It’s quite sad to see “our House” of commons, the people’s parliament that is, being turned into just a cheap prop for the P.M. to proffer his slimming democratic credentials when he’s gallivanting abroad somewhere. You know where I mean, those one- party states, like China or places run by a one man overlords, such as Russia for instance; yes, the heart of the former Soviet Empire. Which reminds me of this: its current Russian prime minister might be an ideal role model for his Canadian counterpart. Maybe the two men could do a cultural exchange and switch places for a while.
I’m sure our P.M would feel right at home in Moscow, running an oil and gas rich place with a big arms industry and very little “home –grown” opposition to bother with. Presiding over a vast cold and wild territory much like his home-land, with endless tundra or taiga. And, then maybe “Vladimir the Great” could come to Ottawa and reopen our parliament again for us while he’s here (Russian Prime Minister’s seem to respect their “House” or Duma) and restore our badly bruised national pride and diminished standing in the world (thanks to the tar sands, third world mining, and allegations of torture) again just like V.P. did for his own country. There is a downside to this. It could lead to the “Putinization” of Canada; a very worrisome trend, which seems to be already, well underway. If here at home, parliament is suspended each year, it could become a bad habit . The grand old insitution itself might turn into a kind of throw –away plaything, to be discarded by our great leader whenever it pleases him; or to be discarded when he tires of it. Then we all lose out. Has “the House” now become an empty, hollow and abandoned crypt where the remnants of our once vibrant parliamentary system now lie forever dormant? We should all be wondering about this now.
What precedents are there world –wide for parliamentarians being “locked out” or tossed out of their work-place? Doing a bit of research I discovered that the Australian parliament was suspended or prorogued for a brief spell last year, due to the wild-bush fires which raged, “down under” and because of the floods too. Yes this was a national emergency.
But then what is the burning issue or state of emergency (swine flu?) which justified our parliament to close down? Is it the unusual amount of snowfall last week in Ottawa perhaps? The Scottish parliament was closed for two weeks back in 2002, because it was moving from Edinburgh to Aberdeen. Is Harper planning to move the parliament to Calgary in the coming months or closer to the Olympic venue out west? You tell me.
In Sri Lanka, a place ravaged by decades’ long bloody civil war, the county’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa decreed the suspension parliament a few times. This was criticised by the opposition as an attempt to disrupt ongoing investigations into corruption allegations. Does this sound familiar or what?
In another war torn-land President Chandrika Kumaratunga, whose Peoples' Alliance coalition lost its majority in in 2005, Liberia, suspended Parliament temporarily. Yes, Canada may be at war overseas but where thankfully there is no armed conflict within its border, like in a west African hell-hole. So what justifies the suspension of parliament this time in Canada? After the notorious shoe throwing incident in Iraq, its parliament was suspended in December 2008. Flying foot wear aimed at former U.S presidents certainly justified such action. But this has not happened here, so why close "our House" down?
In Kuwait , its Emir, last year sought to suspend or dissolve parliament for two years. That’s long enough for any ruler to tighten his grip on power until the next elections. Speaking of the polls, I just can’t wait for the spring time vote.
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