Prorogation

The dignity of the Canadian parliamentary system has been irremediably affronted by the action of Prime Minister Stephen Harper in pulling a temporary plug. Which, in the very steepest sense, is unfortunate. Unfortunate because it was the last resort of an intemperate, malfunctioning parliament, one which was continually at odds with itself, where its disparate parts found themselves functionally incapable of working together for the greater good of the public weal.

Where partisanship came first and foremost so that instead of co-operation in passing needed and overdue legislation that would impact for the greater good for all of Canada and its population, the Liberal-led Senate chose to alter, for example, the new consumer protection legislation rather than allow it to pass into law. Such is the efficacy of lobbying. And members of the Senate, quite unlike elected Members of Parliament, actually do act as industry lobbyists.

There are safety and security issues left hanging as well as other issues important to the country and Canadians that will have to be re-introduced as new bills and the tedious methodology of passing them undergone, no doubt fractiously, once again. But when Parliament resumes in March it will be a different Senate, one no longer dominated by the Liberal party.

Opposition parties have risen in high dudgeon over this second prorogation in two years, claiming it to be an offence against democratic action. Although it was mostly Liberals in power who resorted to this kind of interruption of Parliament, most famously when Jean Chretien invoked his right to do so, interrupting the revealing judicial enquiry into the murder of Somalian Shidane Arone by Canadian soldiers.

Now, the findings of that enquiry were truly inconvenient. The parliamentary committee looking into the alleged Canadian connection with respect to the alleged torture of Afghan-Taliban detainees has relatively little moment in contrast to the Somali enquiry. The details of those allegations are fairly explicable and acceptable in the larger context of the prosecution of an insurgency-war in a foreign country.

The crux of this particular matter is that the opposition, and most particularly the Liberals, are desperate to find a cudgel with which to beat the governing Conservatives. Any issue will do, if it finds resonance with Canadians. And now Michael Ignatieff is off trying a new tack, standing in judgement yet again at the lack of democratic respect displayed by a prime minister who chose to prorogue for a month and a half before getting back to the nation's business.

This is pretty rich coming from a party whose disregard for parliamentary procedures has been the equal and indeed in excess of anything the Conservatives have been accused of. And it's also absurd, coming from a party leader who chose to be crowned, not elected through a democratic process, as leader of his party.