Yesterday morning, in comments to a Paul Wells post, I innocently asked "Paul is prorogation at the end of next week, out of the question?". I asked simply as a mental exercise. I asked myself, what is the slimiest, most cowardly way that the government could put off a day of reckoning until conditions might be better for them?
Think about it. If Harper prorogues, he can call parliament back after Obama has taken office and he can act as if none of this unpleasantness ever happened. Harper will come in with a new Throne Speech and a budget chalk full of goodies. Never mind that it will months later than needed and never mind that should something really bad happen between now and then, there will be no parliament to deal with it. It will also push the occupancy date of this government into months rather than weeks, so Harper will be able to whine to the GG that an "established" government is being threatened by a cabal of opposition parties and damn it, only an election can solve it.
To a sociopath like our PM and his minions in the PMO, it sounds like a "clever" plan. I put the thought aside though, because not even Steve, would do something that wantonly destructive to the parliament and politics of the country during an economic crisis. Apparently I was wrong to think so. Again. With Steve, a man without a moral compass of any kind, anything, anything is possible. If he gets away with this, the only tool left in his bag, would be to call out the army. But he wouldn't do that, would he?
Sunday Update To Another Story: Also, yesterday evening I suggested that perhaps this government could survive if Harper walked the plank and the Tories put in someone like Jim Prentice in his place. Apparently, someone was listening. Tip of the hat to Blogging if necessary, but not necessarily blogging.
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As Steve points out, the question isn't quite as simple as whether Harper would try: the GG could either turn down the request, or grant it but offer the chance to the coalition to govern. Which might just put it alongside the contents of a fiscal update as a "clever" plan which will only speed up the Cons' demise by highlighting their unwillingness to govern responsibly.
ReplyDeleteI suspect she would grant it. It is a much less radical proposal than dissolution. It will provide a kind of stability and Harper can argue (in my opinion disingenuously), that he will use the time to reach out to the opposition. Jean will want to believe him because it kicks the harder choices down the road for two months or so.
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