Governor General agrees to suspend Parliament

Governor General agrees to suspend Parliament

www.google.com

Stephen Harper has won his battle to hang on as prime minister - at least until January.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is going to be one of the most hotly debated issues in Canada for some time.

What do you think the long-term effects will be on the country . . . the political landscape . . . the political parties as a result of this skirmish?

Will this result in a change to the system . . . a change in the powers of the Governor General . . . a change to our electoral system.

Bottom line here is that based on regional differences in political support, this was the only choice that could be made to maintain what fleeting unity Canada has.


www.google.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by GoalPoster


I agree with you. The sentiment out West the last week or so has been close to full blown revolt. That is coming not only from PC supporters, but alot of Liberal and NDP voters as well. I hope this time is used by all of the parties to get their crap together and come up with something that will work for everyone. If worse comes to worse I say we throw all the party leaders together in a room and not let them out until they work out a solution that will be beneficial to the entire country.

reply to post by GoalPoster


Well I have to admit I had never heard of "prorogued" before. This is a learning experience for me. It also gets you thinking about the real power that is in the hands of the GG.
I don't know what to make of it. I was kind of looking forward to a coalition government, tenuous or not. It still would be better than those crazy conservatives who only follow the American lead.
It may be a good thing that we aren't able to spend any additional money for the moment. I've been against the bailouts that have been going on elsewhere with the financial sector, but am not quite so against the loans for the auto companies. At least that might keep people working and money flowing in the economy until the other gets worked out.
Its not a clear picture, but I am glad the conservatives have had their wings clipped by this near coup.

Treason, plain and simple

they want Canadians to wait for 2 months before any solutions are presented (when parliament returns Jan 26 09).

This is above and beyond ridiculous.

revolution or coup d'etat anyone?

As I keep saying over and over.It changes nothing.It is simply do you want to get screwed sitting or standing.
Either way, Canadian politics just got slimier in my opinion.
What about the economy from now til Jan???This all started bcuz of the economy issue and now we have our hands tied til Jan.
Great work Canadian politicians!!

reply to post by warrenb


Man I totally agree.This is absurd.I hope the people rebel like crazy.

reply to post by DrumsRfun


agreed 100%

Now if anything major happens economically or otherwise, there is now, not a damn thing our governemnet will be able to do about it until Janurary. Just goes to show how truley flawed our political system is in Canada.

I mean how can so much power be given to the GG when it's supposed to merely a ceremonial position. Total and complete bull in my eye's. This retarded coalition tried to take power ignoring the votes of Canadian in the electiona month ago. (For the record im not a conservative, did not even vote for them this election) And the conservatives have been no better during this crisis, they sit thier on thier hands as our country falls apart economically. Funniest thing about this whole thing, is Dionne and the other coalition leaders have said they plan to put the vote through coming in january anyway, no matter what the current governemnt does. In my eyes this shows that this is nothing more than a power grab by the liberals. The vote didn't go the way they wanted so they will ignore the democratic process and the will of the canadian people and just take the governemnt for themselves.....total crap imho

Well, if it weren't for Stephane Dion whining about losing the election and plotting his revenge, we wouldn't be in this mess.

Dion wanted to stop parliament all together and turn it into a darn cabinet of 25 decision makers... people we have no vote on.

The only alternative is to shut down parliament for a month.


And it's ALL Dion's fault!

We voted, he wants to ignore the votes, and now our government has to be suspended for a month while they sort out Dion's mess.

I hope the Liberal party gives him the boot for this mess... and a good old "Don't come back."

I mean how can so much power be given to the GG when it's supposed to merely a ceremonial position.

How can the ability to throw away the peoples vote be given to minor parties in Parliament?


There are allot of changes that are going to occur I think...

1. I think they'll make it law that you cannot switch nor join parties during a term. No document to the effect of a unified voice is to be considered binding.

2. Yeah, I think some will seek to have the Governor General position removed... but in this case, she just saved our backsides from having a non-representative un-elected government.

3. We the people need another tool at our disposal to voice our input into such matters.
If someone tries to get away with this form of illegal takeover again, and the governor general isn't here anymore... then there's not a darn thing we the people can do about it.


As for the economy. Nobody had a plan anyways, Harper's plan was being shot at by the Liberals... and yet the liberals didn't even have a plan themselves.

So one month without parliament, or with... there still wouldn't have been an economic plan pushed through.

[edit on 4-12-2008 by johnsky]

Originally posted by warrenb
Treason, plain and simple

they want Canadians to wait for 2 months before any solutions are presented (when parliament returns Jan 26 09).

This is above and beyond ridiculous.

revolution or coup d'etat anyone?

