Well, well!
Our dear Prime Minister is concerned about the dysfunctional Parliament! He is so concerned, he may well dissolve Parliament and call an election.
This is not news! This is the boy who cried wolf.
Since his government came to power, Stephen Harper has shown a single-minded determination to destroy the democratic institutions of Parliament. When absolute control by the PMO was not possible; when subterfuge and bulling failed, he resorts to threats of disbanding Parliament!
This is the same PM who thumbed his nose at Parliamentary democracy from day one by naming an unelected Senator (that would be Mr. Fortier) to the major Public Works department, knowing that he would not be able to stand in the House, nor be accountable for the running of his department during Question Period.
Speaking of Question Period...
Question Period was established in the British Parliamentary system to allow Ministers to be publicly accountable for the running of their departments. We all know that sometimes question period is theatre, but in every government in the history of Canada, Ministers have always answered (sometimes obfuscated) questions about their departments.
However, under the Harper Conservatives (not to be confused with the old Progressive Conservatives), it doesn’t matter which Minister the question is aimed at: if it is a criticism, or if it asks for accountability in spending or policy, the Minister is not allowed to answer.
Instead the 3 political attack dogs -- House leader Peter Van Loan, then Parliamentary Secretary, James Moore and junior minister Jason Kenney -- do the answering. They generally start with an insult to the opposition party daring to question, and end with a personal sneer at the questioner. Never mind that these hit-men have nothing to do with the particular department of the Minister being questioned. They don't even bother to reference the department!
Parliamentary Standing Committees are the most important tools for democratic input, by all duly-elected parties, into legislation and policy development.
Under PM Jean Chrétien, these Committees were given extra clout; he began a process to allow review of all government bills (at second reading) by committee. Committees were also given expanded travel mandates to consult with Canadians in every region of the country. This strengthening of Parliamentary Committees represented a major step toward a progressive democracy by allowing civil society to work with government on legislation and policy development.
These same committees are now under constant attack by the Harper government which has a manual for its caucus members on how to subvert that democratic process.
The first line of attack is to rig the list of Canadians who want to have input to the committee; limiting them to 'government-friendly' witnesses so there can be no criticism. Some (very few) Conservative committee chairs have resisted that obvious tactic.
If that fails, the next line of strategy is to unleash the Conservative MPs onto unsuspecting witnesses, undermining their credibility by humiliating and attacking. In some cases filibustering is the order of the day
Finally, if all else fails, staged melodramatic 'walk-outs' by the Chair or the Conservative members is a final resort, so there is no quorum to continue committee work.
Because he has absolute control, the Prime Minister will forbid his Ministers from appearing at committees to answer questions about perceived wrongdoing or about mismanagement in their departments. I don't know of any Prime Minister in the history of the country (feel free to correct me here) who tabled a government Bill with the warning that he would brook no criticism; accept no amendments by MPs or opposition parties...or else...
...or else he will call an election!
Keeping everyone in line and stubbornly refusing to obey the will of Parliament (when there is a unanimous vote by opposition setting a particular course of policy or action) – this is evidence of a dysfunctional Parliament.
Shutting down criticism and muzzling the general population through inferred retaliation, is another ploy to stifle democracy…non-governmental organisations that do not fall into line with the government's agenda fear,they won’t be given the funding they need to provide services and advocate for the communities whom they serve.
The "dictatorship" exerted by Stephen Harper, is not benign.
True, there are no political prisoners languishing in Canadian jails. But the threat (sometimes carried out) to sue any other political party or MP who dares to disagree is just as much an attack on freedom of speech.
So here we are. The man who set about to create dysfunction in Parliament, complains that he doesn't like it!
He is indeed a victim of his own success.
Or is this threat yet another Machiavellian ploy to bring everyone in line? Again?
And this, my friends, is a minority government!
- Hedy
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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
August 15, 2008 -- Vancouver, BC
