Prorogation prorogues antirogueing rogues

Prorogue! Well, thus ends the Great Canadian Putsch of '08. Will our edgy politicians survive seven sybaritic weeks of holidays and bring us a Great Canadian Putsch '09: Michael Ignatieff Strikes Back?

Will Gee-Gee Jean publish a tell-all entitled My Rogue: How Stephen Harper won my heart and my reserve power?

Will Pauline Marois take back every nice thing she said about the coalition and put sovereignty back on the péquiste's election agenda?

If a Stéphane Dion falls in a forest with 76 knives in his back, will he make a sound?

All these questions and more will be addressed, just as soon as our government gets back from seven weeks in Bora Bora!

We'll get back to blogging about the Middle East soon.

Revolution Prorogued! Jean falls for Harper's seduction

We are outraged. Not because we were a fan of the fractious coalition of the NDP, Grits and Bloc, nor because Her Excellency failed to use her reserve powers in the most minimal of ways. We are outraged because the revolution is over (suspended, but really over). It's so anti-climactic after 8 days of constitutionally driven suspense. And while our government now gets seven weeks of holidays, the rest of us have to go back to our pre-revolutionary lives.

Sigh, we'll be back with more soon.

The revolution was televised (for 5 minutes); who will the GG listen to?

"Prorogue!" "Dissolve!" "Dismiss!" "Abdicate!" "Save us from ourselves!"

Everybody is trying to tell Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean what to do. Stephen Harper is making a personal pitch to the Governor General right now to ask her to prorogue parliament. Harper went on TV last night for 5 whole minutes to convince Joe Canadian Sixpack that the Triumvirate of Turpitude - the Liberals, NDP and Bloc - is unpatriotic.

Her Excellency probably got Harper's veiled Bushian message: "You're either with us, or you're with the separatists."

And to no one's surprise, the conservative spin doctors want the media to ask the ridiculous rhetorical questions: "Is Mme Jean a separatist?" "Is she a Liberal?" "Is she really Canadian?"

Talk about pressure.

Meanwhile Stéphane Dion's letter [full-text PDF] to the GG is a bit more impressive than his out-of-focus, awkwardly delivered and comically tardy TV address last night in response to Harper. For Dion's part, he wasn't above playing the partisan card: "In our Canada, the government is accountable for its decisions and actions in Parliament."

NDP leader Jack Layton wants to remind the GG that Harper "is more interested in his job than you and your families' jobs." (See Excellency, even your job is at stake in this crisis.)

Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe said emphatically, "we are finished with [Harper's] government." (Of course, that's actually a standard fill-in-the-blank Bloc quote; replace 'Harper' with 'Dion' or 'Chretien' or 'Martin' or 'Canada' at your leisure.)

And the advice keeps coming.

Former Brian Mulroney chief of staff, ambassador and publishing magnate, Norman Spector says "Let the people decide." (Memo to Norman: the people decided 7 weeks ago; now it's time for the government to make decisions.)

Former Governor General Ed Shreyer says "Nothing should be done to aid and abet the evasion of submitting to the will of Parliament." In other words, the PM wants the GG to rescue him from the mob, and the GG would be constitutionally and morally wrong to do so.

Even those abstract notions of precedent and history are trying to tell the GG what to do.

She's been all ears for days. Now we are.

Canadian Revolution Day 7: Prorogation

The best option for Prime Minister Stephen Harper - facing a slam-dunk no-confidence vote on Monday and an agreement by the 3 opposition parties to supplant his government - is prorogation.

(Cue song and dance by bleary-eyed constitutional nerds.)

