A sample of articles about the history of prorogation in Canada
Page 1 (Drummondville Spokesman – May 27, 1930) has a bit of a parallel to today’s prorogation. The PM wanted to set a new direction with a new budget and new multinational economic unit. The Economic Action Plan of the 1930s?
Page 2 (Glasgow Herald – March 16, 1939) is a two inch column describing a potential prorogation of Parliament by the King himself.
Page 3 (Ottawa Citizen – June 30, 1938) describes a 200,000 strong group (and this before Facebook) to protest the government’s move to jail violators of a media blackout law on reporting election results! The article describes that ministers would not meet with delegates of the group due to a “rush to prorogue Parliament”.
Page 4 (Montreal Gazette – March 15, 1939) – Describes the King coming to Parliament to prorogue the session or give royal assent to bills if session business is not complete
Page 5 (Montreal Gazette – June 11, 1928) – Mackenzie King – “We have concluded all the business of the session, so far as the Government is concerned”. I have not been able to find reference to the Toronto papers called King a tyrant or a despot.
Page 6 (St. John Sun – July 13, 1906) – Description of prorogation and reintroduction of House business when parliament resumes.
Page 7 (Toronto World – May 17, 1916) – Controversy as GG not present for prorogation proceedings. Prorogation to be completed by Chief Justice instead (who was deputy GG)
Page 8 (St. John Sun – April 5, 1902) – Description of prorogation despite 28 bills on order paper in a provincial parliament.
Page 9 (Ottawa Citizen – May 19, 1916) – Prorogation unusually quiet and with lack of ceremony. Did the PM request prorogation via telegraph?
Page 10 (Ottawa Citizen – Mar 13, 1911) – A member of parliament suggests that Parliament prorogue due to Typhoid epidemic sweeping through Ottawa.
Page 11 (Poverty Bay Herald (New Zealand) – June 13, 1914) – Prorogation and Senate politics. A delay in prorogation causes a deadlock in the Senate with Senators refusing to pass a bill increasing the number of Senators in the Upper Chamber.
Page 12 (Montreal Gazette – May 18, 1909) – A rush to prorogation
Page 13 (Montreal Gazette – September 9, 1911) – The government insisted it prorogued because it could not get money bills through while the opposition accused it of blocking an inquiry into a slush fund.
Page 14 (New Zealand Evening Post – January 8, 1903) – Obituary of Canadian journalist who numerous parliaments that had “assembled and prorogued”
Page 15 (Ottawa Citizen – October 28, 1985) – Broadbent dismisses PM Mulroney’s valid option of resetting Parliament due to “disasterous” session to come back with new Throne Speech
Page 16 (Ottawa Citizen – November 26, 1983) – description of business prior to potential prorogation by PM Mulroney.
Page 17 (CBC – November 13, 2003) – Report of prorogation of Parliament by Chretien to allow Martin to assemble new cabinet.
There are numerous other stories regarding prorogation. According to a deep news search going back before the turn of the 20th century, today’s particular instance of Prime Minister-recommended prorogation has produced the most news stories in Canadian history.
For perspective, Google News shows that 1,561 articles have been written by the Canadian media in the last month regarding prorogation (as of the time of this blog post).
Comparatively, 1,351 articles have been written about H1N1 over the same time period by the Canadian media.
If we search for Google News stories concerning “prorogation” OR “prorogue” AND “Facebook” we learn that the Canadian media has written 424 stories, while the Facebook group protesting prorogation has 208,744 members. This amounts to 492 new members to the Facebook group for every MSM article referencing the group over the past few weeks. This number does not include television, magazine and radio coverage of the Facebook group. And to think, it all started with a “fury” of 20,000 when the group was in the budding stages of becoming an MSM darling.
An historical perspective shows that prorogation is quite a common parliamentary procedure in the country and most prorogations have passed without too much ink spilled on the pages of Canada’s historic newspapers.
So why the media fixation on prorogation? Canada’s news organizations are facing hard times and this news is evident to those who regularly buy newspapers — which, it seems, is not a lot of us. Budgets of Ottawa bureaus have been slashed with some offices closing completely. Prorogation may be a threat to those that report the news because of a sparser parliamentary calendar and a move by parent companies to prioritize resources elsewhere. An annual prorogation, as bandied about by the PM earlier, would not serve the Ottawa news business well.
