XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: man.politics, sk.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
     . . .  aka cold feet.   
   _________________________________________   
      
   REUTERS  Published Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013   
      
      
   Canadians getting more and more unhappy with prorogations: polls   
      
      
      
   The Prime Minister’s plan to prorogue Parliament until October, when   
   he will return with a new legislative agenda and a Throne Speech, is   
   relatively routine. But in large part due to his own use of prorogation   
   in the past, opinion has hardened against the measure.   
      
   Prorogation is merely a means to wipe the slate clean in Parliament and   
   start fresh, something that majority governments often do. But the   
   recent uses of prorogation has turned the public against the   
   parliamentary mechanism.   
      
   It was used in late 2008 to avoid defeat in a confidence motion that   
   might have put a Liberal-NDP coalition in power, and again in late 2009   
   so that, as it was claimed at the time, the government could consult on   
   the economy and Canadians could focus on the Vancouver Olympics. There   
   was also some tension in the House related to Afghan detainees. In late   
   2012, the Ontario Liberals prorogued the legislature and then-premier   
   Dalton McGuinty resigned, the move seen as having been related to the   
   gas plant scandal.   
      
   This latest prorogation is far more routine, but considering that it   
   will reschedule the return to work from mid-September to October the   
   Prime Minister will benefit from being free for a few extra weeks of   
   grilling in the House of Commons over the spending of a few senators.   
      
   In this context, and with the way prorogation has become a dirty word in   
   politics, it should come as no surprise if the reaction to this   
   previously unremarkable legislative mechanism is negative.   
      
      
   Public opinion turned against prorogation when it was used in 2009.   
   Though its most plainly political deployment was during the coalition   
   affair, it was not as badly received as subsequent prorogations.   
      
   An Ipsos-Reid poll found in December 2008 that 68 per cent of Canadians   
   preferred ending the parliamentary session rather than the government   
   accepting defeat at the hands of the coalition. An EKOS poll at the time   
   showed support for prorogation at 45 per cent, compared to 43 per cent   
   who opposed the decision (80 per cent of Conservative voters were in   
   favour). Even a year later, a poll by Harris-Decima found 43 per cent   
   believing the decision to prorogue was a good one in retrospect, against   
   38 per cent who disagreed.   
      
      
   But its use in 2009 seems to have been seen as much more unnecessary.   
      
   Only 15 per cent said they would be happy with prorogation in a   
   Harris-Decima poll of December 2009 before the decision was officially   
   made, compared with 34 per cent who said they would be unhappy (46 per   
   cent were indifferent).   
      
   When the legislature was prorogued, 58 per cent of Canadians told EKOS   
   they opposed it while only 31 per cent supported prorogation. Agreement   
   in the Tory ranks sank as well, with 60 per cent of Conservative voters   
   in favour. When asked, 63 per cent said that shutting down Parliament   
   was anti-democratic, and only 38 per cent of Canadians agreed that the   
   Prime Minister even had the right to seek prorogation in an Ipsos-Reid   
   poll of February 2010.   
      
      
   Opinion had turned sharply against the tactic by the time Mr. McGuinty   
   decided to prorogue last fall. Only 12 per cent of Ontarians approved of   
   the decision in a Forum poll of October 2012, compared to 73 per cent   
   who disapproved (for comparison, 30 per cent of Ontarians approved   
   of Mr. Harper’s prorogation in 2009). Even a plurality of Ontario   
   Liberal voters disapproved of prorogation, and a clear majority favoured   
   the premier recalling the legislature.   
      
   The atmosphere is perhaps much less heated than it was in these past   
   cases, so it is unlikely that the degree of approbation will be as high.   
   But the word has become so toxic that governments everywhere would do   
   well to use the mechanism wisely. Delaying the start of the session by a   
   month or more, as Mr. Harper has done, was perhaps not an example of that.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)