Whaddya know, we’re back where we began. A little more than a year ago, I began BBM because the Canadian Parliament had been prorogued by its Prime Minister when a coalition was readying to boot him out of office. Well, we’re prorogued again. Parliament is not reconvening until sometime in March. Ya-hoo, time for the boys on Parliament Hill to hit the ski slopes, down a couple of brews, kick back in their local ridings and hobknob with real citizens. Prorogation is an extremely technical, parliamentary procedure that means “the ability of the governing party to declare a vacation whenever it thinks its ass might be on the line.”
Why, you ask, is its ass on the line? Because it seems the government might have knowingly handed over Afghan detainees to Afghan authorities who were likely to torture them
. And that qualifies as a war crime. The opposition pushed for an inquiry and asked for documents. The government released the documents but they were heavily redacted, an extremely technical, parliamentary term meaning “there’s no way I’m going to let you read this shit.” The government made matters worse by trying to smear the diligent and capable bureaucrat who reported on the matter. Yes, if it’s one thing the Harper government is consistent about is its hair-trigger readiness to shoot the messenger. Is it any wonder they’re against gun control? Yessiree, Harper is one rootin-tootin, fast shooting rogue. He’s become a real pro at it. Wait! Come to think of it, doesn’t that make him a pro rogue?
3 comments:
But BorderMongrel, the issue is bigger than even the Afghan detainee issue. What about the sacking of the heads of parliamentary oversight bodies such as:
1) Nuclear Safety Commission
2) Military Police Complaints Commission
This isn't just puppy chow. These sackings are a big deal for democracy in this country. No oversight.
Harper is banking on a pathetic lack of opposition from the other parties to get away with all this. Again, the people are way out ahead of the politicians. Where or where is Ignatieff & the Liberals? They should be screaming from the barricades instead of buying lift tickets at Tremblant / Whistler / etc. Even Layton has remained pathetically silent. We need a Canadian Jerry Rubin rouse the troops.
yes, I was including the sackings you mention as part of his instinctual response to shoot the messenger. Chalk River eventually had to be shut down. As a country, Canada is now essentially out of the medical isotope business. Bureaucrats who speak truth to power choose between Harper's Door #1,#2 or #3: demonized, margainalized or ousted...
On a different but related note, you seem to favour shouting to humour. The rise of John Stewart and others suggests you may be out of sync with the contemporary zeitgeist!
Jerry Rubin...I saw him in Philly in the mid-seventies by which time he'd already gone corporate...
May I be tarred and feathered for shouting. Mea Culpa. We do too much shouting already in Canada. The notion that we are this polite, modest nation of self-effacing apologist is so yesterday. I found all the flag waving around the Junior Hockey Tournament disgusting. When I was a wee lad being Canadian was something we never talked about. Now one has to declare one's patriotism and support for the flag/troops/hockey team before speaking. The fusion of hockey/patriotism/military will not be good for hockey, although Don Cherry's memorializing the fallen soldiers during Coaches Corner at least shows the country what the cost of the continued war really is. And I prefer the display of caskets returning along the 401 in hearses to the secrecy routine in the USA for dead soldiers. Is that still the way the dead are treated now that Obama is in power?
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