The cultures that have been allowed to develop in our Senate and our federal and provincial legislatures are the results of a rapid deterioration of our colonial institutions.
Harper’s decision to prorogue the government of the day, not once but twice, for no other reason than because he could not have his way, was one of the earlier tell-tales. In 2008 to avoid a non-confidence vote, and again in 2009 to suspend Parliament for three months, to dodge an ongoing investigation into the Afghan detainees affair. When Bev Oda was found to have lied in Parliament, she should have been expelled promptly.
As the result of Harper’s stalling, the government instead lost a motion of confidence and was found in contempt of Parliament, putting Canada on the front pages of the global media. Since then Harper has used every opportunity to demonstrate his level of contempt for the people, our federal Parliament and the Queen.
Harper has appointed a total of 58 people to Senate, he insisted was going to be elected, and the spending of billions of dollars without debate, zero transparency and no accountability have become the new norms. Traditionally a budget is a separate bill, outlining in some detail the government’s spending for the year. But Harper, in an outrageous display of contempt, packaged the budget into two bills numbers C-38 (the Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act) and C-45 (the Jobs and Growth Act), and rammed them through Parliament with virtually no debate. Those two bills included changes to more than 120 laws and regulations, and radically changed the way governments function in Canada.
Today nobody can be held accountable for anything by anybody. That includes the premiers, our prime minister and our Supreme Courts. To abolish the Senate would only serve as a distraction. The Queen is no longer an effective head of state, and the time has come to sever our colonial ties.
Then we can finally write our own constitution, and become a sovereign democratic society where the people control the politicians and the courts enforce the laws instead of rewriting them.
Andy Thomsen
Summerland
