Harper, pundits, & democracy – oh my!
Every once and a while something happens in Canadian politics that’s just so goddamn crazy that one can’t but replace their comfortable numbness with burning shame. This shame, of course, stems from Prime Minister Harper’s recent prorogation of Parliament- a move so brazenly cynical that even Harper’s former chief of staff calls it ‘childish.’ When I first heard about it on the news, I mistakenly thought the newscaster said, ‘the Prime Minister has scuttled parliament so that the government can focus on watching the Olympics,’ which, though absurd, is far better than the final rationale of needing to ‘get important work done.’
Seriously, what is that? You know that the generally well-oiled gears of spin and talking points are sporting a bit of rust when the need to do ‘important work’ is the final justification for shutting down the Canadian government. As far as excuses go, that’s like pissing all over the bathroom floor and later telling your girlfriend you just wanted to ‘mix it up.’ The excuse defies logic to such an amazing degree that it becomes insulting to the party that it is thrust upon. It’s like we the Canadian people are children who just walked in on our parents having sex, and Mr. Harper turns around and tells us ‘we’re just wrestling.’
What is ‘important work’ and how is it done? Well, presumably it’s important because the Canadian economy is reeling and a truckload of us are still unemployed. However, it can’t be more important than the work done last year, accomplished in the throes of economic crisis, because that work was done without proroguing Parliament.
How does a government accomplish important work? Apparently, it happens outside the smothering confines of democracy. The Prime Minister doesn’t want to be distracted by ‘games’ in Parliament. You know, when Parliamentarians play that game where they disagree with what you say and they’re allowed to voice that opinion because the public bestowed a mandate on them. That game is boring! And it’s much faster to just ignore their protests and pretend that your minority government is some kind of Canadian blend of the CCP. In the future, if we’re lucky, maybe internal democracy will be the next big Tory talking point.
It’s all so transparently redonkulous (yes, redonkulous) that the pundits can but fall back on the old refrain, ‘but Chretien did it.’ He sure did! But it was wrong then and it’s wrong now. And on the topic, do these pundits ever pause for a moment and consider the morality behind the ‘he-did-it-so-I-can’ argument? Our parents try to pound this kind of thinking out of us when we’re nine years old! ‘If Johnny jumped off a bridge, would you?’ Apparently, most of the pundits answered ‘fuck yes!’
Way to go Canadian Democracy! Maybe if we keep it up, one day we’ll be treated to brawls in the House of Commons as the normal, boring process of legislating breaks down and ‘razzle dazzle’ appears in its’ place.
Posted: January 12th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
Tags: canadian politics, punditry