Thursday 4 December 2008

Emphasis on Peace and Order. Good Government? Not So Much.

Well, one good thing came out of this constitutional totally manufactured crisis -- my kitchen floor got washed. I was so antsy waiting for the GG's verdict that I had to do something.

So, like everyone else with more than one functioning neuron, I think this is a terrible precedent. And I really really really hate it that Stevie 'won'. There is no more disgusting sight than a gloating bully.

But I've chilled a bit. And now I think that this decision is soooo Canadian. I think the GG weighed how loud the shrieeeeking would have been in the various scenarios and I think she went for least shrieeeekiest.

Think about it.

Coalition? Horrible hateful divisive well-financed shrieeeking from the Right.

Immediate election? Mewling and whining and grumbling from Everywhere.

Prorogation? Huffing and puffing and head-shaking from Political Elites and Sandal-Wearing Lefties.

Really. This is how we do things in Canada.

4 comments:

Pseudz said...

Fern,

You may be correct - but I suspect that you're speaking with your tongue in your cheek. But since the GG is not obliged to give any explanation your version is as good as any.

What are the pros & who are the cons?

Scary precedents:
- diminished power of the GG - who continues to do what the PM asks.
- if the coalition holds till Jan.27 '08 would another prorogue occur?
- two and a half hours suggests that her mind was made up during the meeting with Harper - not independently.

I'm troubled - I don't think that this is going well.

And I don't think that my countries fortunes are in reliable or trustworthy hands.

Frank Frink said...

Also think you may be correct, but the more I thought about it through today and at the support the coalition rally I attended this evening I believe the PM's end game is an election. One that will likely be held in March.

Consequently I think we're still going to hear lots of horrible hateful divisive well-financed shrieeeking from the Right. Unabated.

deBeauxOs said...

I strongly disagree with your assessment of the situation, Pseudz.

Two and a half hours of meeting with Harper allowed the GG to get the lay of the land. She has her own constitutional lawyers who work for her, not the Republicons. So she had to size up how far Harper was going to go stay in power, independently of her decision as GG.

Was he cajoling or threatening? We'll have to wait to read her memoirs.

As I mentioned in the comments at a blogger who was having some kind of meltdown about the prorogation, this is not necessarily a bad thing. If the Progressive Coalition can stay the course, develop its own economic plan and remain focussed on the strong possibility that it will form the next government, then it will have the opportunity to defeat Harper's minority autocracy in January.

If it self-implodes by then, then we are all are doomed. Except for the Republicons and their friends who are planning to make a killing from Canada's fiscal crisis.

Pseudz said...

deBeauxO,bonjour,

You're right to admonish the comment that I made above - it was an all-too casual fantasy - a transparent little chiffon, stapled poorly to the fabric of 'known knowns'.
A weft from the left
and a warp of few facts.

(...and I misspelled country's - sheesh)

I wouldn't want to rush Madam Jean from her gig - but I am curious to hear her portrayal of the meeting (and her prep for it).

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