Thursday, January 28th 2010

By sam colbert

Despite the cold, hundreds gathered in Gore Park of downtown Hamilton on Saturday afternoon for the local Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament rally. Concerned citizens of all ages collectively condemned Stephen Harper’s decision to suspend parliamentary activity until March 3, more than five weeks after federal MPs would have returned to work from their holiday break on Monday, Jan. 25.
Dan McLean, former CHCH News man and to-be Liberal candidate for the Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale riding, was one of the first to speak, calling Harper a “despot and a little dictator.” He added, “If it’s not his way, it’s no way. He shuts [Parliament] down so he can hide from your scrutiny and not have to answer any of your questions.”
When Harper phoned Governor-General Michaëlle Jean on Dec. 30 to request prorogation, he was effectively throwing out 37 pieces of legislation being debated in parliament and halting all committee work. Critics say that he did so largely to avoid inquiries into the government’s knowledge of Afghan detainee torture. The move also gives Harper the opportunity to appoint five new senators, which will give the Conservatives a majority in the Senate and control of its committees.
The Harper camp claimed that prorogation is a routine procedure, and that the break will give the government time to prepare its next budget and focus on the Olympics. Analysts respond that although suspension of Parliament is not unprecedented, it normally comes at a time when the House of Commons has completed much of its business, and a fresh start with a Throne speech is in order. In this instance, many of the same bills will have to be reintroduced from scratch, including Harper’s own anti-crime legislation.
Shilo Davis, chief organizer of the Hamilton rally event Davis, was part of the small group that gave rise to a national Facebook movement that now has more than 200,000 members.
“I had an idea that we should have rallies…and Canadians across the country thought that it was just absolutely a great idea, and everybody started jumping on board,” she said. More than 60 rallies took place across Canada, plus five more in international locations. In Ottawa, Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff addressed a crowd of over 3,500, while an estimated 7,000 protesters gathered at Young and Dundas Square in Toronto.
“Politicians are still accountable to the Canadian people,” said Davis, “and if they make a move that we don’t consider in line with our view of democracy, they have to be ready to answer to the people that put them in power.”
Also speaking at the Rally was David Hitchcock, a philosophy professor at McMaster. He, along with many other faculty members of McMaster’s Political Science and Philosophy departments, is one of the nearly 200 co-signers of a letter by philosophy professor Daniel Weinstock of the University of Montreal entitled “Against the Prorogation of Parliament.”
“The Prime Minister’s actions risk setting a precedent that weakens an important condition of democratic government,” said Hitchcock, reading the letter to the crowd – “the ability of the people, acting through their elected representatives, to hold the government accountable for its actions.”

Tags: Gore park, Harper, McMaster University, Prorogue, Rally