Prorogation \pruh-ro-'ga-shun\ n. (vb: prorogue; prorogued):

1. The act of deferring or suspending;
2. The act of terminating a session of Canadian Parliament - done by the Governor General at the request of the prime minister. All unpassed legislation dies except for private members' bills, and Parliament's agenda is wiped clean. A new session begins with a new Throne Speech. Prorogation differs from adjournment, which is decided by majority vote of the House of Commons or Senate. Unpassed legislation remains on the agenda;
3. The period between two sessions of a legislative body; though that body still be constituted its orders (i.e. bills, motions) are expunged until the next Parliament;
4. In the Canadian Revolution of '08, an irate Stephen Harper's only full-baked option for heading off the insurrectionists and buying time so he can spin public opinion against the opposition;
5. A constitutional crisis waiting to happen.*

* Picture the scene: The Governor General holds two letters in her hand. One is from the Prime Minister, demanding that she execute his request for prorogation, as constitutionally she must. The other is signed by the leaders of the 3 opposition parties, affirming that the Commons have lost confidence in the government and that the 3 leaders be allowed to form a government that has the confidence of the Commons, which constitutionally the GG must allow.

How long before the GG's head explodes?

Great Canadian Putsch '08: 10 Burning Questions

10 Questions about the Canadian Revolution as in enters its sixth day:

1. THE LIBERAL PARTY IS BROKE, SORT-OF LEADERLESS, AND REELING FROM ELECTORAL SLAUGHTER. HOW DOES THIS MAKE THEM THE NATURAL CHOICE TO LEAD CANADA RIGHT NOW?
Easy. Canada is also broke, sort-of leaderless, and reeling from electoral slaughter. Canadians tend to favour a government they can identify with, and the Liberal Party is a mirror image of Joe Canadian Sixpack.

2. STEPHEN HARPER HAS FALLEN OVER THE CLIFF. IS THERE ANYTHING HE CAN DO BEFORE HE HITS THE BOTTOM?
Yes. But to be fair, he didn't fall off a cliff. He was flying too close to the sun and the wax in his wings melted. Harper might construct a parachute in the form of an economic stimulus package, with the title "Mea Culpa: Why I was wrong and the Liberals are wronger." But we're guessing Harper might prefer martyrdom to mea culpa.

3. HOW CAN DIE-HARD LIBERAL SUPPORTERS STOMACH ALL THIS HAND-SHAKING WITH AND APPLAUDING THE BLOC?
Or vice versa? (After all, there's still an election campaign going on in Quebec.) There's no answer for this one; I'm not a Liberal, so I've no idea how restless their sleep has been since last Thursday. I guess, after a horrific election night seven weeks ago, they're happy with a deal with any devil to get them out of their mess.

4. SERIOUSLY THOUGH, WILL THE TORIES PUSH FOR A NEW ELECTION, AND IF SO, HOW MANY CANADIANS WILL ACTUALLY VOTE?
Pushing the Governor General for a new election is one of the dwindling number of options the Tories have at this point; even they concede that it's not unconstitutional for the opposition parties to petition the GG to form a new government. The Tories are rolling out radio ads decrying the undemocratic-ness of the oppositions' plan, whining to voters that all this is happening without their consent. But if the voters were called upon to decide, would we even get a 50% turnout (after 58% just seven weeks ago)? Is that even quorum for this country to conduct a binding roll call?

5. DOES THE GOVERNOR GENERAL HAVE THE CONSTITUTIONAL FORTITUDE TO RENDER JUDGMENT IN THIS NEARLY UNPRECEDENTED COUP D'ETAT?
The Rt. Hon. Michaëlle Jean will have to address the opposition parties' petition to dissolve the government after they bludgeon the Tories with a no-confidence vote as soon as next Monday. At that point, the Tories would likely petition Mdm. Jean to call for election. At the next point, the GG - Her Majesty's representative to Canada who was not elected to office - would have sweeping but conflicting constitutional powers to decide for the Liberal-NDP-Bloc palace coup or the Tories' cries for a re-vote. The only precedent for this is the King-Byng thing, but back then the GG had much greater authority. No matter what Mdm. Jean does, with the stakes as high as they're likely to get, she'll be upsetting a wide swath of people. (And need we remind you that fewer than 30% of Canadians consider themselves royalists; could the office of the GG be in jeopardy?)

6. WHICH PORTFOLIOS WILL THE NDP NAB IN THE NEW COALITION GOVERNMENT?
They apparently get 6 cabinet posts if the coalition forms. Here's our guess: Indian & Northern Affairs; Industry; Labour; Public Works; Transport & Infrastructure; Human Resources & Social Development. All perfectly socialist concerns. But how long before the NDP and Liberals are locking horns over budgets and spending in these departments where the NDP will want to prove that its policies, if well-financed, can work?

