Dr. Dawg and Brian Topp at The Globe and Mail point out that with the Canadian Conservative government unwilling to hand over documents pertaining to the transfer of detainees to Afghan officials, despite a passed motion in the House of Commons demanding the release of those documents, the Conservatives are basically putting the executive ahead of the legislative branch of government.
While a lot of media outlets have deemed this as a looming constitutional crisis, the fact of the matter should be simple. The whole of Parliament was democratically elected, which means that the entire Parliament represents the entire populace. In a democracy, there is majority rule with minority rights (in Canada, protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms). The majority of Parliament voted for the release of government documents, which does not violate any minority rights. (Trying to protect cabinet ministers does not count as a right.) By ignoring Parliament, the Conservative government is ignoring the proxy for the will of the Canadian people.
Originally, I was not too worried, as a vote of no-confidence could have resulted in either a coalition government or an election.
However, Dr. Dawg and Mr. Topp are correct in saying that there should not be a need for a motion of no-confidence. As Dr. Dawg states, we should be hearing a lot more alarm bells (from the media, at the very least) than what we have heard.
Peace and long life.
1 year ago
Perhaps a vote of non-confidence is the only legal way that parliament can assert its supremacy.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't think that's the case. Parliament's law clerk certainly doesn't think so.
If the law is on parliament's side, then the harpercons have really stepped in it.
Yeah, Harper and the Conservatives are basically at the point where they know they're screwed either way, so they're going to kick and scream and hope for heavenly intervention (or something).
ReplyDelete