This is the first part of an essay that I am working on regarding our Parliamentary situation right now. What I want to do with this is show the way that our system works (at least a basic skeleton breakdown), the developments of the week of November 27th to December 5th 2008, and then an analysis of the situation and my opinion as to how to proceed after Parliament resumes.
*This is not an objective paper.
First I would like to start with a quick poll:
[polldaddy poll=1176492]
|| MECHANICS + OCTOBER 14 2008 ||
In Canada we elect individual Members, 308 to be exact, to represent us in the House of Commons in Parliament. That is a very important thing. We live in a representative democracy, which means that we elect our representatives to make decisions in the House on our behalf. We, the electorate, are not involved in the day to day processes of government and of the House, that is the responsibility of our Members of Parliament. Those Members that we send are accountable to their constituents, no one else. Forgetting the bureuocracy of the seating arrangements in Parliament, a majority of Canadians put an X beside either a New Democrat or a Liberal candidate on the Fourteenth of October 2008. 939 950 more to be exact - just a hair more than voted for the Green Party of Canada during the same election, and just about half a million less than Quèbecors who voted for the Bloc Quèbecois. (1)
One must also remember that this particular election in October 2008 was hard-fought on the premise of the LEADER most fit for the job, and the economy. The Tories fought the election on their economic strong points and that their leader was not, infact, made of stone - and the Opposition parties fought it on both economics and leadership skill.
Lets play with negative numbers shall we? Harper lost the vote of almost 62% of Canadians for either one - or both - of those two reasons stated above. 18% sent for their Member of Parliament a New Democrat who would stand for a New Democratic economic stance. Twenty-six percent opted for a Liberal economic policy, but netted a -3% vote swing from the election prior (most likely due to leadership questions). These parties, although not making up a majority of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, we're voted for by nearly 1 million more Canadians than Conservative Party of Canada members.
Now the important thing to remember here is that neither did the Tories. Stephen Harper and his Conservative caucus received 5 208 796 votes from Canadians, which amounts to 37% of the total votes cast. They received more seats than any other single party, but not a majority, in the House of Commons - therefore giving them the right to form the Government of Canada.
Thus is the Canadian democratic system, and a quick overview of the election results of the 40th Parliament of Canada. On to the current crisis.
|| NOVEMBER 27 2008 + COALITION||
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on behalf of the Government of Canada introduced a Fiscal Update on November 27th of 2008 that stated that Canada was in a place of advantage in the face of this global economic slowdown. It said that Canada has 'weathered this downturn better than virtually any other industrialized country... [but] is not isolated from global developments' and the general consensus was that Canada will enter a 'technical recession' in the near future. (2)
What it did not include was a viable stimulus package for integral parts of the Canadian economy, something that all Opposition parties had been calling on the Conservative Government to do, and to do now. What the Government did instead was try to 'hide the deficit' that is inevitably on its way to Canada. The OECD has said that 'countries like Canada that have kept their fiscal house in order are in the best position to ramp up stimulus spending,' (3) and yet we have a Government who takes the opposite stance to the rest of the industrial world, and refuses to offer up a serious and prompt economic stimulus package. They also included into the Update a proposal to eliminate public funding for each vote that all registered parties in Canada receive - a proposal that would virtually bankrupt the Opposition parties, most directly affecting the Green party. The Opposition parties who inhabit the House of Commons, thought this recklass and irresponsible of the Tory Government and therefore announced that they had lost confidence in the Government to effectively govern this country. This meant that none of the Opposition MPs from the Liberal caucus, the NDP caucus or the Bloc Quèbecois caucus would vote in favour of the Government`s lack-there-of plan for stimulating the ailing economy.
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, NDP leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quèbecois Leader Gilles Duceppe announced shortly thereafter that they would be bringing the Government down on a vote of No Confidence, to be tabled by the Liberal Opposition on Monday the Eigth of December 2008. They are able to do this because combined, the three opposition parties hold a majority of seats in the House of Commons, meeting and exceeding the required 155 votes to pass legislation or motion of non-confidence in the Government. Normally, this would result in an election.
