I
don't believe in all the rhetoric and drama of the opposition
parties regarding the prorogation of Parliament. The talk about
Prime Minister Stephen Harper somehow being a dictator is nonsense.
Harper did what the Constitution allows him to do and the opposition
parties still have in their own means to express democracy by
bringing the government down. When March comes they still can vote
the government down and put everything in the hands of the voters.
That's what democracy is all about and it's always there. If they
don't vote the government down it's only because they're not doing
their job as opposition parties by preparing to be an alternative.
If there is a problem in changing the government, they are part of
the problem because they don't have a solution.
Nonetheless,
I also still believe that the decision to prorogue was and is wrong
and that it says more about some Conservatives mentality than our
democracy.
Contrary
to what the opposition says, I believe that this government knows
how to govern, but doesn't know a lot about politics.
The
job of governing cannot be approached with a business mentality. In
business you can force decisions onto others even if they don't like
it. In politics this approach doesn't work because you have to
convince people that what you're doing is right.
Take
the decision to prorogue Parliament. Canada is in between two very
important economic and social phases. The economic crisis of 2009 is
over in the sense that the broken bone has been set and is now
beginning to heal. The government needs a new strategy before diving
into the second phase towards a full recovery. Furthermore, the
government needs to prorogue in order to balance the power in the
Senate's committees. I also agree that the Parliament,
unfortunately, has not been very helpful in shaping the second phase
by coming forward with serious proposals and initiatives. In the
last few months they have only tried to deal with issues that
embarrass the government. I agree that the Afghan issue is
important, but I don't believe that it's the only issue concerning
Canadians at this time.
However,
even if I see the government's point about a dysfunctional
Parliament, I still believe that the issue has not been handled
properly by adopting a businesslike decision.
I
don't know the technicalities of the prorogation, but I believe that
the Senate issue could have been addressed by proroguing Parliament
without delaying the beginning of the new session.
As
for the preparation of the second phase, I know that the daily
Question Period would have been a nuisance for the government.
Still, as the polls were showing in December, the issues debated in
the House were taking the opposition (mainly the Liberal Party)
nowhere. Unfortunately, even if the present Parliament is just a
nuisance, the government has to work to correct it, not shut it
down.
So,
even if the present disarray we see in the House cannot be blamed on
the government but rather the chaos in the Liberal Party, and if we
accept that the prorogation make sense from a businesslike
mentality, from a political point of view it was the wrong decision
for the government.
In
keeping the House open, Prime Minister Harper would have further
exposed the difficulties the opposition is having in putting forward
any credible alternative plan to the one proposed by the government
and further embarrassed the brain dead Liberal Party of Michael
Ignatieff.
The
Liberal leader is now engaged in a national tour of Canadian
universities to reconnect young Canadians to politics, he says.
I've
read about his meetings in the media and personally followed the one
at University of Toronto Mississauga campus.
Ignatieff
looked like a doctor with a patient without a clear diagnosis of the
problem and no idea how to treat it. This was evident during his
meeting with students at Erindale College. He spent his entire
introduction talking about the mistakes made by the government in
proroguing Parliament.
There
was not a single word about the economy or a serious proposal about
the environment or any other particular issue. In fact, students
asked more specific question about the environment, atomic energy
and tuition fees. Ignatieff thanked all of them for the questions
but he didn't give any real answer. In most cases, he was adopting
the same approach as other governments, like the one in Ontario
about the use of nuclear energy to help fight pollution.
Ignatieff
has proved, once again, to be part of the problem, not the solution.
The decision of the government to prorogue has just helped him hide
his inability to propose an alternative to the work Harper has done
for the country in this very demanding economic times behind "the
undemocratic behaviour of Mr. Harper."
However,
where the Liberals need to add substance to their style, the
Conservatives need to add style to their
substance.