7. WHAT'S IN ALL THIS FOR THE BLOC?
Plus d'argent de poche. The Bloc has no money to run another federal campaign after the recent election and the current campaign in Quebec. Signing up with the Liberals and the NDP ensures the continuation of federal public financing for the separatist party, plus who-knows-what side benefits culled from a well-inked federal budget if and when the Grits and New Dems can agree on one.

8. IS THIS THE END OF A UNITED CONSERVATIVE PARTY?
We'd love to say yes. The Tories have no other obvious leader besides His (self-appointed) Holiness Stephen Harper. If Harper takes the fall, who would possibly take over and unite the right the way Harper did? But the Tories have way too much invested in electoral gains in Quebec, Ontario and B.C. (even that one riding in P.E.I. that they won) to splinter back into religious, Alberta nationalist, and progressive factions. But maybe a back-bench revolt from the Tories once the new coalition gov't takes over? Alas, with proper PR spin, no groomed successors, and some reconstructive surgery, Harper may very well survive this fall.

9. WILL CANADA'S EXPERIMENTAL AND HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT HAVE A NEW NAME?
The Federal Union of the People's Democratically Implied Government of Her Majesty's Former Dominion of Canada. (We can still call it 'Canada' for short.)

10. WHAT THE HELL IS STEPHANE DION TELLING HIMSELF WHEN HE STARES IN THE MIRROR IN THE MORNING?
A) "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and, sacrebleu, people like me."
B) "That's 7 lives down, still 2 to go. [meow]"
C) "Hasta la victoria, toujours!"
D) All of the above

Canadian Revolution 2008: Harper caught his own disease

"We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority."
- Stephen Harper, leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, 2004

Gasping for air after a bout of "cynicism that would make Machiavelli envious," Prime Minister Stephen Harper must know he's at death's door.

Alas, poor Harper unknowingly wrote his own death warrant 4 years ago, in a letter (excerpted above) to the Governor General in which Harper as then-opposition leader lobbied to have Paul Martin's minority Liberal government potentially dissolved.

Now he's gotta be eating his own worms, er, words.

Yes folks, for the first time since the famous King-Byng affair of 1926, Canada has itself a constitutional crisis in Her Majesty's Government. The 3 opposition parties will coalesce to oust the Tories in a confidence motion as soon as next Monday, and then unite in a plutonium-rare display of collaboration.

The leaders of the Great Canadian Putsch '08 have emerged from behind the curtains to produce a velvet tapestry of inter-factional harmony: Stéphane Dion as interim PM; 6 cabinet seats to the NDP; a Bloc guarantee of acquiescence for 18 months.

But do they have the support of the people, 58% of whom just voted in an election 6 weeks ago, 37% of whom (the 58%) voted for the Tories?

If an election were called tomorrow, we and surely thousands of other Canadians would humbly cross over to the side of the lazy 42% of Canucks who failed to vote last time round; for as much as we love democracy we cannot justify such a bald manipulation of Canada's feeble electoral laws by deigning to vote twice in succession.

But a palace coup? That we support!

Whoa, Canada? Harper's Hubris invites Revolution, Canadian-style

In ancient Greece, hubris was punishable by death; for offenders, their fate was the wrath of the gods.

Stephen Harper has an everlasting desire to crush his opponents - or in Aristotle's words, to cause "shame to another, in order that shame not fall upon you; not because anything has happened to you, but merely for your own gratification... You think that by ill-treating others you make your own superiority the greater."

Harper's hubris met the wrath of the universe in the form of 3 feeble opposition parties suddenly emboldened by the Prime Minister's unrestrained fit of megalomania.

This three-headed vengeful god - with the sturdy orange legs of the proletariat, a teal torso full of poutine, and a red head and shoulders carrying a backpack - must smite the offender, no matter his feigned repentance, and restore our dignity where not even our version of democracy could.

Bring down the Tories! Renversez les conservateurs! Hasta la victoria toujours!