http://tinyurl.com/ygvohbp
James Morton, National Post
Published: Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Before being prorogued, Parliament ordered the federal government to release thousands of records concerning Afghan prisoners.
The order for records to be produced followed revelations that Canadian officials had some knowledge that Afghan prisoners captured by Canadian soldiers and handed to local Afghan authorities were subjected to abuse. Trade Minister Stockwell Day immediately told a press conference the government would not honour the direction of Parliament. There is no reason to believe the government's position has changed, and the opposition is likely to press the issue as soon as possible.
In theory, if the government ignores the order, as Minister Day suggested he would, Parliament could vote to find the government "in contempt."
What does this actually mean? Contempt of Parliament is the offence of obstructing parliament in the carrying out of its functions. According to the House of Commons Procedure and Practice manual, it comprises "any conduct which offends the authority or dignity of the House, even though no breach of any specific privilege may have been committed." The punishment for contempt of Parliament is in the discretion of Parliament. It seldom amounts to more than censure for misconduct, but is theoretically punishable by jail time.
4 comments:
What do you think the reaction would be if Libs with the help of sepratists hold our gov't "in contempt"?
Jail time? Get real..
Stockwell Day, being led out of the House in handcuffs?
Shh, shh, shh.
Just let me hold that image in my mind for a while.
Mmmm.
My gawd James, don't read the comments @ NP, personal & vicious!
Sergeant-at-Arms must be just chillin with anticipation!
The NP comments were pretty, errh, strong. Well, I'm a big boy (and apparently a useless lawyer, a whimp and (somewhat to my surpise) an anti-Semite. The funny thing is that flame war are supposed to be in blogs, not newspapers!!!
Post a Comment