Tag Archives: prorogation

Stephen Harper ‘hasn’t seen anything yet’

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Mulcair warns of Senate-scandal grilling when House returns

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says Conservatives should be paying for audit.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says Conservatives should be paying for audit. Photo: The Canadian Press / Files

August 26, 2013    http://o.canada.com

OTTAWA — Stephen Harper may have bought himself an extra month of peace by proroguing Parliament and delaying the fall session but when he returns in October, he can expect to be back on the hot seat over Senate spending, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair warned Monday

“In the last five weeks of Parliament, the prime minister showed up to answer questions exactly five times. By the time the House finally reconvenes, it will have been five months since he’s had to answer a question,” Mulcair told party faithful during a stop on Parliament Hill as part of the Opposition’s “Roll Up the Red Carpet” campaign to abolish the upper chamber.

“Well, Mr. Harper needs to answer for himself and he needs to answer to Canadians. If Mr. Harper thought the questions last spring were tough, he hasn’t seen anything yet. We’re just getting started.”

Mulcair, who was lauded by political observers last spring for his performance during question period — namely his rapid fire grilling of Conservatives over Senate spending that left them squirming —  returned to Ottawa to draw attention to the prime minister’s absence and rail against the “unelected and unaccountable” Senate.

It’s part of a cross-country campaign to sway public opinion and get provincial leaders on his side in the hopes of winning a mandate in the next election that would allow his party to scrap the so-called chamber sober second thought. It’s a crucial proposition for the NDP which has no senators and would likely struggle to pass legislation if it were to form government.

Mulcair, has yet to explain exactly how he would get rid of the Senate — a complicated proposal the Supreme Court has been asked to clarify — but acknowledged Monday that it wouldn’t be easy even if it is a “vestigial organ that can safely be removed with no harm to the body.

“I intend to meet with the premiers. I know that not all are in agreement. We’ve never had any illusion. We don’t think that this is going to be easy,” he said.

“But we want to start the conversation now, while we’re still in Opposition, to make sure that Canadians understand that we’re serious about it. That we know it’s a profound institutional change but we want to get a mandate to do that as part of the 2015 election.”

Mulcair also reiterated calls for the Conservative Party to pick up the tab for embattled Sen. Pamela Wallin’s $127,000 audit. Not only did Harper initially defend the senator in the House of Commons, he argued the audit later revealed that many of the expenses under question had to do with partisan fundraising efforts.

With the auditor general now set to review the expenses of all senators, Mulcair said both the Liberal and Conservative parties should be prepared to cover the cost should any “irregularities” related to party financing be uncovered.

Mulcair also touched on other priorities in advance of upcoming meetings in Saskatoon where his caucus will hammer out a strategy for the return of Parliament. Mulcair said the “public protection” of Canadians and the erosion of regulations related to rail safety, food security and maritime search and rescue, are among the issues the NDP will explore in the lead up to the next election.

tcohen@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/tobicohen

Guardian Charlottetown: Prorogation proves pivotal to prime minister

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Harper delays Parliament’s return to redirect attention to economy

https://i0.wp.com/www.theguardian.pe.ca/images/logo/204_GuardianFlag2013.jpg     Published on August 21, 2013

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has thrived by following the abridged axiom: “if it gets too hot in the House, prorogue Parliament.” It has worked well in previous cases of threatened coalitions and heated questioning in the House of Commons. No one should be surprised the PM has chosen the same course this week.

Why not delay facing his critics by another four to five weeks while he fine tunes a new economic plan to distract Canadians from the Senate scandals and get their attention back on jobs and the economy, a trump card he has played so well the past two elections. Whether it work this time remains to be determined.

While making his annual trek through Canada’s north this week, Mr. Harper confirmed he intends to prorogue what has been a disastrous session of Parliament for his Conservative government, a session largely derailed by the scandal over Senate expenses.

It’s a guarantee that Mr. Harper will still face a barrage of questions about those expenses. But the new session will also give him an opportunity to lay out a fresh legislative agenda, concentrating on economic issues which he hopes will steer the Conservatives to victory in the fall of 2015.

The optics are obvious and they are all wrong for the PM. His decision fools no one. Proroguing also kills a number of pieces of legislation. Is it simply irony or part of the overall strategy that Senate reform legislation is just one of the bills that will die on the order paper? The bill would set nine-year term limits for senators and create a mechanism for elections to the upper chamber.