You want to talk ridiculous, that coalition was ridiculous. What plans did they have to help out the economy? I have yet to hear about anything that they had planned at all. So if Harper is to be taken to task for his lack of planning, how about the Three Stooges? Tell me about any kind of plan they had, and I might give them some credence, until then, they are no better.

Did this group have a budget ready to be presented? Probably not, so we would have to wait for them to draw one up and present it. So we are still looking at the same time frame for these people to come up with any solutions.

Take off your Harper blinders and see that the solution that was presented was no better than what we have now, if not worse. What will it cost the country to put this coalition into power? Nothing comes for free.

What will come of this ? Simple , nothing . People will continue to support there party of choice believing that there party of choice is the only party able to " save us " .
Will this be enough to drive one party to a majority government if the budget is voted down in Jan ? Probably not .
Soon the liberals will pick a new leader and he will be cut from the same cloth as all the others and he will do the same as all the others and continue the political grandstanding . The dribble that comes from our so called leaders has become a white noise in the back ground of our day to day lives and those that think one party is better then another is really missing the point to what is going on .

reply to post by johnsky


Actually i see it a bit dif but agree with you in this was a power grab.Remember when Harper was talking to the separtists to gain power from PM Paul Martin??
Whats good for the goose is good for the gander.Harper did it!
Why not be held to his own standards.
Oops sorry...I forgot they have no standards!!LOL

reply to post by DrumsRfun


There is all kinds of flip flopping on this. The Conservatives see it as underhanded now but didn't back then, the Liberals saw it as underhanded then but not now. The only consistency has come from the NDP, who just want to be seen as bigger players than they actually are.

reply to post by DrumsRfun


Yeah, I remember that.

I've always been against a coalition government.

The ONLY people in parliament should be the duly elected representatives of Canada.

A Coalition government is NOT duly elected, and certainly not representative.


As such I cannot, in good conscience, acknowledge a government who has taken the position of power through a hostile takeover.

Simply put, he ain't my Prime Minister... he's just some crook who's trespassing.

It's got to be a sign of things when one feels "safer" knowing the government has their hands tied and won't be able to do anything for 2 months, because, for governments, "doing something" usually means doing something s t u p i d
geesh!
Anyway, what was it? more than 60% voted other than conservative? so a coalition would in fact be representative of the will of the people. In a climate of such ill will between people of different political parties, I am happy to see no party with a clear majority. Where's the Green representation?? Their presence in parliament would help even more.

reply to post by Rook1545


About Layton and the NDP,of course they want to be bigger players.You proved my point that they are all just on a power trip.Regardless of how it affects us or Canadian poilitcs.
When Harper did this it was bad and now when Dion does it its bad.They are all greedy power hungry jerk offs in the same suit and tie.

Originally posted by wayno
Anyway, what was it? more than 60% voted other than conservative? so a coalition would in fact be representative of the will of the people.

This is not at all the will of the people. It is the will of stupid Party line and divisiveness. The MPs are elected to represent the wishes of the people, not those of the Party. No person voted for a Liberal/NDP mixed government. I know alot of people who voted something other than Conservative, that are outraged by this. The leaders can decide to put together this coalition, but I strongly believe that the MPs must ask their constituents what they would like before putting their support behind this coalition. If the people are behind it, then and only then does this coalition have the support and confidence of the House, not before.

Originally posted by Trayen11

I mean how can so much power be given to the GG when it's supposed to merely a ceremonial position.

Althought the situations are completely different, you might be interested in checking out the Whitlam Dismissal in Australia back in 1975. Governor Generals can have a great deal of power under some circumstances.


[edit on 4/12/08 by ConspiracyNut23]

reply to post by Rook1545


take off your own horse blinders.

The coalition was ready to offer solutions within the next week by presenting a budget of their own.

Now thanks to the GG, Harper and the dumb ignorant Canadians who support them, NO fix will be had until at least January 26th. In reality probably much later.

Loving your country by playing favorites is screwing it over. Nice.

[edit on 4-12-2008 by warrenb]

Harper did his job... doing this will sure help crashing our economy. Our economy was ``protected`` from the international crisis to some point, now adding political instability is the worse thing he could have done. Good job Harper bringing down our economy so we can enter the North American Union.

Also here in Quebec, we have elections on monday. That move by Harper may give the power to the Parti Québécois, the separatist party... and if the madness continues, will likely give us a new referendum with a slim majority for it...

If that's happen, but I doubt it very much, it will be hellish... back in 95, it would have put canadians and US troops in Quebec to stop us from seceding... which would probably have turned to civil war. It's the worse that can happen, secession then civil war, highly unlikely.

The best that can happen... elections in february with one party gaining a majority. But we'll probably have elections in february with another minority government.

Since this suspension of parliement happened, our dollar fell about 2 cents against the US dollar.

[edit on 4-12-2008 by Vitchilo]