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An Affront to Responsible Government Week of January 4, 2010
Our
democracy depends on an active Parliament and robust opposition to hold
the government to account. An elected Parliament provides Canadians a
vital check and balance, one that that should help prevent the worst
government excesses, control corruption, and provide oversight. This is
why that few, if any, modern democracies permit the government of the
day to hide from the elected legislature for months at a time. It is an
affront to responsible government.
 In
what is becoming an annual tradition, Stephen Harper has chosen to
unilaterally prorogue (suspend) Parliament until March. Work is
stopped; most legislation before the House cancelled. He is doing this
to prevent parliamentary Committee investigations into Afghan torture,
to stifle repercussions of ramming his HST tax Bill through in the
dying hours before the winter break, and to avoid further embarrassment
on his abysmal environment record. And he will gain control of the
Senate by stacking that undemocratic body with friends over the break,
discarding a longstanding promise not to.
Locking the doors
of Parliament and taking an extended winter vacation does our democracy
a disservice more locally as well. I was elected to represent the
interests of my constituents, and so I will use the coming months of
prorogation to consult with people in Thunder Bay-Superior North and
work on their issues, to help local communities and to work on new
legislation for tabling when Parliament resumes. But Canadians expect
their elected representatives to stand up for them in the House,
advance important bills through Parliament, and work with other
legislators on reforms that are important to them. These are all
hampered when their elected representatives are prevented from
assembling.
It's true that Stephen Harper didn't invent
prorogation. But he's been responsible for concentrating more power in
the Prime Minister’s Office than any other PM in history. This
prorogation follows only one year after the last one, used once more to
avoid parliamentary accountability. Our "Friendly Dictatorship," as
columnist Jeffrey Simpson calls it, has turned less friendly and
increasingly dictatorial as more and more is controlled directly by the
Prime Minister.
Prorogation has its roots in the antiquated
past of our Westminster parliamentary system. The kings of England used
prorogation frequently to control Parliament, considering the
legislature to be little more than a rubber stamp. Tudor kings often
used their power of prorogation and summons to assemble Parliament only
long enough to obtain their votes approving spending and policies.
Sound disturbingly familiar? Interesting that by the mid-1600s, the
English Parliament itself had to approve any prorogation. A democratic
legitimacy modern Canada can only dream of!
The fact that we
can go back so far in English imperial history for apt comparisons of
how Harper is using arbitrary executive power speaks volumes about how
our democracy in Canada has regressed. Rather than being dealt with,
the "democratic deficit" in this country has gotten much worse in
recent years. Annual prorogations are just the latest, sad, example of
that.
We must ask ourselves how much more we should tolerate.
Should Prime Ministers in a modern democracy be able to wield the
absolute power of kings? Should one man be able to dismiss all the
people's elected representatives, just because he doesn't like what
they are investigating?
We may not have to accept this further
erosion of responsible government. Perhaps it's high time that
parliamentarians assemble anyways, regardless of prorogation. A
"Parliament of the willing" to continue the work that Canadians expect
their representatives to be doing. One of the first orders of business
should be to investigate whether outdated imperial throwbacks like
unilateral prorogation have any place in a modern democracy at all.
Bruce Hyer, MP
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Join Bruce on:
CONTACT BRUCE |
Constituency Office:
(Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)
69 N. Court Street
Thunder Bay, ON
P7A 4T7
Tel: 807-345-1818
Toll-free:
1-888-266-8004
Fax: 807-345-4752
bruce@brucehyer.ca
Parliamentary Office:
(No postage necessary)
Bruce Hyer, MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Tel: 613-996-4792
Fax: 613-996-9785
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