Furthermore, the current vacuum of news content slices two ways; the frustration by many without content to fill columns and airtime and the news vacuum that now exists without anything else going on in Ottawa.
Stephen Taylor is a scientist, political analyst and a blogger. Taylor writes here regularly and is the founder of bloggingtories.ca. Taylor has contributed to Macleans, CTV, talk radio and has been a featured speaker on new media at numerous events including the Western Standard Cruise and the Forum for Public Policy. In December 2008, Taylor organized Rally for Canada, a series of rallies held coast-to-coast to protest the proposed coalition government.
January 21st, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Great post, this is another media driven story, shelf life usually four weeks. Like wafer-gate, H1N1, bodybags the unhappy media are looking for negative scandal filled news. Our MSM has been reduced to a tabloid TMZ style, from MJ death, Bubble Boy, Tiger got bumped by Leno vs Conan.
How will elections Canada view the newspaper space (donated) to adverstise the rallies if they are being run by political parties? I just read mine in Oakville has the NDP involved. (Oakville Beaver)
January 21st, 2010 at 5:08 pm
“So why the media fixation on prorogation?”
Because this time the Prime Minister prorogued because he preferred that to being accountable to the Members of Parliament elected to represent the interests of Canadians.
By the way, out of interest, how much media coverage did your rallies get last year?
January 21st, 2010 at 5:26 pm
About 30 stories, but the window was only 1 week. And most of the stories were written reporting on the rallies after they occurred.
January 21st, 2010 at 5:44 pm
It looks like activists from Fair Vote, The Council of Canadians. I am curious about the rules of political spending and how this is reported for the large number of newspapers are donating space in their newspapers with details for the rallies. I don't see any indication it was a “buy”.
January 21st, 2010 at 6:08 pm
The level of media attention was due to a lack of more interesting news. You would likely agree that prorogation stories are now a distant second behind Haiti earthquake stories. Fortunately it is not the governments' or Conservatives' decision what news is most publicised, and this is a good thing for democracy. If Harper trusts voters to agree with him on prorogation then he is fine. If he doesn't trust voters, then he has to re examine his actions.
January 21st, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Just keep your fingers crossed that Iffy gets all cocky over the prorogygate numbers and the opps pull the plug.
It's time to roll.
January 21st, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Here in Sask, they premier prorogues every year until spring to “reset” the agenda. Who knew?
January 21st, 2010 at 6:34 pm
“So why the media fixation on prorogation?”
Just look at the number of stories that 'the govt/military are war criminals' generated, lots.
That frustrated them, so they launched a 'surge' attack.
And the result is the least qualified, least experienced wanna-be-PM in history has rocketed to even with PMSH.
Sad eh.
But Canadians are not stupid, common sense will prevail.
January 21st, 2010 at 7:09 pm
The Canadian media's jihad on conservatism continues.
Can you search on the number of articles on the 'in and out' scandal relative to the number which cleared the government of all charges and allegations?
January 21st, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Well the rallies are non-partisan, so I do not see any concerns relating to political spending.
January 21st, 2010 at 9:56 pm
The government has not been cleared of all charges and allegations, so I am guessing you will see no articles saying otherwise.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Ignatieff is not going to “pull the plug”, but of course he never planned to.
According to you just a few days ago, Harper is the one who wanted an election. Do you still think he is going to try to force one?
I suggest that even though his numbers are going to go back up, they will not be as high as he expected and he will be back to work in March. At the end of the day, that would be a win for the opposition.
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:49 am
What charges…Gayle.
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:53 am
Do you have proof it is non partisan? Remember Jack admitted on the phone he had the coalition plan a very long time ago. Do you have any evidence besides their press releases?
http://www.oakvillebeaver.com/news/article/292182
Looks like the opposition parties have co-opted the professional activists that share their platform again. Same actors.Targeting only the CPC ridings makes it partisan political rally like the pro-coalition protests.
Kairos activistism was identical to the NDP as well. Are the left using non profits, tax-funded organizations to get around the rules?
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:59 am
Link please
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:19 am
Ha ha ha.
They say they are non-partisan, and I have seen nothing to suggest they are not. They have continually stressed this is not about bashing Harper, or about promoting one of the other parties.
Do you have any evidence they are partisan, because I am guessing you don't.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:19 am
Lamest post EVAR, Stephen.
