Posts Tagged by supremacy of parliament
Milliken Ruling More About Democracy Than Detainees
| 4/29/2010 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
On Tuesday Peter Milliken, the Speaker of the House of Commons, brought down his ruling on the Opposition parties motion which demanded that the Government turn over unredacted documents related to the Afghan detainee issue. Apparently, in the mind of the Prime Minister, that ruling was of such minor consequence it didn’t even warrant his attendance in the House to hear it.
Milliken upheld the supremacy of Parliament and its right to demand documents or even persons, claims of national security notwithstanding, to be delivered to it. He recognised that in the interest of national security not all documents can be delivered in public. He has called upon both sides of the House to do what Parliament has been doing for 140 years, to work out the differences and find a way to accommodate the supremacy of Parliament. He gave them two weeks to do so.
That is democracy in action. The government does (or should do) what is right and the Opposition provides oversight on behalf of the people.
Over the years, that basic principle has become eroded to the point it has, up until now, allowed a Prime Minister to behave more like a sovereign or President than a Prime Minister. A Prime Minister who truly understood the checks and balances within the system would never have stonewalled to the point that a ruling like Milliken was just called on to deliver would even have been needed.
The detainee issue is important in that Canadians should know if their government has failed to live up to our international obligations in regards to the safety of those detained by our military. Canadians know our troops have done what was required of them, the question is, did our government ensure those requirements were proper?
The government’s stonewalling and refusal to disclose documents to the Opposition to which it is entitled has moved the issue more to the question of what will it take for this Prime Minister to recognise his legal and moral responsibility to respect the Parliamentary rules and practices?
One day later, the Prime Minister rises in the House and gives every indication he intends to continue to defy the democratic principles he has been sworn to uphold. He hints that he is ready to take that defiance to the electorate. He tries to wrap himself in the flag and as the defender of the safety and well being of our troops fighting overseas.
Does he really think that the Canadian people are not smart enough to see the hypocrisy of his stand? Instead of truly supporting and leading our troops, Harper is cowering behind their good name to protect his own political ass.
His government has flatly turned down any suggestions by the Opposition to find middle ground which would allow a least some Opposition MPs to review the documents yet now claims that any ‘reasonable suggestion’ would be considered. Just who determines what is reasonable when we have an autocratic control freak Prime Minister?
Harper needs to find a way to step back from the edge, he might not like the ruling the Canadian people return on his contempt for the workings of our Parliament should he allow this to go to an election.
How Much Is This Conservative Stall Going to Cost?
| 3/15/2010 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Back in December the majority of Parliament ordered the government to produce in their entirety the documents related to the Afghan detainee issue. Harper made clear he was going to defy that order and went so far as to prorogue Parliament in order to try to squash the issue.
He claimed the prorogue was to recalibrate the government’s direction and agenda. Having since seen that ‘recalibration’ via the Throne Speech and the budget, I don’t think anyone really truly believes the government did anything but stall and enjoy the Olympics.
So, parliament returns and in order to further flip the bird at the supremacy of parliament Harper, through his minion Rob Nicholson (Minister of Justice), is stalling by appointing respected jurist Frank Iacobucci to review the documents and rule if the documents are able to be released or not. (more…)
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