parliament
Speaker’s precedent-setting ruling important step in reining in PM
NDPOTTAWA – Today’s ruling by the House of Commons Speaker finding a prima facie question of privilege sets an important precedent by re-asserting the primacy of Parliament, and is a first step towards reigning in the government's secretive approach to the Afghan detainee file, say New Democrats.
“Today the Speaker has issued a serious reminder to the Prime Minister that he is not a king. His refusal to respect the will of Parliament is a serious abuse of power and today it is absolutely clear that it will not be tolerated,” says New Democrat Leader Jack Layton. “The Speaker's ruling is an important step in reigning in the Prime Minister's unaccountable approach to this and other issues.”
Jaffer company pitched firm touted by Guergis
CBC NewsA company co-founded by former MP Rahim Jaffer pitched three projects to the federal government — including one involving a division of a waste management firm touted by his wife, ex-cabinet minister Helena Guergis, according to newly released documents.
One of the proposals signed by Jaffer's business partner Patrick Glémaud names Green Rite Solutions Inc., the marketing arm of Wright Tech Systems Inc., as the stakeholder in a proposed $480-million "shovel-ready" electricity generation and waste-disposal infrastructure project to be considered for the federal Green Infrastructure Fund.
Under the proposal, the total share of federal funding was to be about $100 million.
Statement by NDP MP Megan Leslie on Proroguation of Parliament
By proroguing Parliament, once again, Stephen Harper is shutting down democracy and locking out Members of Parliament, preventing them from doing the very important work they were elected to do in the House of Commons.New Democrat MPs will continue to work hard in their ridings. That is what they do when the House is not in session. But MPs need to be able to bring back to Parliament the concerns of their constituents.
They won’t be able to, and this constitutes a debasement of Canada’s democratic system.
In proroguing Parliament, Harper accused of undermining democracy
By Andrew Mayeda, Canwest News ServiceOTTAWA — Last October, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson took the podium at the national press theatre in Ottawa and declared that, with the introduction of new legislation by the Conservative government, serial killers such as Robert Pickton and Clifford Olson would no longer get "volume discounts" on their parole terms.
The bill would have given judges the power to slap consecutive periods of parole ineligibility on multiple murderers. A murderer who killed four people, for example, would likely be ineligible for parole for 100 years, instead of the current standard of 25 years.
Read more »Prorogue buys time for NDP MP's bill
By Mia Rabson, Winnipeg Free PressOTTAWA -- Manitoba NDP MP Jim Maloway says there is a silver lining for him in Stephen Harper's decision to suspend Parliament until after the Olympics.It buys him several more weeks to drum up support for his airline passengers' bill of rights.
"I'm not unhappy at all with what's going on," said Maloway. "We wanted to play for time to convince the Bloc (Québécois) to come back onside."
His bill would impose fines on airlines for everything from lost luggage to delayed and cancelled flights and making passengers wait too long on a plane sitting on a tarmac.
Read more »UPDATED - ProrogueWatch: PMO Talking Points Explain It All!
By Kady O'Malley, CBC.caHot off the Langevin listserv, it's a message from our ever-chipper robot friend, Alerte-Info-Alert! Today's message provides Conservative MPs and supporters with a thoughtful, logical explanation for today's snap prorogation.
Oh wait, sorry -- no, it doesn't. It explains why prorogation is necessary -- even routine! -- but not why it had to happen now, instead of closer to the date that Parliament was expected to return. It also doesn't use the word 'prorogation':
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