But this stalling tactic to delay a return to fiery Commons question periods is the smart, political move. Who knows what other contentious issue, either nationally or internationally, might arise by late October that could push the Senate scandal off the front pages. It makes little sense to meet NDP, Liberal and Green MPs any earlier than necessary. The PM is a master at the game of playing politics.

The prime minister has used prorogation very effectively in his career. In December 2008, it saved his government from a looming defeat at the hands of a dubious Liberal, NDP and Parti Quebecois coalition, an alliance desperate for power. He prorogued again the following year, halting heated House of Commons committee hearings into the treatment of Afghan detainees.

So Canadians will see a new throne speech in October that will finish off some old business of course, but more importantly set out a new direction for the country towards the end of this decade.

Mr. Harper has already tested the central theme of the next election, attacking other party leaders who have “vacuous minds” and featuring out of control, hire and spend agendas. But he can also expect repeated question about his own good judgment concerning an ill-advised decision to appoint 18 senators, many with dubious credentials, in December 2008 with his government facing defeat and his own future in doubt. That class of 2008 included Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau and Michael Duffy.

So, while NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair thunders a barrage of criticism this week about a desperate government worn out by ethical scandals and mismanagement, and Deputy Liberal leader Ralph Goodale suggests that Mr. Harper is trying to avoid answering questions about his former chief of staff’s $90,000 cheque to Sen. Duffy, the prime minister is nonchalantly posing for photo ops with polar bears, far from the madding crowd.

Democracy delayed

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Staff ~ The Cape Breton Post      Published on August 22, 2013

Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a sound argument for proroguing Parliament. He says it’s a chance for his government to set out its agenda for the last half of its current mandate via a new throne speech.

Fair enough. But extending the parliamentary break by about a month in concert with prorogation is both unnecessary and undemocratic.

So far in 2013, the House of Commons sat for 75 days, between Jan. 28 and June 18, after which MPs started their three-month summer break.

They were due back in the House on Sept. 16, but now the prime minister says that parliamentarians won’t get their bums back in the House of Commons seats until October, reportedly after Thanksgiving, which lands in the middle of the month.

As NDP Leader Tom Mulcair noted, Harper could prorogue and restart Parliament with a throne speech on Sept. 16. There’s no need for an extended break.

In June, Mervyn Poole of North Sydney penned a letter to the editor criticizing the length of the House of Commons summer break. He wrote: “Three months is preposterous. A month seems ample to me.”

In response, Sydney-Victoria MP Mark Eyking wrote that he would spend the break “attending meetings, festivals and community events, travelling hundreds of kilometres around Cape Breton and enjoying it. This gives me the opportunity to hear first-hand the constituents’ personal issues and community concerns to take back to Ottawa in September.”

Eyking added: “I enjoy travelling and connecting with everyone throughout the summer. I guess you could say I am on a working vacation.”

That wasn’t a surprising response coming from Eyking, who, like many politicians, isn’t known for his dynamic parliamentary speaking skills or for his mastery of policy matters. His advantage lies in being a strong constituency politician — attending as many community events, shaking as many hands, listening to as many complaints and appearing in as many photos as possible.

Constituency work is important. But Parliament exists for a reason.

After Harper prorogued Parliament in December 2009, Cape Breton Post political columnist David Johnson wrote a followup piece.

Johnston stated: “Canadians love to make fun of politicians and to lament the silly games and partisanship often found in Parliament, especially in question period. But such criticisms should never be seen as Canadians showing disrespect for the institution of Parliament, or laughing at the symbolism of Parliament.

“To most Canadians, Parliament is where the government works. Parliament is where our democratically elected representatives are supposed to serve us. Parliament is where Canadian democracy is enshrined.”

By extending the current parliamentary break by another month, Harper can delay answering uncomfortable and potentially damaging questions about, for example, Sen. Pamela Wallin’s inappropriately claimed travel expenses, which, we learned Wednesday, total almost $139,000.

At the same time, the prime minister will delay democracy.

 

 

Prorogation marks desperate attempt to change the channel

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Written by Carol Hughes, MP

Friday, 23 August 2013    http://www.wawa-news.com

If you watched Question Period during the last five weeks parliament sat in the spring, you didn’t see much of the Prime Minister.  When Stephen Harper was around over that stretch, it was anything but smooth sailing.  Day after day he faced a tough line of questioning from Tom Mulcair about the Mike Duffy/Senate expense scandal and the attempted cover-up performed by the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.  His answers were weak and it was clear he was losing patience with the situation.

