PM prorogues Parliament

No democracy please, we're Canadian! Photo: John Talbot

No democracy please, we're Canadian!

Prime Minister Stephen Harper went ahead with his much-anticipated plan to prorogue Parliament on Wednesday, shutting down the operations of the House of Commons and Senate until March 3rd.

The prorogation will have the effect of preventing parliamentary discussion of the detainee torture scandal for another two months, at which point a new federal budget and (possibly) a nearly immediate election will push the torture issue out of the public eye indefinitely—or so the PM clearly hopes.

Not that the Harper government has anything to hide, you understand. This is a perfectly routine step that has nothing to do with hiding anything, says the PM’s spokesthing. In fact, it’s all about consulting with Canadians, stakeholders, and businesses as the government moves into the “next phase” of its economic action plan. They care about what we think! They care!

Sweet.

Meanwhile, the folks at The Torch would like to remind everyone that the previous Liberal government also has some explaining to do. A good point, and a strong argument for letting a judicial inquiry or other legal process sort it out.

Photo by John Talbot, Creative Commons license

Tags: Afghanistan, Prorogue state, Stephen Harper, Torture