Harper will seek to prorogue -- he'll get the delay -- there'll be a flood of Conservative media -- and we'll all be back after Christmas to deal with the economy which needed dealing with now.
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Economy will have collapsed by mid-January, and Harper, without the confidence of the house, will have no power to deal with it. We will have a financial and constitutional crisis simultaneously, and there is no way to predict what will happen from there.
I don't believe the Governor General will be able to turn down a request to prorogue. However, she does have the authority to call Parliament back. I would hope she tells Harper that she will grant his request to prorogue but only for one week, after which she will be summoning the House of Commons to return. We are in the worst economic crisis since the Depression, but even without that crisis this course of action would be reasonable. How can you have a government stay in power that clearly does not have the support of the House. She can give him a week to work on obtaining that support and then call the House back.
That sounds like a real possibility & is a very good one. If Harper can't work it out then he will be forced to hold the vote & then fall - which is something he is fighting against. So he will have little choice other than to work it out with the other parties.
The crux of it, from a parliamentary democracy point of view, is it is untenable for the monarchy to allow a government to continue that clearly does not have the confidence of the House. I believe an honest interpretation of the rules and the role of the Governor General can lead her to only one conclusion: a prorogue will be granted, but the House will be recalled very shortly and you will have to demonstrate whether you have the confidence of the House or not.
4 comments:
Economy will have collapsed by mid-January, and Harper, without the confidence of the house, will have no power to deal with it. We will have a financial and constitutional crisis simultaneously, and there is no way to predict what will happen from there.
I don't believe the Governor General will be able to turn down a request to prorogue. However, she does have the authority to call Parliament back. I would hope she tells Harper that she will grant his request to prorogue but only for one week, after which she will be summoning the House of Commons to return. We are in the worst economic crisis since the Depression, but even without that crisis this course of action would be reasonable. How can you have a government stay in power that clearly does not have the support of the House. She can give him a week to work on obtaining that support and then call the House back.
Anon @ 10:58 AM
That sounds like a real possibility & is a very good one. If Harper can't work it out then he will be forced to hold the vote & then fall - which is something he is fighting against. So he will have little choice other than to work it out with the other parties.
The crux of it, from a parliamentary democracy point of view, is it is untenable for the monarchy to allow a government to continue that clearly does not have the confidence of the House. I believe an honest interpretation of the rules and the role of the Governor General can lead her to only one conclusion: a prorogue will be granted, but the House will be recalled very shortly and you will have to demonstrate whether you have the confidence of the House or not.
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