Parliament Closes

Harper has decided to prorogue Parliament. Sounds like 2008? No, this is today. Harper said he will prorogue parliament until March because it's necessary to "recalibrate the government's response to the recession." Isn't this what they're supposed to be working on anyways? Proroguing Parliament is completely to their own benefit. By proroguing Parliament, they effectively shut down any committee looking into the torture of the Afghan detainees. When Parliament resumes in March, Harper can say that the torture issue has passed and that the debate is finished. Obviously, Harper just doesn't want to face the questions about the torture in Afghanistan and he'd rather wait until he gets a majority in the Senate. This will have no benefit to the rest of us.

The House of Commons and the Senate will come back in March, after the Vancouver Olympics, for a Speech from the Throne and a budget. The move will have the effect of stalling all bills currently in Parliament, including crime bills that the government had said were being delayed by the opposition.

A post-Olympic return would also shut down government committees, which would stop MPs from pursuing the Afghan detainee controversy until Parliament returned.

Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale says “if the government attempts this manoeuvre, it's a shocking insult to democracy.”

 NDP House Leader Libby Davies says there's no legitimate reason to prorogue Parliament and to do so would be a “political scam.”