Yawn

So today there has been some breaking news! Wiebo is back (I am not going to blog about that yet). Stevie and Mikey are exchanging blows once again. Only this time it seems like Mikey may be making the most sense. The CBC was reporting today that the Harpie is justifying proroguing parliament again because he needs to reset Parliament in order to deal with the pressing issues of 2010. Apparently the ‘reset’ will help Harper to focus on the economy. Now, please correct me, but haven’t we been focusing on the economy since late 2008? How could all that stimulus money have been approved if Parliament was not focused on the economy? I guess this explains why things have not improved.

Now, to Michael Ignatieff. He seems to have learned his lesson and toned down the rhetoric. He has stated that the Liberals will be back in Ottawa conducting ‘public consultations’ in Ottawa on ‘issues important to Canadians.’ At least they will be in Ottawa. I wonder where the Harpie and the Cons will be? Perhaps in box seats at “Owe-lympics?”* I am sure the federal Liberals are just pissed that they are not in power for the games.

So, to sum up, the Liberals will be in Ottawa trying to conduct fact-finding missions in Ottawa in the dead of winter. I am sure this will be very successful for Mikey. If nothing else it will give his handlers more time to fine-tune his image while no one is looking. It is unclear what Stevie and the Cons will be doing. No doubt they will be drafting a new Throne Speech wherein they will try to focus the Canadian Parliament on the economy. This further shakes my confidence in this government.

The really sad thing about the state of Canadian politics is that it is boring. Not only is it boring, it is also irrelevant. Completely and utterly irrelevant.

*I completely stole this word from the Wandering Coyote. Check out her blog, it is great!

Proroguing Again…?

One has to wonder if proroguing parliament at the end of the year is going to become a new Canadian tradition. After all when you have pesky investigations, which are not going well, looming on the horizon it seems wise just to shut the whole thing down. We certainly wouldn’t want the negative results of an investigation being released during the Olympics, it might sully Canada’s reputation.

It is unclear why Harper would have any concern about our reputation. We have been given the ‘fossil of the year’ award at the Copenhagen climate change summit. We have likely handed over Afghan detainees who were later tortured. The RCMP tasered Robert Dziekanski to death because he held up a stapler and committed the ultimate sin of not speaking English. This really does not bode well for the thousands of tourists who are going to descend on Vancouver in a little over a month.

Working on substantive issues is far more important than being able to strike new committees in the Senate. Apparently, the Conservatives, who are close to a majority in the Senate, think that it is appropriate to prorogue Parliament so the committees can be re-formed. Personally, I think it is far more important that all the work that has been done on various bills, and by committees completing investigations be preserved. Does the government actually think that the Opposition would let the issues go?

Proroguing Parliament again will demonstrate to Canadians that Stephen Harper is afraid of democracy. Harper does not want the findings of the Afghan committee to be released. Proroguing once to stop a confidence motion was one thing, this time there is no overt threat to his minority government. There are no coalitions in the wings threatening to take over.

Even though Ignatieff has said that the Liberals would no longer prop the Conservatives up, they are in no position to bring them down. It would also be foolish for the Liberals to do so at this time as they are in disarray and have no chances of forming the government. It is in their best interests to take time and rebuild and potentially find yet another leader.

I have said it before and I will say it again – we need a leader! There are very serious issues that need to be handled by someone with vision and the leadership skills to pull it all together. We may not always like the decisions a government makes. Many people were against Chretien’s decision to keep us out of Iraq. However this decision not only proved to be correct but prescient. It feels like eons since Chretien resigned. I miss him.