Harper pulled a snap prorogue with no warning, and with some questionable optics around the Afghan detainee thing. He thought he could get away with it. Even said publicly that the public wouldn't much care. (and thus, government transparancy and accountability quietly dropped off the agenda)
He was wrong.
C'mon people, suck it up and move on. If you pick the scab, you'll only make it bleed.
BTW, big Haiti telethons tonight. If you haven't yet donated, tonight will be a good opportunity.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:20 am
Perhaps you should ask Beer and Popcorn about that one AG, since s/he is the one who said that.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:21 am
Ha ha ha
There you go again with your whole “prove a negative”stuff. Why don't you ask Beer to prove her/his assertion? Could that be because you do not need any actual evidence to believe something good about the CPC?
In any event, I do not need a link. You should just read the case.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:28 am
Hi Gayle: I allege you are a Liberal opperative. Are you going to clear yourself of these allegations?
Charges are one thing – allegations another.
And it seems they have been cleared on the charges.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/7521...
No doubt the NDP which did the same thing as the Coservatives are breathing a sigh of relief, knowing how even handed Elections Canada is in these matters.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:41 am
'Just look at the number of stories that 'the govt/military are war criminals' generated, lots.'
… and who put those <strike>stories</strike> lies out, hmmmm?
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:10 am
Just as I thought no link or information to back up your claims.
Nice try again dearie!
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:14 am
Ha ha ha
You have not read the case, have you. I do not need to link to it because Mr. Taylor has kindly provided a copy on an earlier. The support for the refutation of Beer's claims is in the case.
There is no support for Beer's claim. I assume that is why you did not ask.
But it is cute the way you think you have actually established something beyond your inability to make a compelling argument.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:17 am
Sigh…
Yet another person who has not read the case. This case had nothing to do with a potential prosecution under the Elections Act. Instead, it was about whether Maynard had the authority to withhold the payments. The court ruled he did not. The court also specifically refrained from ruling on whether the CPC broke the law. THAT investigation is still ongoing.
Read the case if you do not believe me.
As for your “allegation” – prove it.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:18 am
I suspect this is more about appealing to the base. There is no way any attempt to “normalize” this prorogation is going to work with the general population. That ship has sailed.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:21 am
Dear Gayle
you still can't evidence that the NDP are actively behind this latest publicity stunt? You can't find the rooms booked by these groups, who is paying for them to organize? You can't read the articles from NDP 'activists' , really?
nice try…best of luck
If you attend don't forget to thank all the union “non-partisans” support from the regulars who show up.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:22 am
Gayle: The point is that allegations are just that, and that groups or individuals are under no obligation to validate them or try to clear themselves of them. Thanks for helping illustrate that point.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:27 am
“The government has not been cleared of all charges and allegations, so I am guessing you will see no articles saying otherwise.”
Sigh….Gayle…try to keep up — YOU said the above statement…I am asking…AGAIN…What Charges..
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:32 am
“And it's also an example of what I've been saying for years: we're better off with right-leaning governments for no other reason than that the media is far more vigilant in it's criticism, and in bringing information to light.”
As long as the information is accurate or is fully reported…the amount of fudging by omission and/or using headlines to distort the truth or just not correcting the misconceptions out there (for example, that Chretien and Trudeu had the support of the house to prorogue).
The media have given up all pretense of being balanced and unbiased. This whole prorogation is a media driven story – look today how they are advertising for the anti prorogation rallies, facebook pages and even individuals.
If they were truly balanced, they would also report on the other side.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:58 am
Sigh…
Maybe put that to Beer, because s/he was the one who claimed all allegations were cleared. I was simply refuting that point.
I am not sure what it is about that that is so hard for you to understand.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:58 am
Link?
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:59 am
The same ones Beer was referring to.
Get it now?
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:09 am
What does the main character from Zelda have to do with my question?
Oh that's right nothing. Thanks again dearie!
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:16 am
So no link then?
What. A. Surprise.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:24 am
No warning, for weeks the media and talk shows were talking about the PM taking this step. And many of us questioned why they were suggesting this. The PM, as usual, called their bluff. And the media never gave the truth, that it had been done 105 times, mostly by Liberal PM. They even allowed the lie that Chretein had the support of the HofC. This might have started out as a grass root thing, but it has been hijacked by the NDP and Liberals. I really wonder if it really wasn't started by the NDP, after all, remember Jack's comments on that tape-protests, and other plans to get him into the cabinet via the coup supporters.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:26 am
If the Court ruled that nothing wrong was done, how can they prosecute.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:29 am
The reason is the the person trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear is never proving her point.
