Prime Minister Stephen Harper has extended the life of his minority Conservative government until the new year after Governor General Michaelle Jean today granted his request to suspend Parliament.
Jean made the unprecedented decision after a lengthy meeting with Harper this morning at Rideau Hall.
Her consent to prorogue Parliament means the work of the Commons has been discontinued, allowing Harper’s Conservatives to escape a confidence vote next week that would have meant the defeat of his government.
Okay, obviously there’s a whole lot more to the story, including the fact the opposition parties were seeking to form a coalition with the Bloc Québécois, but just wow. The representative of the Queen of England, the governor general, just kept the Conservatives in power in Canada.
According to this story in the Vancouver (B.C.) Sun, that may be just fine with most Canadians.
Best of wishes to our friends to the north. That vestigial royal power thing is truly fascinating.
This has to make George W. Bush jealous as hell.
“prorogue”, I mean really… “prorogue”?
Learn a new word everyday. Leave it to the Canadian press. I cannot imagine having to look up a word used by the American press, and I am not sure if that is a bad or good thing.
But best wishes to our friends up north. And I hope they do not have to prorogue kicking the fucking Queen in her royal ass for too long.
Although I do remember as a youngster having to look up “expletive deleted” when reading the Nixon tape transcripts.
All y’alls are reading it backwards.
The Governor-General is a largely ceremonial position. Michaëlle Jean’s main job is to open and close Parliament, call an election after a no-confidence vote, etc.
The point being that she puts the final stamp on whatever the elected government does.
She has fairly substantial powers on paper, but holds those only as a final roadblock to an elected government run amok.
In this case, Harper asked her to shut down the Parliament. Harper is Prime Minister, the G-G decided he was not exceeding his powers to make that request, so it went forward. It would have been much more interesting if she had bucked the Prime Minister and told him “no”.
From what I hear, this is a big brouhaha up there. While I don’t understand it as well as I should, the threat is with “the bloc” – even though the Liberals and NDP are partnering with them on this vote of no confidence.
I would say though, that suspending parliament to avoid a vote of no confidence (hence, losing your power/seat) is a bit over the top, isn’t it?
I wouldn’t wish “proroguing” on Cynical’s goats, much less Parliament!
Kelli Linville (D-Bellingham) talks common sense in todays Times:
As opposed to Hans Dunshee who immediately squeals for more tax dollars!
@8 “Talking sense” means stopping the practice of overtaxing the state’s poorest citizens so its richest can get a free ride. Until they address tax reform, no one in Olympia is talking sense.
Hey Cynical! Don’t prorogue your goats too much, because if you piss ’em off, they’ll flip you their tails and you’ll go without, if you know what I mean!
Rog–
Get off your bunny-butt and go help Goldy fix his leaky faucet, will ya?
Give him some of those NOV profits!
Oil at $41/barrel!
Gas Futures–92 cents/gallon.
Gas is one of my only variable costs each month. My other costs are pretty much utilities & insurance….that’s it.
We have enough meat & fish in our freezer for a year as well as veggies & fruit.
Gas hit $1.49 here this AM.
Life is great!
Now if Kelli Linville keeps our taxes flat, I won’t have to raise my tenants rents to cover it.
More importantly….we were right to let the (old) Sonics go…they SUCK! A lot!
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Oklahoma City Thunder: Possibly The Worst Team of All Time
“Oklahoma City lost to Charlotte 103-97 on Wednesday, dropping the Thunder to 2-17 on the season and putting them in a tough spot as the season nears the quarter pole. At this rate, the Thunder will finish with a record of 9-73, which would tie them for the worst record of all time. Certainly, the “worst team ever” label is within reach.”
RE: sports.espn.go.com
533,000 jobs lost in November. Biggest drop in a single month in 34 years.
As with 9/11, on the watch of the monkey man, the most hideous disaster ever to befall this country.
What would happen to the economy if everyone lived within their means?
That the only thing they bought on credit was their home?
They saved up for things like new cars and new TVs and new furniture and new clothes? The only time they dipped into credit was for things they had to have, like a working refrigerator and then paid that off as fast as possible?
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I was looking for articles on simplicity and found this. (Bolds are mine.)
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The scene is set up: a woman looks harried and tired as she struggles through a crowded street. She is dressed in drab colors of black and grays. She looks to her side and sees something odd – herself in her own dream or future. The woman in the dream is dressed in brightly flowered dress and looks ecstatic. She is purchasing a house.
Another person walks by and sees herself on an exotic vacation – ready to scuba drive. Person after person walks by and sees their own dream in this reflection. Some see education or business futures. The future dream is unique to each person. Only in the dream are they happy.
The Bank of America will provide the dreams to these people through their “Windows of Opportunity.”
Here lies the problem. We can now get our dreams on credit. We can now get a loan to purchase our dreams rapidly. What happened to hard work and saving for our dreams? Yes, there are times for loans (homes, education, emergency), but it seems that almost every dream is open for a loan opportunity. It seems as if everything is for sale – we can purchase almost anything our hearts desire, and with very little time or effort invested. What happened to earning our dreams?
14 John, it’s worth noting that the local fishwrappers have taken note that the once-popular practice of “layaway” purchases has returned to retailing. A shopper identifies something they like, makes a series of payments and then gets the merchandise.
This seems perfectly reasonable and practical as long as the merchant does something prudent with the money, like locking it in a vault. Might be a problem if it becomes widespread and shopkeepers start “investing” their customers’ dollars with those institutions that have shown their talents for making other peoples’ money vanish.
13 Also, for the first time in my memory, the folks who report this stuff are admitting that the total unemployment figure would be far worse were it not for the people who’ve opted out of the equation by giving up looking for work.
Let’s hope W. Doesn’t get any bright ideas from this. ‘O wait, never mind…
There must be an aspect of trust for the Layaway to work, sucks to put something on layaway and have it stolen. Or you could do the old old fashion version and put it in the bank until you had enough money. Again, that assumes the bank will be there.
In other news apparently guns don’t kill people, lax gun laws do.
@18
Most credit unions a safe.
The Conservative Party of Canada is a bit more liberal than the Democratic Party of the United States. Just shows how far to the right our policies are in this country.
Anyway, it looks like that decision was made in accordance with Canadian law and customs.
Harper’s party recently “won” a national election seven weeks ago, with just under half the seats in Parliament — not a majority, but far more seats than the Liberals and NDP combined. The Governor General appointed Harper and the Conservatives as the national government.
So it seems appropriate for the GG to allow Harper more of a chance to govern. Most folks in Canada don’t want to have elections this soon. And the Bloc Quebecois isn’t willing to join a coalition with the Liberals/NDP — only to make a non-binding promise not to vote no confidence in the Liberals/NDP for a while.
Why replace a minority party with 143 seats, with a smaller coalition of two parties that only have 114 seats between them? If there was another election today, recent polls show that the Conservative would get an absolute majority of the seats in Parliament.
Mr. Cynical @ 11
$1.49? Wow! Do you live in Clarkston? The Clarkston Costco is the only gas station in the state currently selling that low, according to http://www.washingtongasprices.com/
If the wholesale price is 92 cents, then $1.49 is quite a bargain, considering the federal gas tax and the high state gas tax. They must not be making more than a few cents a gallon in gross profit.
@21:
A chance to govern? What set all this off was Harper putting forth a “budget” that, evidently, would have taken away all the opposition’s campaign money and wiped out public-sector unions, while not actually doing anything to help the economy. He hurled the gauntlet in their face, and they hurled it back.