Categories: Scott Feschuk

Let's consider the prorogue from Stephen Harper's side

You expect the PM to act human, watch the luge and also go to question period? Get real.

by Scott Feschuk on Monday, January 18, 2010 4:28pm - 112 Comments

Charisma recalibrations take time

Canadians have been hard on the PM since he made the decision to “prorogue,” and not just because doing so forced some of us to learn a new word. We don’t like that he’s treating parliamentarians with contempt and disdain. After all, that’s our job.

But let’s try to see things from Stephen Harper’s perspective. Yes, he abruptly shut down the institutions of our democracy over the holidays for a second straight year. (Once more and it will become a Christmas tradition on par with watching It’s a Wonderful Life and trimming Mike Duffy.) And yes, he didn’t even bother to cross the street to visit the Governor General—he just picked up the phone and ordered the No. 2 from Rideau Hall: prorogation with a side of crazy bread.

But you have to remember the holidays are a tough time for the Prime Minister. He gets very emotional and cries when he watches How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I mean, seeing the Grinch wuss out like that in the end . . . it gets to a guy. So let’s give the PM the benefit of the doubt and explore his reasons for shutting down Parliament. Surely his decision will then make sense.

Claim: the government needs to “recalibrate” its agenda.

This makes perfect sense. It’s New Year’s. We all feel the urge to “recalibrate” our lives. And we all use the powers entrusted in us by centuries of parliamentary convention to take two full months off to do it. (I, for one, am currently vacationing in St. Barts. This column was “written” by an iPhone app.)

And remember: it takes a formidable amount of time and manpower to embark on an elaborate process to gauge the viewpoints of parliamentarians, stakeholders and experts and synthesize this into an executive analysis that can be ignored when March comes and Harper goes and does what he was going to do all along.

But government recalibration is about more than fostering the illusion of consultation. The Prime Minister needs time for:

—Personal recalibration: Harper’s charisma simulator has been offline since 1983. Plus, the charm of his little singsong at the National Arts Centre is starting to wear off. Happily, it’s nothing a travelling one-man musical can’t solve: Stephen Harper is Stephen Harper in So Lifelike I’m Almost Human! (You try and tell MC Hammer you’re not available for breakdance practice because Parliament is in session.)

—Ministerial recalibration: Harper took so many trips overseas last fall that several of his ministers need to be emasculated all over again. That takes time. And yelling. And, for reasons better left unexplained, puppets.

—Global recalibration: the PM needs time to capitalize on the momentum he’s generated overseas. A lot of naysayers said it would be impossible to take staid, amiable Canada and make it a villain in the eyes of the civilized world. But one trip to Copenhagen and—boom!—we’re a global menace. That’s not the kind of momentum a leader wants to squander. After all, being hated by the entire world has worked out pretty well for the United States and Valentine’s Day.

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Tags: charisma simulator, Christmas, copenhagen, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Olympics, Parliament, prorogation, Scott Feschuk, senatorial appointments

More by Scott Feschuk

Rolf

They are taking 4-5 weeks extra off, parliament was not scheduled to restart until Jan 25th. As for the CPC being bad Trudeau did this 11 times, Chretian did it a number of times also, once to avoid AG report on adscam. Libs are upset because they are losing their senate majority and can no longer rely on the upper chamber to stop/delay government legislation.

James M.

The Liberals took their lumps and so will the Conservatives over this. If there's one thing Canadians can't stand it's arrogance.
James M.

In almost ALL cases Parliament is prorogued because the Government has finished its business. In this case case the Conservatives are trying to hide from Parliamentary committees. This is extremely rare.

After Chretien the Liberals took their lumps. Now the Conservatives will. Canadians are not stupid.
http://intensedebate.com/people/DerekPearce DerekPearce

What is upper chamber capable of delaying when the Commons never gets to the point where bills are passed on up anyhow?

Lord Kitchener's Own

Exactly. Of all the legislation that the government just killed with prorogation, a grand total of THREE bills were actually before the Senate; SEVENTEEN were still in Harper's pocket waiting to be introduced.

SmokyMark

Check your facts before you spout, son… Rick Anderson acknowledged that in the past 25 years, Parliament was prorogued a total of 11 times over 8 Parliaments. The shortest session of Parliament in that period? Harper, 2008 – 2 weeks. The longest? Mulroney – 28 months 1988-1991. Mulroney did it the most times, including when he handed over government to Kim Campbell. Chretien's last prorogation facilitated the handover to Martin.