But, she could win the Most Ridiculous Allegation of the year award.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:37 am
Article in the Lethbridge Herald today, a protest is being organized tomorrow at Rick Casson's office, by Tom Moffat, President of the Lethbridge East NDP constituency organization and Bev Mundel-Atherstone, President of the Lethbridge Federal NDP Riding Association.
Rick will be in Ottawa, working for Canadians.
Can anyone deny that this is an NDP stunt from start to finish, trying to hide behind a fb page. And, research the background of the guy that started it, you know, the one who has admitted on TV and radio, that he spoils his ballot.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:41 am
For God's sake Galye – stop being so obtuse…when you state that the charges haven't been dropped, you obviously are speaking of specific charges… I want to know what they are, because I don't know of any….
Got it NOW!
BTW, your ignoring the question says alot about you, sweetie.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:42 am
Any possibility that if Mr Iggy doesn't pull the plug, all that anger tomorrow will turn on him.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:58 am
No
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:03 am
Can you prove that, or provide a link, (sarc off)
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:03 am
Well now you have resorted to “sweetie”, so I can tell you are upset. I just do not know why.
Beer is complaining the media is not reporting the charges have been cleared, and I have simply pointed out no charges have been cleared. And that is true – no charges have been cleared.
Beer is under some delusion that the lawsuit means the judge said the CPC are innocent, and that is simply not true. The Judge did not rule one way or the other on that issue.
My error was in not assuming someone would be acting deliberately obtuse and accuse me of saying charges have been laid.
I did not realize someone would be deliberately obtuse about the whole thing and start accusing me of saying charges have been laid.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:05 am
Have you gone to the facebook page and read the comments there? A lot of people from a lot of political parties are involved, but the events are non-partisan. No one political party will be promoted.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:06 am
They didn't rule there was nothing wrong. They ruled Maynard did not have the authority to withhold the money.
Read the case.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:08 am
It is not the same as the other times Parliament was prorogued for the simple reason this is the second time prorogation occured in order to avoid being accountable to parliament. The first time that happened was last year.
Seriously, the CPC are not going to win this argument.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:15 am
But they will win the election, no way Mr Iffy can win unless it is a coalition, and the people spoke against that last year. And the only way he could win a coalition coup attempt is to get seats from the Bloc. That isn't going to happen either.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:28 am
“Well now you have resorted to “sweetie”, so I can tell you are upset. I just do not know why”
Hmmm…well, I had pegged you as a bit smarter than that comment shows, Gayle.
Was that so hard, sweetie?
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:16 am
When you're hard-right, everything – even moderate conservatives – look left-leaning.
But I do understand; this dogma about the “lefty” media gives y'all a free pass to attack the messenger and deflect the message.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Wont a lot of those artists be the same ones who protested against the PM for supposed cuts to their welfare, and didn't cbc/ctv do the same thing. Now they have the nerve to go out there and pretend they care about something the PM and his government are doing. Sorry no donation from me tonight, I will choose a registered charity that does good. Suzuki not included. I think the weather channel will have news re the coming storm across Canada, and Fox is always worth watching.
Whatever happend to those millions CIDA collected.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Then why are Mr iffy and Jack Layton going to address the crowds. This is nothing but an attempt by certain leaders to achieve their coup. Wont work. How could they take over the govt and still argue democracy is broken.
And my money is on Mr Iffy backing down big time in March. He is afraid he might have to face the voters in an election. Or, it could be they only way the backroom boys can get rid of him as leader, by having him lose not only the election but position of Opposition leader.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Hey Kenn..go google “prorogation”.
See how many “positive” hits you get.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Only you could manage to sh!t on a fundraising effort for Haiti. Good work.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:45 pm
In fact, Kenn – while you are googling.
Google Stephen Harper, CPC, Tories, Reform, Alliance, any CPC minister – see how many “positive” stories you get!!!!!
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:07 pm
I suppose I could rise to the bait by observing that the majority of news stories about government are negative, no matter who's in power, or by challenging you for real numbers showing that the Conservatives get more bad coverage than the Liberals.
