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Harper Proroguing Parliament again

TonyV

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It's a terribly shady move - and, as I said in that other thread, cartoonishly evil -- but I can't really muster up too much outrage. The facts are:

- The CPC has a commanding lead in every poll out there right now
- The Liberal Party has an incredibly unpopular leader
- Worse, the Liberals can't even really go for broke with the CPC's current scandal (the Afghan torture thing) because less than six years ago Ignatieff was saying torture was totally justified sometimes
- The CPC timed this announcement to coincide with the Team Canada roster unveiling, ensuring that it wouldn't be the big story of the day
- Before proroguing, the CPC went full-out with their astroturfers, seeding the "Chretien prorogued parliament four times during his term!" meme across every newspaper and blog site they could

So what have we got? The CPC can't lose here. If the Liberals scream too much, Harper will just dare them to call an election. An election anytime soon will just see more Conservatives in Parliament.
 
Is this a "democracy" we have here, or what?

Yes we do, and this is how it works. This isn't something new that Harper invented.

Honestly I'm not sure what they're trying to avoid, seeing as the two "controversies" are rather inconsequential, but it's their prerogative I guess.
 
Please define democracy

Why is there this incredible obsession to referring to the Westminster parliamentary system as a "democracy?"

The Head of State is appointed.

The Head if Government is selected by the majority/largest party as party leader and then elected by the voters in one single constituency.

The Upper House is appointed.

The Lower House governing party is elected on the basis of some 40 percent of the perhaps 55 percent of the electorate who bother to vote - in this particular example 22 percent of those eligible to vote.

Even I could come up with a system that is more representative. At least if they're not meeting they can't screw up things even more.
 
I don't think that that is a particularly productive attitude to take. You seem to be suggesting that we are a monarchy, which is not really credible in practice.

This is not to say that our system is not deficient, but saying that a completely dysfunctional government is better is foolish and petulant.
 
This is almost certainly a last-ditch effort on Harper's part to save the government. Time and time again, he's proven to be an incompetent leader at best, and making a mockery of the country at Copenhagen, the UN, with foreign relations and really any forward thinking at all. The problem is that Ignatieff has proven to be a terrible choice for the liberals, and the NDP are still too far left to be a viable choice. I'm sure that if there was a competent liberal leader, we would have had a liberal government a year ago. Actually, if the Greens changed their platform, even temporarily, they might see a huge increase in the polls. I think that a majority of the country wants to do something about climate change, and a majority of the country wants it to be stronger internationally and have better infrastructure. And there's definitely a way to do all of this.

It's probably coming high time to overhaul the way our government works. A century ago, we were seeing problems with the highly federalized system that we use, mainly in English-French relations. Ever since then, the problems between the Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the West, and the North have become stretched to the point of breaking this country and stopping the political system in it's tracks. Problems with our head of state and the upper house are more apparent than ever as well, and they need to be fixed.

Right now, we really need a visionary PM. Someone that will fix the political system, as well as get to work on climate change, building tonnes of infrastructure, strengthening international relations, helping developing nations, and working on the economic power of the country all at once. I don't think we've ever had a PM with this much work on their hands. I'd love to take on such a challenge, but I doubt even a 30-something PM could get elected, not to mention with no political experience at all. But I'm not seeing anyone currently at the head of politics that seems to be up to that challenge. Is there anyone?
 
Perhaps Justin Trudeau in ten years?
 
the NDP are still too far left to be a viable choice

The NDP is barely left of center. The Liberals are a right wing party, while the conservatives are a far right wing party. Your goal is to get what has happened in the US - to put the whole discussion in the right section, to ignore the left completely.



canada2008.png


We need an alternative to this right wing rhetoric. So, thank god that the NDP is around.


In B.C.....
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Or a more nicer picture...
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http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/harper_down_rivals_improve_in_canada/



I am shocked that the liberals and conservatives are not in a coalition... they are so so similar.
 
Were you a-ok with the prospect of the NDP-LPC-BQ coalition becoming the government last year?

Nope. Even though I voted Liberal and have consistently done so Federally.

This is almost certainly a last-ditch effort on Harper's part to save the government.

What are you talking about, they'd welcome the opposition trying to take down the government. They want an election in the next 6 months.

Perhaps Justin Trudeau in ten years?

I wish people would stop doing this to the poor guy. He's not his father, people shouldn't expect him to be.

The NDP is barely left of center.

The perception is different though. Probably doesn't help when Layton is leading the party. I'm shocked they've let him keep his post after last election.
 
Perhaps Justin Trudeau in ten years?

I wish people would stop doing this to the poor guy. He's not his father, people shouldn't expect him to be.

Of course he's not his father. Justin Trudeau is young, intelligent, charismatic and he grew up knowing that should he enter Canadian politics there would be expectations, hopes and comparisons to his father - I don't think it's an unfair comment.
 
What has Justin Trudeau done on his own without relying on daddy's coattails? I don't think Canadians appreciate political families.
 
The liberals wanted to call new elections this fall... the move failed because NDP did not support... why would NDP support the liberal move at a later moment?

Plus can't that governor or whatever that bitch's position is close parliament like has happened when they wanted to kick out harper when dion was leading the liberals? They could just close it indefinitely? I don't know how that part of the systems works, just wondering.
 
The liberals wanted to call new elections this fall... the move failed because NDP did not support... why would NDP support the liberal move at a later moment?
All the parties have proven themselves to be opportunists and unprincipled. They'll do anything for their own power.

Plus can't that governor or whatever that bitch's position is close parliament like has happened when they wanted to kick out harper when dion was leading the liberals? They could just close it indefinitely? I don't know how that part of the systems works, just wondering.
The Governor General prorogued parliament last December, and this December too. And no, Parliament cannot be closed indefinitely, since by law it has to meet at least once a year. And no, they can't do that even in the absence of the law, since the Kings of England and France were executed because they shut down parliament when it was becoming annoying to them.
 
If the governor was not there could parliament be closed?

What would it take to get rid of the governor?, this remnant of colonialism...
 

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