Harper wins a big one, for now

Just when federal politics offered the prospect of a few months of relative quiet, all hell broke loose.

Our Prime Minister, it seems, didn’t get enough brawling last election and thought he’d poke the stick just one more time. Such stick poking is good for journalists, columnists and politics professors - even if it isn’t so great for the country - as it gives us lots to write and talk about. But I for one have had well more than enough.

In my view, Harper’s conduct of recent weeks has been profoundly discouraging: it damaged the quality of democratic discourse and civility in Canada; it excited tensions of national unity that we had significantly moderated and transcended over the past decade; and it appears to have compromised the principle of “responsible government”.

In Canadian parliamentary democracy, citizens elect Members to the House of Commons. What we hope for or seek to effect by doing so is legally and constitutionally irrelevant, even though it is usually a matter of rich speculation.

That party, group, or (yes) coalition that enjoys the support of the majority of members has the constitutional right to exercise the legal authority of the federal government. And every MP has the same democratic rights. Regardless of what they may say they believe in, members of the Bloc have no less a constitutional right to determine who is to govern than do Conservative MPs.

“Responsible government”, the fundamental constitutional convention of parliamentary democracy, requires that those chosen to exercise executive authority must enjoy the support of the majority of elected Members of the House. Accordingly, in “responsible government” it is the duty of the Prime Minster to face a motion of non-confidence.

New constitutional convention and practice

The Governor General has allowed the Prime Minister to prorogue the House while a motion of non-confidence was pending. This decision has established a new constitutional convention and practice and it may significantly change parliamentary democracy, arguably for the worse, while giving the Prime Minister a huge, albeit potentially short-lived, victory.

I have difficulty supporting Stephen Harper. He appears to me to be far too willing to exploit what he assumes to be the lack of knowledge and low cognitive capacities of Canadians. Plato argued it is proper in politics and government to lie in order to achieve noble purposes. Clearly Harper and those of us who have trouble accepting his approach to politics and government disagree about how to interpret this Platonic claim.

We are pretty sure Stephen Harper is no philosopher king. And we believe all Canadians are smarter than he typically supposes.

It is time for our Prime Minister not just to reach across the floor—which will likely not be effective given the degree to which he has broken the trust of Opposition members and the majority of those Canadians who support them—but also to start telling the truth, to stop trying to dumb down democratic discourse in Canada.

And he needs to learn how to keep his stick on the ice. The future of the country turns far more on these changes than it does on the Bloc supporting a Liberal-NDP coalition.

Doors have been slammed

The doors of the House of Commons have been slammed shut by a Prime Minister who professes to be a great defender of Canadian democracy, yet who is unwilling to face the judgment of those whom we have elected to check his power. There are surely more fireworks to come. Money may be spent by the Conservative Party to demonize those who don’t agree with their boss. (Perhaps this is their idea of how to stimulate the economy!)

But most of us have likely tuned out that channel and that quality of discourse.

Stéphane Dion has learned yet again that in politics timing is everything. His time has well since passed. It will be interesting to see if the coalition of the unwilling finds a new interim leader, and to see if we have a new Finance Minister and new advisors to the PM before the end of January.