Mulroney also dealt with the Senate by appointing Senators to 8 NEW seats, a measure that Harper hasn't yet used. I guess that you don't mind paying more and more in wages and benefits for Parliamentarians to sit for fewer and fewer days? Why bother with them at all then? Just have the PMO appoint designated 'government representatives' for each riding, to operate the constituency offices and do away with this 'debate' and 'oversight' thing… Who needs democracy?

http://intensedebate.com/people/DerekPearce DerekPearce

The misleading headline + the humour piece = a masterful bait and switch, Feschuk! (and yes, I meant that to sound kind of dirty…)
Don Cherry

Why do conservatives struggle with logic? Who cares? Here's how to combat it: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/07/12/its_t…

T. Henderson

Thanks for that link. I have been hoping to find a piece like that. I'm so sick of the Con demagoguery, baseless, anti-intellectual and ill informed talking points.
Ken

You make it sound like all liberals are the most intelligent people in the world. Well I would guess that the ultimate liberals were communists and well you know that they failed too. Don't be such an elitist thinking that liberals have all the answers. History is riddled with examples of their failure and I am not so naive to thing conservatives haven't failed as well. Please put it all into perspective and stop with the name calling it makes you sound conservative (pun intended).

Zimby

Thanks to Kevin R. Drew for the biggest laugh of the day! Calling Maclean's the "liberal loving mcLeans magazine… the socialist magazine of crap" is hilarious and just shows what blinders can do. After a subscription spanning many several years, the right-wing lurch it took in 2005 with the change of Publisher/Editor, in the name of Whyte's goal of becoming more controversial, moved it from the domain of even-handed journalism to mostly right-wing opinion reporting. Scott Feschuk is a breathe of humor who I enjoyed until I cancelled my subscription (coincident with the arrival of Mark Steyn as a too-regular "contributor").

Ken

I think both Liberals and Conservatives can be blinded and so resort to meaningless babble.

rdb

harper is vacationing in thte ukraine where he tried the pro rogies.

he'll go down for this.

someone commented that they were going to be out of house anyway so this only adds 5 weeks!

duh.

doesn't that prove that this was not a necessity but a manouvre
Sheila

Re prorogation of parliament – – no one said a word when the Liberals did it. only the Liberals should be allowed to use this?

did anyone enjoy the antics of the opposition during the last sitting when all they did was try to embarrass the government by repeatedly asking the same stupid questions that were already being dealt with instead of trying to accomplish something ?

Of course why would the opposition bother to try to accomplish anything when they know it would be all up to the unelected senate to decide if anything would actually change – and we know most ofl those unelected senators don't want to change anything

If it were not for Harpers tenacity in rebuilding our armed forces we would not be in a postion to do anything for Haiti.

When parliament goes back hopefully we will have a senate that will deal with the wishes of our elected members so something will be accomplished. – and hopefully the opposition does not continue to take up time "politicking" instead.

T. Henderson

Prorogation is not intended to be used to avoid the scrutiny of Parliamentary committees such as the one investigating war crimes in Afghanistan. There have been numerous articles written about why, in this case, it was an anti-democratic act (even in the right wing media), versus other occasions.

We don't elect a PM, we elect MP's. It is the duty of our elected representatives and our Senate to hold the Government accountable. That is their job – is that what you mean by politicking? If the Government can't take the heat it should be replaced.

ken

Well it has been done for years by liberals as well. Chretian did it to end the sponsorship scandal….or at least give him the opportunity to get out so Martin could take the fall. I might add did Chretians proroguing stop the sponsorship scandal……NO……so there is CLEAR proof that was not the reason for proroguing.

T. Henderson

Prorogation is not intended to be used to avoid the scrutiny of Parliamentary committees such as the one investigating war crimes in Afghanistan. There have been numerous articles written about why, in this case, it was an anti-democratic act (even in the right wing media), versus other occasions.

We don't elect a PM (i.e. President), we elect MP's. It is the duty of our elected representatives to hold the Government accountable and our Senate to provide sober second thought. That is their job – is that what you mean by politicking? If the Government can't take the heat it should step aside.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

Liberals did it at the end of session, or because of leadership conventions which would have put Parliament in the awkward place of no defined PM. Both are well accepted.

Doing it while half your bills are still in process, with nothing in particular going on other than normal Parliamentary business, is something different. Doing it to avoid normal Parliamentary business, such as requests for documents to a committee where all the participants have Top Secret clearance.. is unprecedented.. and reeks of attempting to hide something. Canadians don't like it when their government treats them like fools.

As for what you know of the senate.. got proof? Or is this just your gut talking — ie, no brain involved?

Ken

Once again a liberal assuming that those on the right are ignorant while liberals are the wisest in the world. If that were so they would have never lost power.

SmokyMark

I found it amusing that Conservative MP Ms. Glover could claim not to know 'who Tom Flanagan is" after he stated the real reasons behind the prorogation… As a former CPC inside staffer and Harper right-hand man, he should know better than anyone.

Ms Glover's assertion that "Mr. Flanagan… presumably is a Canadian… and Canadians are allowed to hold opinions…" casts aspersions on a strong member of the CPC, demonstrates an appalling ignorance of her own party's history, raises the specter that Flanagan, too, is "just visiting" and trivializes the opinions of Canadians – only the Conservative 'masters' opinions count.
Ken

First of all they are arresting people who are in gun battles with them. Where do you get your facts? Let us not forget that it was the Liberal government that set up the turning over of prisoners to the Afghan authorities. Seldom does the left even refer to that important point. All I ask for is some balance in the reporting. Do you think proroguing will prevent the discussion. None of us do, so it has to be more than that but all we hear is this line of thinking which is very flawed.
Lord Kitchener's Own

Still, it's always nice to see a member of this government acknowledging publicly that "Canadians are allowed to hold opinions".
http://intensedebate.com/people/Alethia Alethia

Despite the left's frantic frenetic attempts to get this back on the table, its yesterday's news. There are more important things on the mind of Canadians. It would seem that I have struck a nerve to point this out, considering the personal attacks.

