Stephen Bonaparte Harper

[marmar]

from CBC News:




PM seeks Parliament shutdown until March
Tories trying to 'shut down democracy,' Liberal MP Goodale says

Last Updated: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 | 5:06 PM ET
CBC News


The Conservative government plans to shut down Parliament for two months, until after the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the Prime Minister's Office announced Wednesday.

The announcement triggered immediate condemnation from opposition MPs who labelled the Conservative government's move an "almost despotic" attempt to muzzle parliamentarians amid controversy over the Afghan detainees affair.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, said the government sought the suspension to consult with Canadians, stakeholders and businesses as it moves into the "next phase" of its economic action plan amid signs of economic recovery.

"This is quite routine but it is also important to give Canadians an overview of where we will be taking the country over the next little while," Soudas told CBC News from Ottawa.

He said a speech from the throne will be delivered March 3, followed by presentation of the budget the next day. The session had been scheduled to resume Jan. 25 after the holiday break. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2009/12/30/parliament-prorogation-harper.html

[polly7]

1. People here are growing more than tired of his tricks.

SICK of him derailing parliament. Sick of him, period.

[CreekDog]

9. I still don't understand how he lost a no confidence vote last year and then...

has yet to announce elections.

:shrug:

[Posteritatis]

14. The prorogation was to avoid the confidence vote, not a reaction to it. (nt)

[ck4829]

2. Note to birthers, "Obama is a commie nazi" types, etc. This is how a dictator actually operates.

Can birthers name one instance where Obama shut down debate and even Congress?

No? Didn't think so.

[Posteritatis]

7. Constitutionally this is legitimate; it's just a jackass move

Remember we have a fusion of powers system; Obama has no formal authority over Congress, while prime ministers in the Westminster system do. Prorogation happens regularly enough up here - I think Chretien used it four times - but Harper's rather more aggressive and petty uses of it are getting into constitutional territory few Canadians and very very few other people have any real awareness of.

I don't consider Harper a dictator, even now; just a smallminded provincial tool who seems to think he can hide from criticism for the duration of his term. He could be toppled the day after Parliament reconvenes if the opposition had a notochord and did something. Until then, he wants to govern as though he has a majority, and he's being permitted to by what we laughingly call the opposition parties.

[Captain Hilts]

3. Who does he think he is, Boris Yeltsin?

[applegrove]

4. Harper doesn't want any opposition. This is just scandalous.

[Posteritatis]

5. "Want?" You misspelled "have." (nt)

[applegrove]

6. I can see why a control freak like Harper would like the neocon philosophy.

It is all about authorityanism. And they said Bush really liked to force large groups of people to do things against their will.

[Posteritatis]

8. Harper pretty much *is* a Republican

Never mind bringing in their campaign staffers during elections, or even the fact that he's dragged US style attack politics into the default position in elections up here. He's been pretty open about wanting Canadian policy to being whatever the US - preferably the US under the GOP - is up to. We've fought election campaigns around the central issue of "if elected I'll make us a nice little satellite state like we're supposed to be" a few times more than we should have, thanks to him.

[applegrove]

13. Yup. And he is right now hiding the worst of what he would do if he had a majority.

He's trying to look softers and blurr the lines between the conservatives and the liberals.

[Thickasabrick]

10. Didn't he do something similar to this last year? nt

[Posteritatis]

11. Yep, and for similar reasons. (nt)

[applegrove]

15. Yup. The other parties were going to get together and form a government

because Harper only had a minority and was putting in legislation that would attack the other parties directly and he prorogued parliament to stop that from happening. Now he faces criticism about how Afghan detainees were treated by the afghans and when his covernment knew they were being mistreated and he prorogues parliament again. That action has rarely been used in the past. He'll do anything to get power. He thinks waiting until the Vancouver Olympics are over will give him a bounce in the polls but I think he is wrong. People will see him for the authoritarian he is.

[Posteritatis]

16. I sorta want to see the opposition parties find a tennis court somewhere... (nt)

[applegrove]

18. I don't understand?

[MisterP]

12. that's how Charles I lost his head nt

[roamer65]

17. He doesn't hold a majority.

All of the other parties should vote to keep Parliament in session. Liberals and NDP need to form a united coalition and run only one candidate per riding in the next election. NDP should run in NDP ridings and Liberals should run in Liberal ridings.

That's how to drive a stake into the Reform party heart.