbitrary governor was settled long ago...
But a new struggle for parliamentary rights is under way, and this time it is the prime minister who is wielding potentially autocratic powers...
MPs of all parties have a responsibility to resist submission, as Junius said, “to arbitrary measures.” 

 

Polunatic2 wrote:

Time to stand up for Parliament

 

Quote:

 The age-old struggle for parliamentary rights against an arbitrary governor was settled long ago...
But a new struggle for parliamentary rights is under way, and this time it is the prime minister who is wielding potentially autocratic powers...
MPs of all parties have a responsibility to resist submission, as Junius said, “to arbitrary measures.” 

Absolutely.

The purpose of the prorogue is twofold:

1. To dodge the Torturegate bullet.

2. It is a conflict between extending the powers of the Prime Minister versus maintaining/extending the powers of Parliament.

You want Parliament, or more specifically, the House to maintain/extend its powers because it represents all the people; not the Prime Minister or the ruling party - "government".

Making a direct appeal to the people is an attempt by the Cons to legitimize this move and should be resisted.

Is that email from Layton for real? Sounds like he was framed. In his [url=http://www.ndp.ca/press/new-politics-empowered-parliament]Jan. 20[/url] speech, he said it well:

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On January 23, [b]New Democrats will join Canadians[/b] at rallies across the country to demand an end to prorogation.

But in the alleged email (which I haven't seen on the web except in this Facebook post), someone changed that to read:

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And you can help New Democrats stand up to Harper. This Saturday, [b]join us[/b] at one of dozens of anti-prorogation rallies across Canada.

Does the NDP have Liberal moles trying to subvert its message? That alleged email is really offensive, as ennir said, but it doesn't reflect Layton's original remarks.

 

I hope the rallies today are going well. I'm stuck at work.

I am not sure I am following all the references about Jack's email. But its clearly intended to go to the lists of members and supporters. Likely it is kicking around elsewhere, but it would not have been written the same.

Everything that goes out to members or identified supporters has a link for joining, etc.

I just came back from the Waterloo rally.  There were between 500 and 1,000 protesters.  The NDP was the most visible of all the parties represented. 

Jack Layton just spoke in Ottawa, good speech. Iggy is on in a few minutes. Kady O'Malley's live blog from Ottawa is here.