Prorogation and the death of a bill

To anyone who wasn't hiding under a rock or living in a cave last year, these words will ring familiar; Prime Minister Stephen Harper has prorogued Parliament. Yes, he's done it again, and once again he prorogues in order to prevent the destruction of his party in the face of his own arrogance and plain stupidity. This time it is due to his party's insistance at lying over the events of Afghanistan, for which the Government SHOULD be held accountable. That's how we were all taught a Parliamentary system worked, that all things became accountable to Parliament. This lesson was apparently missed by Mr. Harper, who seems to think that he can prorogue Parliament whenever the media narrative turns against him.
Let's set aside for the moment the fact that this was a blatant attempt to evade the political fallout of the ongoing torture investigations, which are likely to resume once Parliament resumes anyways, and look at what the Prime Minister has wrought. At this time, there were dozens of government bills and several private member's bills that are now going to have to be re-introduced. Many of these, such as C-311 and C-304, were nearing the end of the legislative process and could soon be accepted as law. This is especially damning for Bill C-311, which has now TWICE been passed at third reading and will be denied royal assent by Harper's proroging of Parliament. This is an absolute waste of our time and money, that we have to debate bills multiple times to satisfy the petty urges of a man who claims to be our leader.
Of course, there is always an ironic side to what Mr. Harper and company do, and this is no exception. Just as recently as six years ago, when Mr. Harper sat on the Opposition benches, he decried the Liberals for doing exactly what he's doing here. Funny how these things are forgotten with a short memory, or perhaps a trip to the other side of the aisle? The hypocrisy would normally be enough to bring caution to a politician, but such things are not for Prime Minister Harper, who seems to believe that such things are beneath him. Speaking of beneath him, apparently living up to his own campaign promises is too much of a challenge for the Prime Minister as well. Many of us will remember that the Prime Minister ran his first two campaigns on the idea of bringing transparancy and accountability to the Federal Government. Hollow words from a man who cares for nothing but power, since he's jettisoned that part of his platform just as readily as he's jettisoned everything else he claimed to believe in.
Perhaps this year, voters will look at what they have brought to themselves; a man with no beliefs he won't eliminate in order to prevent his own short term defeat. This has been the face of Canada for five years now, isn't it about time we return to a Canadian government that reflects Canadian values and a Canadian sense of loyalty to its beliefs?

Federal NDP bills move forward

There's a reason why New Democratic Party polling numbers have been climbing higher and higher in recent weeks and months; its because the NDP is getting things done in Parliament instead of playing partisan games with our country. Just this week, two NDP private members' bills have move through Parliament. Bill C-304, a housing act sponsored by Libby Davies (Vancouver East) passed through committee. Once again, the bill proceeded through the House without support from the governing Conservative Party. Ensuring affordable housing for Canadians wasn't the only goal the NDP got closer to accomplishing this week; bill C-311, the party's bill that would cap greenhouse gases and reduce emissions by 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and an astonishing 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, goals that are backed by leading scientists around the world. Bill C-311 also made it through committee this week, with absolutely no amendments attached to it, leaving the bill ready for Third Reading, where it should pass and become Canadian law.
Congratulations to Jack Layton and the Federal NDP team for fighting for Canadians and Canadian values!

Provincial Split Personalities

Recently in the BC Provincial NDP, there has been a spirited backroom debate about where the party should be headed, between moderates who currently hold most of the power and believe we need to chart a more centrist course, and the progressive activists who believe the party has departed too far from its roots to properly engage the masses. Much ink from far more well known bloggers and journalists has already been spilled on the topic, so I shall be brief in my own dissertation.
I would count myself among the progressives. The fact is that if we in the NDP pursue Liberal-lite policies, the electorate is simply going to vote for a real Liberal instead of one of us pretending to be one of them. We need to stick back to our roots and support those who have always been part of the bedrock of our party. Furthermore, our attempt to shift rightward hasn't been entirely matched by our policies; we're now stuck in a situation in which we say one thing, but our policy priorities don't reflect it, and it makes the party look confused. We cannot be the party of balanced budgets AND the party of all the social security programs we champion AND be the party that lowers taxes, the three are simply incompatible with each other, short of manufacturing money and causing inflation catastrophes. The party should focus instead on being the party of zero unemployment. We can solve so many of the provinces problems if we simply sit back and end unemployment, both our province's fiscal fortunes and our citizens' well-being can be improved in this manner.
Specifically, through public works projects, perhaps capital works designed to construct low income housing in major urban and rural areas, unemployed and underemployed persons can be given paying jobs that not only would take them off the employment insurance rolls, but would also cause them to be taxpaying citizens again, doubly helping the financial statements of the BC Government. Furthermore, by focusing this kind of stimulus on infrastructure and programs devoted to the worse off in society, we give these people a chance to climb out of poverty.
Such a program would, after an initial infusion of government dollars, begin to pay for itself through the taxes paid by the newly employed and the savings that would be created from employment insurance, and other government programs that would no longer be needed to support these persons. This kind of program that thinks big and has long term benefits has been sorely lacking from the NDP policy platform, and is completely consistant with the tenets of the party to support the average British Columbian. The fact that such a program would cost less over time due to the benefits of having people work is simply a side effect that our party's centrists can latch onto as a basis for funding such a building program.

Congratulations!

Congratulations are in order for Mr. Fin Donnelly, who has won the New Westminster Coquitlam by-election for the NDP. Well done Mr. Donnelly, bring the BC values we all cherish to Parliament and hold our government accountable to the people, not the special interests!

New Westminster By-Election

Everyone please come out to support Fin Donnelly, the NDP candidate in the By-election scheduled for November fourth. Fin has been working hard to protect the interests of regular Canadians, and needs our help to go to Parliament and stand up for the middle class.