During the English revolution Charles the First was beheaded and then another tyrant took his place, Oliver Cromwell who in turn, was also later beheaded. Both of these despots abrogated or prorogued parliament, the legislature or as this political body is known in the French tradition: “The National Assembly”. This brings me to the French revolution, which as most of us know, was also quite a nasty and bloody chapter in history. Now what does this have to do with Canada today you ask? Well in the case of “Charles I” and Cromwell in England, Parliament was abrogated, dispensed or done away with in order to serve the King’s or ruler of the day wishes. And hence absolute power was concentred in the hands of one man. Just like it is being done here today. Tyrants historically, always seem to target parliaments or legislatures whenever they want total power, because this institution gets in their way. It’s a hindrance to them. So back to the French and their “Sun King”, you guessed it, also tangled with parliament and also got beheaded in the end. Here’s a story relevant to our current situation using the hockey narrative.
In 1789, France was at war and in a huge economic mess. There were two teams; the Royalists (The King and the Bourbon dynasty) and the other team on the ice, was “the Third Estate” (“Le Tiers Etat”), who sought to establish a people’s assembly or parliament which was not totally obedient to the King’s wishes. But then another sport is more suitable as a metaphor: tennis.
These “radicals” established a sort of “House of Commons” of their own and defied the King, which came to be known as the “National Assembly” or the English equivalent would be our Parliament. This did not please the monarch, whose head was to be also guillotined later on. What the King did, to subvert and prevent these “communes” from conducting their business was he “locked-out” its members or prorogued the Assembly. He simply did not allow this new democratic forum to meet (which openly challenged his divine right to rule) and ordered the closure of the newly founded legislature. And thus this newly created Assembly was unable to convene. He used the excuse that more work was needed to be done by carpenters inside the Assembly, in preparation for his majesty’s upcoming throne speech. Deprived of a venue for their meetings and gatherings, the revolutionaries came up with an unusual idea; the new assembly members met in an indoor tennis court, instead. I kid you not! From there they continued their deliberations on ways to restrain the king’s absolute powers. Let’s fast forward to today.
Aren’t there any sport clubs or indoor tennis courts our M.P. can rent space in until March 3rd? They could meet there, debate issues of the day, while staying in shape at the same time. Anyway, it’s just a suggestion. As for our great ruler, maybe he should reconvene Parliament before it’s too late or will he wait until heads begin to role? Of course only politically speaking that is.
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