Today Mr. Milliken, Speaker of the House of Commons, ruled that the Conservative Government does in fact have to abide by the will and demands of Canada's democratically elected parliament. The government must now hand over the un-redacted documents outlining the way Afghan detainees were handled and transferred by the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan.
This must serve as a major blow to Mr. Harper and his party, whom expended ludicrous amounts of political capital to keep the full versions of these documents out of the hands of the opposition parties. In fact, the unprecedented steps taken by Harper, in first ignoring a parliamentary order to produce them, proroguing the parliament of Canada and then attempting to further stonewall by trying to have a former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci rule on whether the documents should be released leave little doubt that incriminating evidence will be found. A ruling in Mr Harper's favour today would have weakened the very essence of what our soldiers are trying to prop up in Afghanistan- Democracy.
All partisanship aside, this is a victory for Canada's democracy. The ruling clarifies that the Prime Ministers Office cannot ignore the will of the majority of parliament. This or any future governments cannot use national security or confidentiality as a crutch to save itself from political embarrassment or even criminal investigation. The officials that we elect in order to represent us, do in face have the power to do so. This ruling sets the power of the democratically elected majority into stone.
Regardless of which side of the house you're on, that has got to be a victory.
Allow me to begin this letter by commending the job you do as my Member of Parliament for Sackville-Eastern Shore. I feel you do an exceptional job at representing our riding, especially in this era of partisan politics. I respect you greatly for always doing what's best for us, your constituents, even if that means the occasional disagreement with party lines.
What I wish to write you about has a lot to do with your upcoming caucus meeting in the middle of this month. I'm sure you are aware that Stephen Harpers Conservative Government has announced that they will prorogue the sitting of our Parliament into the first part of March. Although done under the auspices of a completely legal constitutional mechanism, and in order to present new policies and quote "recalibrate the governments agenda", this seems more like a disrespectful "low blow" to Canada's democracy than a simple pause in proceedings.
My reason for wanting MPs on Parliament Hill has nothing to do with MPs somehow having to earn the salaries they make. I have come to the conclusion some time ago that a lot of MPs could serve on boards of major corporations etc, the earnings of which would make the average's MP salary seem paltry. My issue with this prorogation is that the good and necessary work of parliament will be further delayed.
It is interesting that Mr. Harper chooses this time to prorogue parliament. Canadians are still waiting on answers from the House of Commons committee that is working on the Afghan detainee issue. We are awaiting the publishing of a report from Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, on the fiscal standing of Canada. This report is no doubt going to lead to necessary questions being asked of the government in regards to its spending. Mr. Harper is about to appoint new Senators in an attempt to push through reform of the upper house which will further damage the Atlantic provinces standing within Canada. Also, not to be forgotten, is that the government has not yet needed to answer questions about our shameful lack of action and borderline obstructionism at the recent climate conference in Copenhagen. It seems as if Mr. Harper is more than content to have his MPs enjoy the perks of government (the ability to make spending announcements etc) without the scrutiny of Canada's Parliament to worry about. The "clear and transparent" government Canadians were promised now hides behind an appointed, unelected representative of Her Majesty the Queen who has very little choice about whether to grant prorogations or not whenever Mr. Harper quite literally "calls".
My request to you Mr. Stoffer is twofold. I would very much like you to go to your caucus meeting with the viewpoint that the NDP should join the Liberals on January 25th in the House of Commons.Even if just for pure symbolism, the coverage of Canada's two other federalist national parties attempting to get work done, even without the presence of the government, will be a powerful imagine on the Canadian psyche. Also, subsequently to the resumption of the session, I would like there to be legislation drawn up and introduced limiting the length of time and amount of prorogation's that can occur within a session of Parliament. Sometimes it is expedient and valuable to have prorogation as a tool. This occurs to the best of my knowledge when there are maybe a few days left in a session and the business of government has concluded. Perhaps placing a limit of seven days on further prorogation's would be prudent.
I thank you very much for your attention and thank you again for the great work you are doing for the people of Sackville-Eastern Shore.
