Opposition Goes After the Stalling
| 3/23/2010 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Every now and again it becomes necessary for those elected to conduct the business of our democracy to be reminded of who they are supposed to represent. The people elect a Parliament who then forms a government and an official opposition based on which party received the most seats.
This seems like a pretty basic principle to know and to understand. The Prime Minister is subject to the will of Parliament, who is subject to the will of the people. When the Opposition parties voted on a motion back in December ordering the government to produce unredacted documents pertaining to the detainee issue, the response should have been pretty straightforward in adherence with the basic principle of Parliament.
The government has tried to throw a blanket claim of ‘national security’ around the affair and are refusing to release the documents. They didn’t even bother trying to go through the motions of trying to reach an agreement with the majority vote, they just stonewalled and then Harper prorogued the House.
Eventually the birds have to come home to roost and Parliament had to reconvene. Harper seemed to think that the December motion would be ignored, the Opposition rendered unable or unwilling to act. He’s wrong. Last Thursday the Liberals, followed by the NDP and the Bloc, rose to call on the Speaker of the House to rule on the motion. They have motions of their own which could lead to the Government being found in contempt of Parliament.
We already know Harper holds Parliament in contempt, this would just formalize the knowledge.
The Conservatives are clinging to their claim that they and only they can decide what is in the interest of national security. They claim the reason they have stonewalled the motion of December 10th is that it didn’t make provision for security issues and would have required the documents to be released into the public domain.
I’m going to be nice and call that disingenuous. If they truly believed that and at the same time truly respected the supremacy of Parliament, they would have engaged the Opposition parties in negotiating an appropriate handover. Precedent was set in 1990 when the Mulroney government was in power. Parliament secured the release of documents to a House committee in camera and under a publication ban in regards to the sensitive information.
The Conservatives claim they are taking “unprecedented measures” by appointing Iacobbucci. They are somewhat right on that. Appointing a judge, n0 matter how well respected, is not the appropriate response to the will of Parliament. It is the response of a Prime Minister who is determined to outrank the will of Parliament and ultimately the people.
Parliament’s job is to represent the people by calling the government to account. The Prime Minister has a duty and responsibility to answer to Parliament. While successive governments over the last several decades have tried to centralize power in the executive branch aka the Prime Minister’s Office, none have taken it as far as this government.
In many ways, the detainee issue should have been just a blip on the public radar. Harper has made it an issue which needs to be pursued and at the same time has created a new issue. Well not so much new as one which is overdue for being dealt with.
It is overdue for the PMO to learn they serve Parliament and the people. The big question here is how long as Canadians going to continue to tolerate anything less?
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