… but that would be pointless, because the issue NOW is THIS prorogue, and no amount of bleating about Lib'rul bias or who prorogued what in 1903 will change that fact.
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Well Kenn…see THAT is the issue…why THIS prorogation has prompted the amount of outrage over every other prorogation done by every other PM throughout history. It is over the top, it is full of misconceptions and misinformation promoted by the media.
As far as the MSM being biased against the Conservatives, it is a fact Kenn and for every positive story for PM Harper, I could find you 100 that are against.
You might want to check out this site that outlines how to detect bias in our media…I would say that the majority of our media fall into every category.
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources...
Trust me, you aren't raising the bait because it is a well known fact so no bait to be hooked.
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:05 pm
You know as well as anyone here why THIS prorogue caught the attention it did. Stevie gambled, and he lost. It happens to all PMs.
This will go away alot faster if you guys could just move on.
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:44 pm
http://www.bluelikeyou.com/2010/01/22/we-at-bly...
Gayle…scroll down to Gabby's comments where she provides links to where Greens are organizing, NDP are organizing…..
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Well sweetie,…he is still the PM so I guess he hasn't “lost” yet?
As Gayle is wont to say….Saying it doesn't make it so.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:44 pm
I am sure Mr. Harper or some of his MP's could address the crowds too.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Oh look. People from different parties are organizing events. How very partisan of them.
Give your head a shake. If it were partisan wouldn't it be all about one party?
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:57 pm
But he did lose. He was 15 points ahead of the LPC before he prorogued.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:25 pm
For you, a link to the facebook group wherein they complain about how some political parties are hijacking their non-partisan event and claiming it as their own.
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=260348091...
Facts AG. Those pesky facts. They get you every time.
January 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 am
'EVAR'?????
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:29 am
(misplaced comment deleted)
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:30 am
It's a Simpsons/Internet thing.
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:38 am
I'm not saying he's done, or that it's election time, just that this prorogue (timing, manner) was a bad call. That's it. Really.
January 23rd, 2010 at 12:34 pm
So should you instead of scanning it.
January 23rd, 2010 at 12:38 pm
“Guest
Gayle 1 day ago
I am not sure if you read the whole decision, and I confess I have scanned it but not read all the details”
Hypocrite
January 23rd, 2010 at 12:40 pm
“Guest
Gayle 1 day ago
I am not sure if you read the whole decision, and I confess I have scanned it but not read all the details”
Hypocrite
January 23rd, 2010 at 12:41 pm
“Guest
Gayle 1 day ago
I am not sure if you read the whole decision, and I confess I have scanned it but not read all the details”
January 23rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures that Stephan Taylor will post on his blog of all the Prorogation Protesters. He took great pleasure in posting the pictures of the handful of miss-spelling Ignatieff protesters. And being the fair and balanced and tolerant person he is, I'm sure we will see lots of these pictures on Monday along with and story about how irrelevant they all are.
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Speaking about spelling… you should learn how to spell my name. You obviously dialed it into your internet machine correctly so it shouldn't be too hard to learn.
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:13 pm
I think it should be Stephane Taylor, just like our greatest Prime Minister Stephane Dion!
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:53 pm
I can assure you that the miss-spelling of your name was intentional…… So back to the story you plan on writing. I hope you have lots of pictures, and again tell everybody how 210,000 + Canadians signed up to the facebook page are irrelevant.
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:59 pm
The only thing relevant that comes from online organization is offline action via rallies, for example.
Ultimately, the only thing that is relevant on this is votes. Does the left have enough to form a government? If so, will they be upfront with Canadians on their plan to form a coalition government and ask for that mandate?
January 23rd, 2010 at 5:33 pm
How on earth do you go from facebook, to rallies, to a coalition?
January 23rd, 2010 at 5:36 pm
That's the question: where does this go from Facebook?
It's all moot if people don't act offline.
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:58 pm
From a lot of the comments from tv and reports of turnout, I would say the ndp/lib/coalition day of protest was a flop. Who printed and paid for all those professional signs, were those that carried them paid to do so. 50 show up in Lethbridge, about 150 at PMSH's office in Calgary. 300 turn out in Quebec. That must mean there are 1000's in Quebec who support the PM. And for the turnout in Toronto, how many conservative MPs are there from that city. And how many of those were just regular shoppers who got caught in the middle. Of all the hundreds of cars going by, only about 50 honked in support.
