Monday, January 4, 2010

I thought it was humour to suggest an annual proroguing of Parliament

But it seems that the Conservatives are seriously thinking of it!

Government sources say they are contemplating formally shutting down Parliament at the end of every year, so the government can start afresh with a throne speech and a budget.
That way, the argument goes, the public will have a clear idea what the government plans to achieve for the coming year.


But the trouble with frequent proroguing is that it disrupts parliamentary activity. Committees are disbanded. Legislation moving through Parliament is killed. And the work that MPs were elected to do in Ottawa is not being performed.


The government's decision to prorogue, for example, effectively undoes all the work MPs have carried out in the last year on a huge package of proposed legislation designed to get tough on crime.

See full story here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5i2t8zd2OvdHQYLcF4FfkDh0eST2g

5 comments:

Top Can said...

This is quite serious. Is there any possibility that this could go to the Courts?

penlan said...

And so what do you think of this, James?

deBeauxOs said...

Could you do something about those long links that screw up the front page of Progressive Bloggers when your posts arrive there?

Tiny url (or something similar) is your friend.

Grand merci.

Anonymous said...

Unnamed sources yet again from CP, who would have imagined?

If the opposition grows a pair and votes non confidence in the upcoming budget we will be having an election in April.

When the Conservatives get a majority in the next election there will be no need to prorogue as the Senate will no longer be in Liberal control and nor will the house.

This story is about as believable as fairy tales and unicorns, sadly this is the reality of the depths to which the MSM has sunk over the last decade or so.

Trailer trash tabloid journalism, it's no wonder the MSM are going financially bankrupt, they've been morally bankrupt for years.

rww said...

"Government sources say they are contemplating formally shutting down Parliament at the end of every year, so the government can start afresh with a throne speech and a budget."

That used to be quite normal. When I started on the hill annual new sessions were quite normal and doable if the government managed it's time properly. New sessions usually started in the fall after the summer recess.

The difference here is that the House would recess for the summer. Resume for a day in the fall and then prorogue and return after a day or two with a new Throne Speech. The country would not be without a Parliament for more than a few days.