For a man with a reputation for controlling every situation it was easy to understand that he wouldn’t want to be in Question Period.   That doesn’t mean that he should have avoided Parliament so much.  Much the same, it is no excuse to avoid facing those same, tough, unanswered questions, but that is what the Prime Minister is doing by proroguing Parliament and delaying the start of the autumn sitting likely by as much a five weeks.

The problem with the growing cynicism over prorogation is of the Prime Minister’s own making.  This is the fourth time he has used the parliamentary tool and in each case it has been employed primarily to avoid scandal.   The scandal he is avoiding this time is also of his own making. With the exception of Liberal Senator, Mac Harb, Stephen Harper appointed the Senators at the centre of the storm.

Throughout the summer the problem has only deepened.  While we do hear less about Mike Duffy and Nigel Wright, we are hearing more and more about Senator Pamela Wallin, who has now been ordered to repay $138,970 due to misappropriation and is the subject of an ongoing RCMP investigation.

It looks as if the Prime Minister considered the appropriateness of his Senate appointments as a secondary concern when vetting candidates.  The clear emphasis seems to have been on whether they were politically useful to the Conservative Party – especially with Senators Duffy and Wallin. 

Now it is time to be accountable for those appointments and any attempts that members of the Prime Minister’s inner circle have made to sweep these problems under the rug.  Instead of returning to Parliament, answering the tough questions, and working our way through the government bills that remain at various stages of the parliamentary process, the Prime Minister is going to hide out for another month and start from scratch – again.

This buys a little time, but Canadians are clearly outraged by the entitled behavior of these patronage appointees and that anger won’t dissipate as quickly as the Prime Minister hopes.  What is being slowly ground down is any faith Canadians have in the effectiveness of our democratic institutions.  It is beyond ironic that the Senate, which is inherently undemocratic, is at the heart of the problem.  While the Prime Minister makes vague statements about reforming the Senate, public opinion is growing in support of the long held New Democrat position that we should just abolish it altogether.

As far as answering for the actions of his patronage appointees and senior members of his inner circle, the Prime Minister will eventually have to deal with the fact that no amount of hiding can wash away the bitter taste of deceit that Canadians are experiencing.  Although it is clear he is going to give that another try.

Globe editorial: Harper’s latest prorogation has the unwelcome whiff of political convenience

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https://i0.wp.com/beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/media/www/images/flag/gam-masthead.pngLast updated Tuesday, Aug. 20 2013

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s announcement that he will prorogue the current session of Parliament and delay the return of the Legislature until mid-October is frustrating and unwelcome. Yes, this will be a more routine use by Mr. Harper of the royal prerogative to prorogue than in the past but it is not justified by the circumstances, and it has the odour of political convenience. We repeat what we said before: Parliament should not sit silent at the whim of the prime minister.

This will be the third time Mr. Harper has gone to the Governor-General and asked for royal consent to end a session of Parliament, making him something of a serial proroguer. No other modern prime minister has resorted to prorogation as often the current one.

Mr. Harper used it first in 2008 when he feared the opposition would defeat his minority government on a confidence motion. He did it again in 2009 when, still leading a minority, he wanted to shield his government from questions about the detention of Afghan detainees.

Mr. Harper’s argument for proroguing a third time is more sound. His majority government is halfway through its mandate, and he wants to reset its priorities with a speech from the throne. Under normal circumstances, this would not be of much concern; it could even have been expected. But the prime minister’s reputation precedes him, and a potentially damaging issue is once more dogging his government: the Senate expenses scandal and the mysterious payment of $90,000 by the former chief of staff of the Prime Minister’s Office to disgraced senator Mike Duffy.

Mr. Harper could have let the current session continue to December and then prorogued, allowing him to return with a fresh start in January. But he has chosen not to wait. The result will be the delay of the return of Parliament after the summer recess by as many as six weeks – six weeks during which Parliament could have been addressing questions about the Senate scandals, as well dealing with ongoing issues of vital concern to Canada and Canadians: the Keystone XL pipeline; the possible entry of Verizon into the Canadian cellphone market; the economic recovery; free trade with Europe; and the crisis in Egypt.

Mr. Harper’s announcement continues the weakening of Parliament and MPs at the expense of the executive. As we have said, Canadians don’t elect a prime minister – they elect MPs to form a government and then hold the prime minister and Cabinet to account. The increasing exploitation of prorogation for political expediency (Ontarians saw former premier Dalton McGuinty blatantly resort to it last fall) is a reversal of the flow of power.