And why did not one media person ask just one protester how Prorogation had affected them personally.
And if the government was shut down, how did aid to Haiti get the go ahead.
Now we just have to await the new Senators for the media mob to pounce again. Only the senators will be real, and it is back to the drawing board for the coalition.
January 24th, 2010 at 8:28 am
No. You were trying to allege a plan to form a coalition government. It suggests to me conservatives are afraid of the response they got to the prorogation so they are trying to revive the coaltion bogey man to scare voters.
Can I suggest you just tell Harper to stop acting like an autocrat? That would help him more.
January 24th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Bob Rae has stated the three times he prorogued the Legislature during his infamous tenure as premier of Ontario was “different”. Yeah, guess you could say that all right, but it was prorogation all the same.
Perhaps we can forgive his hypocrisy, he is now a Liberal after all, Liberals proroguing is acceptable.
As for the news media, there's plenty to report but that might take work, much easier to spin off a few lines on the present government and dig for old crap, like resurrecting the firewall around Alberta tale.
It's another case of much ado about nothing, the Opps have no intention of bringing down the government on this or anything else. Why? The time isn't right for THEM.
January 24th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Non Partisan? I can sell you some swamp land in Floriday.
January 24th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Your accusation is very wrong. Proroging Parliament is legal and at the disgression of the PM.
Most of the people in Canada do not give a hoot. They know that it is the media and the opposition who make a hoopla out of it. I wish someone would file a law suit again the two Liberal Members who openly accused our People in Afghanistan of participating in Torture. Of course these two are the usual loudmouth. If the Liberals are so serious about this, bring down the house and let's see how the people feel about it. But they don't have the guts.
January 24th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Careful, you'll spill your milk.
January 24th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
DE-FENCE!! DE-FENCE!! DE-FENCE!!
You know you're losing when…
January 24th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Believe me, if I actually thought either the NDP or the LPC could get 25 thousand people to attend a protest against Harper, I would be shouting that from the rooftops.
January 24th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Have you not read this post….thats because the media is out to get him…the Conrad Black created National Post, Sunmedia, CTV, Global they all are libruls with an axe to grind…I mean they all published similar attendance figures! And we know that Canadians love them some dictator so it MUST be the librul media!!
January 24th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
When Jason Cherniak predicts a win?
January 24th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
lol. I only predict in Football, where I don't really care.
January 25th, 2010 at 6:22 am
You mispelled “miss-spelling”.
January 25th, 2010 at 6:23 am
Intentionally mispelling somebody's name – now, that's a very mature, rational, and adult thing to do.
January 25th, 2010 at 6:24 am
Hmmm. IPNightly – when I was around 10, we had that sort of humour. There was IP Nightly, Who Bichaballsov, Who Bittertitsov, Hoo Flung Poo and other assorted pubescent humour. Your choice of handle kind of gives us an idea as to your level of intellect.
January 25th, 2010 at 6:37 am
Nice to know you still have time to read Conservative blogs. Keeping informed of facts is always important.
January 25th, 2010 at 6:40 am
He's baaaack.
January 25th, 2010 at 8:45 am
With Harper getting strangled for votes in the current polls I would suggest the center and center left has a pretty good opportunity to bring Harper down to around 100 seats.
January 25th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Liz J…….it might help you to ascertain facts if you read something other than the tory/reform blogs. You might also try and understand the fact that the press in Canada is not all Liberal. Reading a lot of different opinions broadens the mind.
January 25th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Hi Liz – no, that is really me, East of Eden. I figure if IP is going to criticize Stephen, he should at least spell correctly – especially the word mispelling. I just love these trolls. Stephen can attest to it being really me – he sees my e-mail address. A troll would not see it.
January 25th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
What Press, the only thing I have been reading is loudmouth Liberal Propaganda. Sorry there is no free press in Canada, not a single station that has the guts to sometime reports something good about this Government. Funny though, inspite of the spinning, the Tories seemed to have won the last two elections.
January 25th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
centre and centre-left ?
January 25th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Gayle – will the next coalition be Liberal / NDP / Bloc / Taliban?
Nudge nudge, wink wink..
January 26th, 2010 at 7:52 am
Wont there be another prorogation when the lib/ndp coalition vote no confidence and we head into an election.
So, the coaliton are supporting legislation to stop prorogation, thus possibly eliminating an election call.
