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| Great White North |
| Harper prorogues parliament until March |
| 2009-12-31 |
| OTTAWA, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday asked the governor general to prorogue Parliament until March when the Vancouver Olympics are complete, his press secretary said. The new session of the parliament will resume on March 3 and the government will present a new budget by then, said Dimitri Soudas. Harper spoke with Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean Wednesday morning by telephone, Soudas said. Canada's Parliament is currently on Christmas break and the parliament members were scheduled to return to the House on January 25. But speculation has been rampant in recent weeks that Harper would ask to shut down Parliament until at least after the Winter Olympics in Vancouver are complete. Although in the name of the winter Olympics, Harper's act is seen as a strategic move to gain a majority on Senate committees while possibly avoiding criticism over the Afghan detainee issue. The Conservative government has been under attack over allegations that it ignored warnings about the torture of Afghan detainees and allowed the Canadian military to continue with the transfer of detainees to local police. A parliamentary committee is now looking into the accusations. Meanwhile it would also help the Conservatives to gain a majority in the Senate committees. Reports indicate the parliamentmembers would not come back to work until early March, when the government would present a speech from the throne and its 2010 budget. By then, Harper would have had time to ask Gov. General Michaelle Jean to name five new senators, which would give the Conservatives a majority on the newly formed Senate committees and greater control for passing its own legislation. Harper successfully appealed to Jean to prorogue Parliament last December, thwarting all three opposition parties in their attempt to defeat his government in a non-confidence vote, and replace it with a proposed coalition between then Liberal and the NDP, with support from the Bloc Quebecois. The move means a halt to the work of Parliamentary committees, including one that is investigating Afghan detainee abuse, an issue that has been plaguing the Conservatives for months. Canada's opposition parties on Wednesday criticized Harper's move. Leader of the biggest opposition group the Liberal Party Michael Ignatieff called the prorogation undemocratic. Paul Dewar, the New Democrats' foreign affairs critic, said the decision to prorogue Parliament also delays important legislation from being passed such as the pension reform, the unemployment benefit reform. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 Can't wait for the women's ski jump competition. Oh, wait. Okay, I'll settle for curling. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2009-12-31 10:50 |