In an attempt to prevent his government from going down to defeat in the House of Commons and be replaced by a coalition made up of opposition Members of Parliament, Prime Minister Steven Harper has received permission from Governor-General Michaelle Jean to suspend the current session until January 26th/09. Taking advantage of a little known parliamentary technicality called "prorogation", which gives the Prime Minister the right to shut down Parliament in case of an emergency, Harper will avoid having to face a vote on his fiscal policy scheduled for December 8th.
The opposition parties had already made it clear that they planned on defeating the governing Conservative Party in that vote, and approaching the Governor General with the coalition deal they had worked out over the past few days in the hopes of being given the opportunity to form a government. The coalition would have temporarily been led by current Liberal party leader Stepheane Dion (he would be replaced in May by whoever won the Liberal leadership convention) and would have included members of the New Democratic Party (NDP). The Bloc Quebecois, the Quebec nationalist party, wouldn't have been an official part of the coalition but had agreed to support the new government on all issues of confidence to allow them to rule without having to call an election. (In a parliamentary system a minority government can lose votes in the House of Commons as long as they aren't on fiscal issues or specific motions expressing lack of confidence in the sitting government.)
Mr. Harper is the first Prime Minister in current history to have chosen this option rather than face going down to defeat in the House of Commons. As recently as 2005 then Prime Minister, Liberal leader Paul Martin, knew very well that he would be defeated on an economic package he was presenting to the House of Commons, but like every other minority government prior to him, including Conservative leaders Joe Clark in 1979 and John Deifenbaker in 1963, he acceded to the wishes of Parliament. Former Governor-General Ed Schreyer cited those previous instances when warning that granting a wish for prorogation at this point would be an evasion of the process to Parliament and set a dangerous precedent for the future.
What is the great emergency, he asked, that necessitates the closure of the House of Commons? According to Mr. Schreyer with the new Parliament having just opened, only a genuine emergency should be grounds for prorogation. Allowing Steven Harper to suspend the sitting so his government can survive can't be constituted as an emergency, and for the Governor-General to allow the Prime Minister to do so for such an obviously political reason would damage the political neutrality of her office.
Article comments
1 - alessandro
Regardless.
Let's get serious.
The Liberals are unfit to lead a coalition. The NDP are interventionist boobs and the Bloc - "support" notwithstanding - are a party dedicated to the breakup of Canada.
Some coalition.
Coalition of dumb-dumbs.
This will hurt the Liberals in the long-term more than it will the Conservatives. It's as if the Liberals want to give the West to the Conservatives.
Such shallow reasoning too. As a citizen watching from afar I must profess this move to be unacceptable - even if it's democratic to do so.
They were better off accepting defeat, rebuild, nominate a real leaders and prepare for the next election.
2 - Ruvy
Looks like your government is skating on the edge of constitutionality also, Richard. That makes me feel a bit better, seeing the joke that passes for democracy in Israel that I do.
3 - STM
He's cheating a bit Richard, isn't he? Parliament generally shuts down for a time over the Christmas/New Year period anyway, even with a new Government ... and usually about now, doesn't it?
That's the case in Oz, and I believe in the UK and NZ, so I'd assume it's not much different up your way.
4 - Richard Marcus
While it's true that parliament would be shutting down for Christmas break soon, when a government is facing a non-confidence vote like the one that had been scheduled for Decemeber 8th/08, or even if there was some legislation the government wanted passing, they've been known to stay open as late as a few days before Christmas.
In 2005, when Steven Harper was in opposition, he led the movement to vote out Prime MInister Paul Martin's minority Liberal government later in December then this. In fact as I say in my article the situations were identical, as Paul Martin knew very well he was going down to defeat, but he didn't take the same way out.
cheers
Richard