Nice to know they support the PM and his government, and want it to stay in power forever.
It is also nice to know there are so many Canadians who also support never having another election, by getting out to protest.
See, it is possible to twist anything to ones advantage.
Oh, and if they open up the Constitution, add an amendment, any leadership candidate not paying their debts in time are ineligible to sit in the HofC and can never stand for election again, anywhere.
That might stop all those in it just for 15 minutes of fame.
January 26th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
But Canadian's are stupid. Well, at least the 28% or so of them who vote Liberal. 16 (give or take) years of 'FIBeral' government taught them nothing. Haper has done right by me. Everything he's done “wrong” has been wrong in the eyes of Libs, lefties, and commies. And for that I say, good job!
January 27th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Whether one agrees or not with prorogue, is there not some requirement for the MSM to report it accurately? Is the MSM not accountable to some body – ethics or practices, when they outright lie? The MSM has been consistently reporting that “Harper shut down parliament for two months”; last week on his website, Rick Mercer reported that he shut it down for three months. This progroguing “shuts down parliament” for 22 days, and when you factor in that usually when we are putting on an Olympic games, that parliament would take a pause – and rightly so; then the real, actual proroguing is about 2 weeks. This is sure a far cry from 3 months or 2 months. Or is the MSM practice now, as long as it is presented as anti-Harper, anything goes – the truth or accuracy of facts doesn't matter, if the message of the article is slandering Harper in some way????
January 27th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
John:
The subject matter that has the oppostion to prorogation in such an uproar, can and will be investigated to the full extent once Parliament reconvienes. The difference is that with the realligning of the committees to reflect the current standings will allow it to bring in facts that extend to the years before 2006, facts, that had the committee structure stayed the same, would have been rejected by a vote of the committee.
January 27th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
The Parliamentary committee structure is not changed by proroguing. Only the Senate committee structure will change. In any event, you obviously missed the fact the LPC have called for a judicial inquiry going back to the start of the mission.
Clearly they are not the ones with something to hide.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
I refer you to all the other people here who argued the same thing. See my responses.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
You're embarrassing yourself by saying it was non-partisan. Check out the NDP worker handing out signs…
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/23/toronto-pror...
January 27th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Whether one agrees or not with prorogue, is there not some requirement for the MSM to report it accurately? Is the MSM not accountable to some body – ethics or practices, when they outright lie? The MSM has been consistently reporting that “Harper shut down parliament for two months”; last week on his website, Rick Mercer reported that he shut it down for three months. This progroguing “shuts down parliament” for 22 days, and when you factor in that usually when we are putting on an Olympic games, that parliament would take a pause – and rightly so; then the real, actual proroguing is about 2 weeks. This is sure a far cry from 3 months or 2 months. Or is the MSM practice now, as long as it is presented as anti-Harper, anything goes – the truth or accuracy of facts doesn't matter, if the message of the article is slandering Harper in some way????
January 28th, 2010 at 1:16 am
Well the rally came and went yet prorgation still took place.
Guess that means the rally organizers failed to achieve their goal.
The rally happened and Iggy got in front of the crowd with a golden opportunity to say something inspiring, so he said..he said…uhm…well he made a speech to the assembled crowd.
Then after the rally the next day, Iggy comes out with a new idea…sorry… an idea he poached from the NDP, that limits need to be put on prorogation….he did really..
But don't dispair liberals, when the throne speech and the budget are tabled you get two chances to bring the government down and go to an election.
Because trying to form a coalition still needs the support of the separatist party, and the last time the opposition tried that brain fart Harper's approval rating went over 50%.
January 28th, 2010 at 1:23 am
John:
The subject matter that has the oppostion to prorogation in such an uproar, can and will be investigated to the full extent once Parliament reconvienes. The difference is that with the realligning of the committees to reflect the current standings will allow it to bring in facts that extend to the years before 2006, facts, that had the committee structure stayed the same, would have been rejected by a vote of the committee.
January 28th, 2010 at 1:58 am
The Parliamentary committee structure is not changed by proroguing. Only the Senate committee structure will change. In any event, you obviously missed the fact the LPC have called for a judicial inquiry going back to the start of the mission.
Clearly they are not the ones with something to hide.
January 28th, 2010 at 2:02 am
I refer you to all the other people here who argued the same thing. See my responses.