Parliamentary minutiae

[c9]

First, House of Commons Procedure and Practice Online, a handy guide to just about everything House of Commons. Added: How Canadians Govern Themselves, 6th Edition, by Senator Eugene Forsey. (also, PDF version)

Second, help! I can't figure out if parliament can be prorogued before opposition days ("supply" days) happen! I'm sure the Governor General's aides do know and would enforce any requirements, but I just want to find the actual standing orders / legislation that covers this.

Third, a great big WTF to our House of Commons. The political geek in me is totally squeeing and having great fun. But I know in m heart this is actually a pretty messy situation that ought to have been dealt with better.

Primarily, the Conservatives / Stephen Harper should not have presented such ideologically-driven ideas in the fiscal update, and should have been more open about the existing stimuli that are in progress and why he thinks they're good.

The Liberal/NDP coalition is interesting, may do good things, may screw things up, who knows. But the optics are terrible and I really think it will damage the Liberals in the next election (unless there's a huge event or change that changes the subject of said election). Most Canadians don't really get the Parliamentary system, and all they see (goaded on by the pretty-much-lying Conservatives) is the losers of the last election somehow cheating the system. It's all legal, but not common, and I think people don't really like the consequences of minority government now that they're here.

I am amused to discover that, in our typical Canadian way, we've found a version of Proportional Representation without actually changing any laws. Same way we've dealt with abortion since the 80s actually. 'Maybe if we just ignore the issue, everything will be fine.' Ha!

Now back to pretending to work while actually surfing Canadian news sites and blogs obsessively.

Comments

[oldgrover.livejournal.com]

The best I've been able to determine (listening to the constitutional experts on CBC and scouring the web) is that whether or not Parliament can be prorogued before the opposition day is unsettled - our system is based lots on custom and practice and this situation hasn't arisen before. No PM has ever asked to prorogue the House when it was clear they did not hold that confidence and no PM has ever asked to prorogue the House before the House actually did anything in the current session.

Both are potentially valid reasons for the GG to say 'no' to the request to prorogue, but it is a new situation.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's where I'm at too. This is so fascinating! I've been able to divorce myself from getting too worked up just because the geekery is so enjoyable and I know I can't directly affect what's happening anyway.

I did read this morning that the GG is on her way home (you read the Maclean's blogs right? best source of info these days!) so we're in for some history, I agree.

[whobunkyboo.livejournal.com]

I have to say, if nothing else, this situation is making Canadian government much more interesting to my Grade 6s. So if for no other reason, it's working for me! I just wish the Liberals had a new, strong, dynamic leader in place already.

[kdborg.livejournal.com]

I haven't looked into it yet, but has the Governor General ever granted a request for an election when one party is in a leadership race?

[c9.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that's not an issue and shouldn't even be a consideration. In the past, PMs have scheduled elections in consideration of the other parties (sometimes politely, sometimes not so much), but the GG has no responsibility to consider political parties whatsoever when she deliberates, only the members and the PM.

[primary-suspect.livejournal.com]

I was wondering when I would see this post. Yes, things are pretty crazy. I'm just wondering why it took the Liberals and NDP so long to work this out, maybe they couldn't before the election because it would have just triggered an election that they knew they couldn't win instead of just finishing an election they didn't win so the GG would be more likely to grant it?

Should be very interesting to see what happens in the next few days/week. I can only guess that Harper/Cons were being such dicks in the fiscal update (drop party subsidies, no striking, etc...) because they figured the Liberals would be too cowardly to defeat the government like before and just take it.

[c9.livejournal.com]

To be cynical (but I think correct), it was the political party subsidies that led to the deal. The parties knew, and regularly talked about, the fact that someday the government (Liberal in 2004, Conservative this time) would do something that simply could not be allowed. In this case, pulled federal subsidies in April would have bankrupted at least two parties, and that was what crossed the line. The other issues are significant, but to be honest I think the Tories were just communicating poorly, and the economy really isn't being ignored by them quite so much as the other parties claim.

[primary-suspect.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it was the subsidies that pushed it. I mean MPs are supposed to represent their constituents but in fact almost none of them do, they just vote the party line, no matter what the people in their riding want. Parties are out for themselves, not really to help the people of Canada. Look at the Liberals who were too chicken to vote against bills that they completely disagreed on, because they didn't want to trigger an election instead of doing what they thought was right for the country.

I think the cons were probably a little too arrogant in their fiscal update since they probably didn't see this coming and figured they didn't need to give any more information until the budget update. Whether they actually have a plan or not is up for debate, maybe they wanted to drag things out until the budget to see where things were at or to flesh out a plan.

The GG is probably very excited since for once she will actually have some real power. Too bad it costs $300M for an election, it would be interesting to see what would happen. Either it was infuriate people enough that voter turnout would go higher, or more likely drop significantly.

[joecdn.livejournal.com]

I hate the Conservatives, and everything Stephen Harper stands for, so as far as I'm concerned - I'm really looking forward to seeing him fall from grace. Proroguing parliament will hurt him more than it will help them, the argument being that in this current economic crisis nobody should be suspending parliament. I think the coalition government could do great, non-partisan things for Canada - and if it performs well, could help both the Liberals and the NDP. It could also be a catalyst for bigger things to come, perhaps a Liberal/NDP merger sometime in the future. Who knows, it's all new ground, but I'm excited about the potential it brings.