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Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Move to Prorogue Parliament
February 2 2010
Here is my two cents on the proroguing of Parliament: Under the normal scheme of things, proroguing or suspending a parliamentary session when nothing is really happening and whatever little is being discussed is putting everyone to sleep, including the backbencher MPs of the government and the opposition parties is acceptable. Let the MPs recharge and come back with some real ideas to help Canadians. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s move to prorogue the current Parliament is somewhat different and frankly quite devious. It comes under very different circumstances – the prorogue put and end to a major unfolding scandal before a Parliamentary sub committee involving allegations from a senior diplomat posted to Afghanistan that his warnings that Canadians were handing over Afghan prisoners to local security and police who invariably tortured them were ignored by both army brass and Ottawa. An inquiry in which brazen denials by notables such as defence minister Peter McKay and former armed forces head general Rick We-are-in-Afghanistan-to-kill Hillier subsequently led to either retractions or backtracking as the committee heard more evidence, and then the prorogation axe fell – no Parliament and no inquiry until March. If the Tories banked on Canadian apathy, this past weekends demonstrations by more than twenty five thousand people across Canada must have shocked them, even though polling firm Ipsos Reid says this Canadian anger too shall pass. While most media pundits say that the move was a clever one and public memory is short, I have more faith in Canadian voters – I think the move by Harper has put a dent in his plans to form a majority government in the next election. Think about it – I’m Zuhair Kashmeri.
