Harper serves up a prorogue
November 30, 2008 by Dirk
And it’s not the kind served with sour cream.
Seems Harper might try to buy himself some more time,like till next year. I believe its called,proroguing parliament.
tr.v. pro·rogued, pro·rogu·ing, pro·rogues1. To discontinue a session of (a parliament, for example).2. To postpone; defer.
Damn them stupid obscure rules,and here I was looking forward to Monday (Dec 8),unlike most.
A government must maintain the confidence parliament. Proroguing parliament is a normal function of the Prime Minister, but doing so to avoid a confidence vote would run completely contrary to Constitutional convention. The Governer General could well take it as a sign that the Prime Minister has already lost the confidence of the House and ask someone else (i.e. the leader of the opposition) to form government. In short, such a move could provoke a Constitutional crisis.
Furthermore, the country cannot be left without a government–or at least a without government capable of passing legistlation–in the middle of an economic crisis. Grinding the functions of government to a halt for three months as we spiral into a recession would be one of the few things I think Canadians might get truly outraged about.