From a political scientist’s point of view and from that of a reporter’s as well it’s quite fascinating to be in Canada right now. From what I am reading and hearing and gauging, we are entering into a prolonged state of political paralysis. The prorogation if prolonged or used again arbitrarily could lead perhaps to a constitutional crisis in Canada. Or worse, it could mean the start of some sort of a very dangerous authoritarian drift towards despotism. On the positive side, Prorogation could be beginning of a very long, protracted, pathway towards reforming the electoral system. That means recalibrating it to be more "in tune"; with the electorate. Now, it seems the government is woefully "out of syn" ; with the mainstream populace. On the negative side, our enlightened leader’s move could initiate a period if nasty internal instability coupled with a struggle for power outside the walls of parliament. Historically if you shut out and close down a legal and legitimate venue for debate on key national issues you then essentially shut off a vital safety valve for open opposition and debate. You squelch or stifle the democratic machinery in the process. You essentially drive dissent underground. This has led in the past to unruly confrontations between the ruler or usurper of power and the legitimate elected body such as parliament . A recent example is in post Soviet Russia. In 1993, president Boris Yeltsin and the Russian Parliament clashed. I have pasted here the wikipedia reference to this crisis to familiarize us all with the events known as: "The Russian constitutional crisis of 1993". This was a political stand-off between the Russian president and the Russian parliament that was resolved by using military force. The relations between the president and the parliament had been deteriorating for a while. They reached a tipping point on September 21, when Russian president Boris Yeltsin dissolved the country's legislature (Congress of People's Deputies and its Supreme Soviet).
The president did not have the power to dissolve the parliament according to the then-current constitution. Yeltsin used the results of the referendum of April 1993 to justify his actions. In response, the parliament impeached Yeltsin and proclaimed vice president Aleksandr Rutskoy acting president. The situation deteriorated at the beginning of October. On Sunday, October 3, demonstrators removed police cordons around the parliament and, urged by their leaders, took over Mayor's offices and tried to storm Ostankino television centre. The army that had initially declared its neutrality by Yeltsin's orders stormed the Supreme Soviet building in the early morning hours of October 4, and arrested the leaders of the resistance.” Now let’s be clear although I have been in Moscow during the tumultuous times of the fall of the Soviet Union, I am not in any way suggesting, and the prorogation will lead to a full blown confrontation between the leadership and the legislature.
We don't settle disputes like the Russians do with tanks and barricades. There is supposed to be due process for that here. However, what I am suggesting is that in any democracy (Russia was classified just that, at the time with an elected leader) when relations deteriorate between the executive and the legislature this could spell trouble for everyone. To extricate ourselves from this potential mess some Canadian political scientists have suggested a European style proportional representation system. The citizenry meanwhile, is riled enough to come out ( in very small numbers) on the streets and protest prorogation. These are essentially "grass roots movements";, which the government can pretend to easily dismiss and sideline. However, from the editorials I have read in Canada's financial heartland, that is in Toronto, it appears Bay Street ( Banks, Foreign owned corporations, etc.) essentially the Eastern establishment elite is not very keen on or pleased with the P.M’s callous attempt to mothball parliament. His gambit might prove to have been a rash miscalculation with unknown consequences for the current regime. Stay tuned this sage is far from over.
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