But the kicker here is that Canadians just returned from the polls less than 2 months ago, and it must be said with the worst case of voter apathy in Canadian electoral history. 59% of Canadians voted in the October election, a record low.(4) The opposition parties agreed that going back to the polls, and spending another $300 million on election finances, was unpalatable to the Canadian people and also to the immediate situation that we were facing. What counted was getting the stimulus dollars injected into the economy as soon as possible so as to buffer us from any large casualties. Therefore, they presented the option of a coaltion government between the Liberals and the New Democrats. The two parties pledged their commitment to the Canadian people and to the setting aside of differences in the name of making the governance of this country effective and workable, atleast in the short term.
But alas, even though the Liberals and NDP had gained the support of 44% of Canadians, 7% more than the Conservatives, they still did not have more seats in the House than the Tories, nor enough seats to ensure that the Coalition Government would stay stable and have the votes it needed to govern effectively. It then turned to the Bloc Quèbecois for support. The three parties signed a document that stated the intentions of the coalition government between the Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party of Canada to bring forth immediate plans for a stimulus package for the Canadian economy, with the support of the Bloc Quèbecois only on issues pertaining to confidence in the newly formed Government for a period of 18 months. This would ensure the Government stability for a year and a half when going up against an angry and large Conservative caucus, and allow the Government to get through some important legislation as pertaining to the collective consensus on the needs of the economy.
This move to bring in the Bloc Quèbecois was taken by the Tory defensive line, and turned into a move that would give the separatists control over the actions of the Government, effectively paving the way for Quèbec soverignty. They called it irresponsible for them to engage the Bloc in any dealings of Canadian Government, because they were self acknowledged proponents of breaking up the country.
What at first had started as a national economic crisis had turned into a Parliamentary crisis - because no one knew if it was legal or legitimate for a newly amalgamated coalition government to usurp the power from the ruling Government - and had now turned into a unity crisis with the Harper Conservatives fanning the embers of anglophone-francophone contempt by calling the Liberals and NDP 'traitors' and basically hinting at the fact that they consider the Bloc an illegitimate force within the House.
What came next was a flurry of Conservative and Liberal and NDP and Bloc Quèbecois MPs speaking out either for or against the proposed coalition force, and a series of media barrages on the legalities and the moralities of going through with the signed, triplecate, ready for Royal Assent deal.
|| PROROGUATION ||
And then, as of December Fourth 2008, the 40th democratically elected Parliament of Canada was essentially silenced by the current Prime Minister - in an act that I see akin to Louis XVI shutting the doors of the Salle des États. He had petitioned the Governer General of Canada Michaëlle Jean to prorogue Parliament until he could bring out a budget on January the 27th. The reason that Mr. Harper did have Parliament prorogued was to avoid the vote of No Confidence that was to occur on the Eigth of December 2008, which would have defeated his Government and given way to the Governer General to either allow the coalition Government to form within the current Parliament, or goto an election and discover a new Government from that election.
The act of prorogument to avoid a completely democratic vote inside the House of Commons is almost an unspeakable act, in my own opinion. It also sets a dangerous precendent that any Prime Minister can effectively shut down Parliament in the face of a defeat in the future, something not likely to ever happen again, but keep in mind it has just happened.
Now the prorogument of Parliament by Mr. Harper via the Governer-General is probably a good thing, one must admit that. Parliament was going to go on holiday for Christmas anyway, and this really just gives them longer holiday time. Both parties, and the Canadian people, would benefit from taking the next 2 months to really take a look at what they believe in, and solidify those beliefs. However, the issue at hand is not the reasons or reasoning or even the benefits behind the act of proroguation, but that the desicion was made by the Prime Minister himself that he should be allowed to bring forth his budget and keep his Government in power, and frankly it was not his desicion to make. He was to face an entirely democratic vote in the House of Commons on monday the Eigth of December 2008, and this prorogument was done to avoid that vote and keep the Harper Conservatives in power. End of story.
REFERENCES + SOURCES OF INFORMATION
(1) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_federal_election,_2008 accessed Dec 5th 2008 @ ~ 11.30-12am)
(2) - http://www.fin.gc.ca/ec2008/pdf/EconomicStatement2008_Eng.pdf // page 5/127)
(3) - http://www.thespec.com/News/article/466140 - accessed Dec 6th 2008 @ ~2am)
(4) - http://enr.elections.ca/National_e.aspx - accessed Dec 6th 2008 at 2.29am)
I will continue this essay at a later time, and I will also include thoughts on how to fix the mess and come out with a happy and healthy Canada when all is said and done.
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