Explaining Proroguing to International Friends

You know, even though I have a degree in Political Science (and Economics, merci beaucoup) from a very good school, I had never, ever heard the term proroguing before it was employed by Harper, the current Prime Minister.

So, it’s been problematic trying to explain it to friends abroad who can tell I’m extremely angry about it, but it defies easy description for what a slimy move it is because most people find it hard to stretch their mind around the idea the elected PM can simply tell people the session is over and we’re not answering any more questions here thank you.

The best I’ve found so far is to explain it like the school year (or point at wikipedia – note: wikipedia edit war in progress on the prorogue topic at time of writing). Imagine the principal, mostly because he just can’t be bothered or wants to avoid the fact that embarrassingly none of his students would pass finals due to his bad management or that he would be fired, decides simply to close the school and tell everyone not to come back. Doesn’t sound too bad until you realize all the students lose their academic year if they haven’t already completed their courses (and few have). If anyone has a better analogy though, please let me know.

But, of course, it’s much worse than that. Parliament is where our elected representatives hold the PM and his party to account for the decisions around governing our country. Especially in a minority government, proroguing should not be allowed here as it is a slap in the face to democracy, incredibly un-Canadian and a vicious abuse of Prime Ministerial powers as vested in him by the people of Canada. If no one is holding the PM to account it is like he is ruling, not governing. And it is so incredibly arrogant to simply do this and think Canadians are simply so jaded and bored by their government that we’ll roll over to watch the Olympics and the hockey games. Hopefully, Harper has made a grave miscalculation. I’d like to see him removed from office over this. HOw many non-confidence votes can be introduced at next session? I’d like to see it the prime thing on the docket. Let’s see him try to prorogue Parliament 10 days in.

I am very glad though that the international condemnation on this is rolling in though. The always outspoken and even handed Economist has weighed in with two devastating articles (Canada Without Parliament and Harper Goes Prorogue) basically expressing how underhanded and Macchiavellian this is. Read them here and here. An abuse of democratic machinery against the spirit of democracy.

So, call your MP and tell him how upset you are with this hijacking of Canadian principles. Even better, call the PMs office and protest all you can. And, finally vote against this kind of arrogance in the next election.