Demos! Can't live with them, can't live without 'em. Today a number of Canadians came out on the streets to protest the prorogation of Parliament, and the CBC gleefully reports their heroic fight against the cold, as well as the heckling of any Harper supporters in range.
The Prime Minister was caught between a rock and a hard place. The opposition could always have defeated the Government on the eve of the Olympics (making the host of the games a lame duck), derailing the appointment of the remaining Senators that would give the government a majority in the red house. Bend it as you wish, the torture inquiry was way outside the PM's radar range when making the prorogation decision. It's all about timing.
Harper didn't want to be held hostage by an opposition ready to ruin a once-in-a-lifetime event with petty politicking. And as the adage goes, no freedom is safe while the legislature is in session. So, dear anti-prorogation Canadians, be grateful your Parliament can't make bad laws and fill the news with useless bickering rubbish. There is no business that can't be taken care of in March instead of today, except the Olympics. As a matter of fact the Games do not need Michael Ignatieff's grandstanding or the Tory side's snidery to be a success. Now isn't that a refreshing thought!
6 comments:
I wonder if people in Iran were holding candlelight vigils for the suffering souls in Canada...
I was at the rally of Winnipeg with over 300 other committed Canadians. I doubt you'd have liked it. Nary a keyboard or a bag of Dorittos to be seen.
I'd have preferred a cup of steaming hot chocolate, particularly in Winnipeg.
No torybaiter, but I am sure there were a lot of uneducated welfare bums, and communists at your little rally.
Its' bath night, although I am sure you haven't had one in a long time(it's the way The Corporation keeps you a slave). Time to let the adults talk.
Freedom is threatened when an open parliament is in session?
And the right-wing accuses THE REST OF US of drinking Kool-Aid??
Your argument is not only inflammatory -- and insulting to Canadians who fought and died for our freedom -- but it makes no sense whatsoever.
"No man's life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session" is a quote whose paternity is disputed, but likely to be originating from Judge Gideon Tucker, a 19th century US politician. He parodied the Magna Charta, which stipulates that only a man's peers may deprive him of life, liberty or property through democratic and open means.
If you take the meaning literally, as you did, you get the wrong end of the stick. Parliament can take away, amend and alter our liberty at its will, being our representatives. One of the liberties it takes away from us is disposing of our own income, through the tax system, income redistribution and so-called "stimulus".
The country can live very efficiently even when MPs are not deciding for the rest of us, such as during recesses. If the need for a new law or an amendment arose, the Government would be silly not to act through the legislature to remedy the situation. Failure to act would result in a drubbing at the polls.
So, dear BoredomCorner, we are free whether Parliament is in session or not. And although I prefer MPs doing their jobs, I thought a bit of light-hearted banter would be appropriate.
A wasted effort on some.
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