My comments were based on the "jouranlist's" piece. I merely reference that the repitition of certain perspectives doesn't make it more right, and suddenly I am attacked for rising to the occasion. Then instead of debating the arguments certain people take to alluding to me being illogical, unintelligent, they label me a "neo-con", and heap derision on me.

So I point out, who is it that offers fresh ideas and opinions that are not cookie cutter, repetitions of three or four talking points espoused by Jack Layton. Who is it that honestly agrees with some of the points raised by the critics? I went on record to admit, I think Mr. Harper misjudged the cynacism of the Canadian public. This is not the response of a blinded neo-con robot.

So who is illogical, who can think for themselves, stand up as a contrarian and counter the popular myth? (cont)
http://intensedebate.com/people/Alethia Alethia

Lets face it, clearly my thoughts are not in the mainstream of the popular press. I think I was drawn to the article originally, because the title suggested considering Mr. Harper's viewpoint. Not because I am a neo-con robot, but because that idea was somewhat novel. I mean who in all of the press has actually written an article from that perspective?

So I am drawn to contrary positions and arguments. So I am inherantly a contrarian: Perhaps even an iconoclaust. So I like to consider broad ranging opinion. So I like to expose myself to outside the box kind of thinking. So I have a degree of cynacism, or skepticism particularly about what I perceive to be the popular myth.

Think about it. What is unintelligent about that? cont…
http://intensedebate.com/people/Alethia Alethia

One essay that has profoundly influenced my world view was written by a little known individual thought to be intelligent by the name of…Mr. Albert Einestein.
He wrote: " The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling. "

So I ask myself, am I a creative, sentient individual? Or am I part of the herd? And then I reread the responses here. Strangely, I don't feel part of the herd…
Jan

Anything else you feel the need to tell us about yourself?
Ken

Good comment Alethia. All liberals do is name call and think they are the wisest. If liberals were wise and intellegent than they would never ever lose power.
Ken

LOL good reply. But lets not do the same thing as those in the pack are doing. People who hold a conservative perspective are also intelligent beings. Are they infallible? Of course not. But wouldn't it be nice if we could simply debate, have even handed journalism and stop with the name calling? I am guilty too. In fact I failed by resorting to name calling in an earlier post on this article but at least I can recognize my failure and not repeat it.
Ken

There you go another intelligent reply. No debate just insults.
Ken

I erred I should not have painted all liberals with the same criticism. I should have said, "All some Liberals…"
Iccyh

The comments here are almost as funny as the column.
fdhfdfdg

Does any one actually care about prorogation, or is this news media trying to "sell" their stories. How about journalists report on events that transpire during this time, and not just fluff stories. I thought Macleans would be more professional in this matter, but again this is an editorial, not news. Um, I read news to hear about the news. I do not care about the journalists opinions….nor should anyone else….I have my own opinion, and will not get rid of mine, in place of some college grad.

I think the more real news magazines report, and less "feelings", that news conglomerates can gain more credibility, as it's been waning for some time now.
JWB

Most hated country in the world???OMG
FACT! Canada represents 2% of the worlds carbon emissions. 2%, thats it!
If we are hated by people who truly believe that Canada is not doing is part to save the environment because we couldn't reduce our emissions from 2% to 1.67843% then GOOD! When chicken little screamed, Canada ignored him.

Harper did what was best for Canadians by not buying into this Carbon crap. Save an ocean, find a toxic spill or something, spend my tax dollars saving my environment. Stop wasting it on a gas I breathe out every day!

Harper prorogued parliament probably to silence these left wing nuts who actually were gaining a voice in this country. Good for him!
Ken

Well at least you are willing to debate the issue I am not sure your assertions are true and it is difficult to know if anything we know is true, from either side. My main purpose for the post is to debate the issue instead of name calling which is not a debate at all. The other problem here is that our soldiers have a set procedure as to what they are to do with detainees. They have to follow it whether they like it or not. The are trying to respect the culture with which they are working with. While it is possible that there is torture they are trying to give the Afghani responsibility and freedom to deal with their problems as well as they can. But if they are being tortured then deal with the Afghani authorities not our soldiers. What other recourse do we have?

But thank you for reasonable debate but you still didn't answer my main question. Nothing has ever gone away because of proroguing it didn't take away debate when the Liberals were in the middle of the sponsorship scandal and it will not here either. So why does the media keep harping on that point. Because they have another axe to grind and that is that they are pro liberal. I believe Harpers reasons for proroguing and I believe it has to do with the senate and new strategy for the upcoming budget.
http://www.premieretreeservices.com/ tree cutting

Great article. One thing's for sure, if they don't do something about it, then negative effects will sure to follow.