John Geddes

John Geddes writes on politics and policy, with occasional reporting and comment on arts and culture.

Categories: Capital Read, John Geddes

Is Parliament in session? The PMO won't say

by John Geddes on Wednesday, December 30, 2009 1:34pm - 67 Comments

In one of the more bizarre bits of circumlocution that I’ve ever heard from a prime-ministerial spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s press secretary, would not say a few minutes ago if Parliament has been shut down or not.

In a telephone briefing for Parliament Hill media, Soudas confirmed that a new throne speech—launching a fresh parliamentary session—will be delivered March 3, and a budget the following day. That means the present session must be ended, or prorogued, by the Governor General sometime before then. And Soudas did reveal that the PM spoke to the GG today, presumably on that very matter.

But what did they agree to do? On that seemingly straighforward question, Soudas was strangely evasive. “You know,” he said, “discussions between the Prime Minister and Governor General are private, they’re confidential. I’m obvious not aware of the conversations between the Prime Minister and Governor General.”

Well, I guess certain details of such a chat might reasonably be kept private. However, on whether the country’s national legislature continues to be in session, passing laws and such, or not, I would have thought the Prime Minister’s Office might go so far as to let the rest of us in on the secret.

Apparently not. “There was a telephone call between the Prime Minister and the Governor General earlier today,” was all Soudas would tell us. “I never comment on discussions between the Prime Minister and the Governor General.”

How, then, are we to find out? I asked. “Feel free to call Rideau Hall,” Soudas helpfully suggested. So that’s what I’ve done. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear something—my communications with the Governor General’s residence being subject to no particular code of discretion.

More by John Geddes

http://intensedebate.com/people/andrewcoyne Andrew Coyne

Perhaps we are now to be informed via speeches from balconies.

http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

well, we may not be "a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term" anymore, but we are well on our way to being crowned the next Banana Republic Idol!
Jesse

Weren't you the guy on At Issue complaining about how the media likes to build narratives out of meaningless events like Harper's piano playing ?

I see the "King Harper" narrative is now in full force though.

A spokz doing a classic, routine, completely ordinary no comment is now acting in a "bizarre" mannger that goes too far.

http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

right. cause one couldn't possibly distinguish the importance of harper playing a piano at the nac and harper proroguing parliament. actually one could; you just seem incapable…or unwilling.

Loraine Lamontagne

Perhaps you should not have accepted for years to publish information obtained at press conferences from PMO officials who speak on the condition that they remain anonymous.
http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

Call the WSJ or Fox. Maybe they know what's goin' on.
AnonToo

And you appear to be at a point of hurling yourself from one. What a drama queen.
http://intensedebate.com/people/PhilCP PhilCP

These balcony dwellers seem ready to share some particularly insightful comments.
http://intensedebate.com/people/hollinm hollinm

Aren't we full of the Christmas spirit Andrew. All will be revealed in the fullness of time my friend. Just relax, have a drink(s) tomorrow night and the new year will be full of sweetness and light. You guys will never learn. Harper operates to his own tune and does not allow the so called unbiased media to control him.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

Then they really should have done all this in May. It's freezing here.
Angela

and if we're lucky Stephen will throw us some crumbs

http://intensedebate.com/people/hollinm hollinm

Only if you play nice. Thus far you are failing miserably.

tim addison

wtf do we all get the time off.it i dont think politicians should have more time off ,i think they should get back to work like the rest of us and fix the problems facing this nation.

http://intensedebate.com/people/hollinm hollinm

You cannot believe that they simply are sitting with their feet up for the next two months. If you do then you really don't know much about what a politician does for a living.

Anon Liberal

Can somebody please drop an atomic bomb on Dimitri Soudas.

http://intensedebate.com/people/PhilCP PhilCP

He's just doing his job…

Anon Liberal

Ah yes the just-following-orders defense. Carry on then.

http://intensedebate.com/people/PhilCP PhilCP

I don't really enjoy listening to Dimitri Soudas all that much; the evasiveness of many spokespeople these days is annoying.

I was pointing out that I thought your comment was misdirected and over the top.

http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

Classy. Up there with the Oswald Photoshop that went over so well…

Anon Liberal

There there. Have a glass of wram milk and go hug your blankie. It'll be ok. On one's actually going to drop an atomic bomb on Dimitri Soudas.

Data

They need time to get the podium out of storage.
Jesse

manner, not mannger.

Apologies.
Scott_G

If knowing 1 minute earlier would change your life, Maybe the PM would tell you first. They are going to get an extra 30 days out of the deal and give us some peace and quiet while the games are on in B.C.
And maybe those bills that will be cancelled, will be redone better and not having any changes to them. That would be nice.
—
The press are like that yippy dog,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov-1S8Xxd94&fe…
Anon Conservative

So Parliament will be prorgued and we haven't found out the exact date because the GG hasn't made it official so the Liberal whiners at MacLeans are upset?

Sorry if the world doesn't revolve around you MacLeans, but you will have to wait until the OFFICIAL announcement and that will be made by the GG.
murman

Is Steve Harper In session.I simply do not like this man and his tactics
however taking into account with the Olympics coming soon and Canada being on center stage.I guess we need to be selling Canada.
Hopefully he will fall and break his neck up in whistler

http://intensedebate.com/people/hollinm hollinm

And a merry Christmas and a happy new year to you as well. Hope people treat you exactly as you treat other people. In the meantime if you can't add to the discussion why bother commenting at all.
http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

Wow, the class keeps on coming. Disagreeing with policies and tactics is fine. Wishing for (better yet, WORKING for) the defeat of a disfavoured politician is way cool. What you're up to is just pathetic.

gar

The only ones this will anger is the lefties.They have tried their damnedest to do everything possible to make Harper and the government look bad.Carolynn Bennett's academy award performance on swine flu the great flu epidemic that fizzled .Copenhagen that their saviour in Obama proved to be less in agreement with than Harper.The detainee torturing that only seems to grab the beltway while our sons and daughters are dieing.To let this bunch of hypocrites the chance to condemn our military and country during the Olympics never.Good Move Harper

burlivespipe

Right. Because proroguing parliament is almost as sexy as cancer. Oh right that was someone impersonating a CON minister…

Mark

Let me guess – Nobody else gets to report it until CTV has delivered their script.
Jesse

Can you read ?

