Raise the Hammer

Ryan, if I were the Cons, I would want a breather to. Have you watched a parliamentary session lately? It's not possible to address issues with people shouting in your face about other issues. When Parliament returns they will have a new budget...one that spends the rest of the EAP money and according comments made in an interview with Harper, begins addressing the deficit. From what it sounds like that's a tall order and this break may provide those ministers time to look at their portfolios and determine cost saving measures that they would miss if they were trying to fend off opposition party terriers. You wrote, "generally prorogation happens when the Government has concluded its parliamentary agenda"...my argument is that it's been impossible to do so.

What the first prorogation did was give the opposition something to think about rather than just banding together to overthrow a government that they didn't like. It also allowed the other side of the house time to contemplate the situation they were in and hopefully opened their eyes to the fact that they needed to work together. From the same interview Harper seems to understand that saying that Canadians have given them a minority mandate and they will try to work under those conditions.

While you say it's done to prevent accountability, I don't see how it does anything other than postpone it. No life/country decisions can be made when there's no sitting parliament. What it hopefully will do is let cooler heads prevail, on both sides of the house so that when the committee does start looking into the Afghan issue they can do so swiftly and effectively without hot heads breathing down their necks and yelling in the background.

Although I am not a full supporter of the methods being used by the current government I'm sick and tired of neutered legislation and pointless politicking as well so I think it's good that some bills will have to go through their proceedings again.