1533...O, Canada

No Parliament, no leaders, no nothing.

My boy James Bowie, from Bowie's Blog at jamesbowie.blogspot.com is much more of an insider than I could ever hope to be and got this from the OLO, Office of the Opposition, you know, the good guys.

When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid dissent is
frankly when it’s rapidly losing its moral authority to govern.”- Stephen
Harper, Canadian Press, April 18, 2005

Prorogation in perspective: Harper vs. ChrétienStephen Harper’s 63 day
shutdown of Parliamentary activity brings his total to 148 days over just four
years in office, eclipsing Jean Chrétien’s 145 days of prorogation over ten full
years.

Jean Chrétien’s total includes the only longer prorogation in recent
history – 82 days from November 12, 2003 to February 2, 2004 – to allow for the
transition between the Chrétien and Martin governments.

Other recent prorogations:
• 63 days: Stephen Harper, December 30, 2009 to March 3, 2010
• 53 days: Stephen Harper, December 4, 2008 to January 26, 2009
• 32 days: Stephen Harper, September 14 to October 16, 2007
• 25 days: Jean Chrétien, February 2 to February 27, 1996
• 24 days: Jean Chrétien, September 18 to October 12, 1999
• 14 days: Jean Chrétien, September 16 to September 30, 2002

Recent international Olympic comparisons.

Unlike Canada under Stephen Harper, democratic host nations of the Olympic
Games have continued parliamentary activity either right up to or during the
Olympics:

• 2006, Turin: The Italian Parliament was passing legislation just days
before the Olympics, and dissolved on the 2nd day of the Games.
• 2002, Salt Lake City: The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate both
sat during the Olympics.
• 2000, Sydney: The Australian House and Senate rose just one week before
the Olympics.
• 1998, Nagano: Both houses of Japan’s parliament sat during the
Olympics.
• 1996, Atlanta: The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate both sat
during the Olympics.
• 1988, Calgary: The House of Commons took a scheduled break during the
first week of the Olympics, only to resume regular business during the second
week.

Prorogation implications

By shutting down Parliament, Stephen Harper has:
• Jeopardized approximately 37 pieces of government legislation – more than
half of all government bills.
• Disregarded a parliamentary order to produce documents related to the
Afghan detainee torture controversy.
• Disbanded all Parliamentary committees for months, including the
Afghanistan committee; substantive committee work will likely not resume until
May when committees are reconstituted.
• Avoided accountability to Parliament through Question Period for three
full months.• Killed hundreds of written order paper questions from MPs to
Ministers.

Quite the Prime Minister we have, eh?

WFDS