My point was between playing the piano and a reporter being given a "no comment".

That has to be the most overblown "no comment" in history.

Geddes thinks its some revolutioniary thing, Coyne chimes in saying its further evidence of King Harper.
http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

yeah and where you are saying that this is comparable to the non-story narrative re piano playing, i am saying you are full of it.

Jesse

No, you quite clearly tried to suggest I was saying that prorogation is a non-story on the level of piano playing, which is quite clearly not what I said.

Your pride seems to prevent you from admitting your mistake.

For the final time – Geddes recieving a "no comment" from Dimitri Soudas is a complete and utter non-story that did not require a blog posting.

The only reason "no comment" was made into a blog posting is because it fit a media narrative, in the same way that paino playing fit a media narrative.
Jesse

No need to further debase yourself, you seem quite clearly out of sorts today.

Cheer up, i'm sure your reading comprehension will be back tommorow !

http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

pls explain, if your only point was the 'no comment' why you raised either piano playing or the Coyne's burgeoning the King meme.

Jesse

Ok.

Coyne was on At Issue earlier this year explaining how annoying it was for the media to take minor events like Harper playing the piano and fitting them into larger narratives.

So what we have here is a "no comment" being taken and blown into evidence of the pre-existing media narrative about King Harper.

I am not comparing the importance of prorogation to Harper playing the piano or suggesting that it is a non-story.

What I am saying is that this specific, routine, and irrelevant "no comment" IS a non-story being tied into an existing story, which I agree is a valid and important issue to discuss.

http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

ok. thanks for the clarification. that was not clear in your original comment.

Chris Angel

No don't call the GG, keep calling Harper's office that way if you don't get a response the PM is "at it again being secretive and insular". If you actually do get a response from the PMO then they are usurping the GG when the announcement is supposed to come from the GG. Either way you get a same old same old story that liberals and most of your audience want to hear. While your at this why don't you ask him when he stopped beating his wife or when he stopped using heroin? If this doesn't work for you then you can always just re-spin it as just more unwarranted paranoia of the press who NEVER have a strong political bias or agenda. Keep up the inspiring work Geddes, it is the hard work demonstrated in pieces like this that drive people away from traditional media.
Wascally Wabbit

I wonder if the expression "go fish" figured in the telephone conversation between the PM and the GG?
Anon

Maybe Harper just informed the GG of his plans but she was non-comittal? Could that be it — that Harper didn't ask for it because he wasn't sure she would agree to it?

Seems to me if she had agreed to it, Harper would have rolled up and announced his talking points from Rideau Hall.

http://intensedebate.com/people/hollinm hollinm

Harper isn't in town but don't let that bother you. Keep on with the talking points.

ADF

“I never comment on discussions between the Prime Minister and the Governor General.”

Write that one down for future reference.
Chris Burnett

Hey John, it's been almost 2 hours…. where's the update? Why haven't we heard from the GG? I can see a conspiracy theory on the horizon if she doesn't say something soon….
wilson

Now Iffy can move up his Thinkers Tea from March to January!!!
http://theplaceofbiff.blogspot.com biff

An additional five weeks (from Jan 27 to March 4),

means the end to democracy in Canada. I'm told by posters and commenters alike here, that we're now a brutal dictatorship.

No loss of perspective here.

Then again,

Harper may not have ate a communion wafer, so….you know…the end of days was already upon us.
Jesse

"I would have thought the Prime Minister’s Office might go so far as to let the rest of us in on the secret."

???

The GG acts on the advice of the PM. She's the one who decides if parliement is in session or not. Its the job of her spokesperson to make these sort of announcements.

This story reads like: Harper spokesmen does something improper

when it should should read: reporter complains about source not giving him info.

Anon

Oh, settle down, Dimitri.
James

Well yes, but if the PMO is announcing that we'll having another throne speech, why be coy about it? If they're waiting for the GG to speak first, why have the PMO brief the press beforehand. This is a bit odd.

http://intensedebate.com/people/tedbetts tedbetts

He needs the time to prepare a second piano piece to play.
Deke

This is the first REAL man you've had since Trudeau gave you the finger. I like Harper more. He is understated and not given to Gaullic demonstrations of insouciance. We need more of the understated, dare I say Protestant type of leader.
Protestants even have more humble churches, less ostentatious. Yes. I like Harper. A lot. Keep him going I say as he matches exactly the true Canadian, not some esoteric lice from the continent with Euro trash creds.

MJ Patchouli

he's an evangelist not a protestant. protestants shun him.
Loraine Lamontagne

Ah yes, the REAL man – the man who married a woman who is not smart enough to obtain a degree. Dion was not a REAL man – nor a REAL-leader because his wife was too smart. Read Conservative Stephen Taylor he'll explain it all. Dion could not appeal to REAL Canadian voters because he married an intelligent, educated woman. And REAL Canadians don't think REAL men marry intelligent women. Were you one of those who referred to Dion as Stephanie?

http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

Well. That settles it for me. I'm gonna put away my l'il flag and not .. not .. watch the Olympics.

Gonna go to a nice quiet l'il spot in southern North Carolina and abuse golf balls.

That'll fix 'em.

To quote the great Shane MacGowan .. Bugger off, ya bast–ds, bugger off …