Posted on 05/13/2005 3:00:46 AM PDT by Clive
OTTAWA (CP) - Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson has spoken with Prime Minister Paul Martin and consulted constitutional experts this week as Parliament descends into chaos.
"The Governor General is monitoring the situation very closely," said an official. Martin's office would not confirm the conversation but pointed out that they speak often about her schedule. Clarkson has been thrust into the midst of a political storm with the opposition calling on her to take control of what they call an unworkable Parliament.
The opposition grabbed control of the House of Commons on Thursday, shut it down, and asked for Clarkson to help trigger an election.
The one-day walkout was the boldest move yet by the Bloc Quebecois and the Tories to demonstrate that the minority Liberals no longer hold power.
"We've now demonstrated three days in a row (that) the government does not have the confidence of the House," Harper said.
"It could go on until the government or the Governor General is forced to admit that the government has lost its mandate to govern the country."
The Governor General has the authority to dissolve Parliament and order an election - or consider whether the Oppostion is capable of forming a government - if she deems the House has lost confidence in the ruling government. She can also advise the prime minister.
But democractic convention stipulates that the government should first test the confidence of the House, which Martin has said he will do next Thursday.
A federal official said the prime minister called Clarkson this week but he wasn't aware of what they discussed.
He also said she has consulted "well known and reputable" constitutional experts.
The prime minister has promised two confidence votes on the federal budget next Thursday but the opposition wants a vote immediately. They're worried that a Tory MP with cancer - Darrel Stinson - won't make it to a late-week vote because he needs surgery.
A senior government official said the prime minister won't be taking any direction from Clarkson.
"The Governor General receives advice from her first minister. She doesn't tender it," the official said.
The opposition's appealed for Clarkson's intervention after they shut down most of the workings of Parliament on Thursday.
First they boycotted some parliamentary committees, then they powered through a motion to close the House of Commons just before noon.
Martin had to suspended a cabinet meeting and his ministers scurried down the Centre Block staircase to vote on the motion.
The government lost 152-144.
Within minutes, tour guides were escorting camera-toting visitors across a barren lower chamber as the daily theatre of question period was scrubbed.
Martin responded to the opposition with a new $170-million aid package for Sudan and cited it as proof his government is still functioning.
"Canadians get up in the morning and they go to work," he said. "I think parliamentarians should do the same."
The Conservatives and Bloc say the Liberals can't govern until they allow an immediate vote of confidence.
The Conservatives will fight the Liberal plan to delay the votes until Thursday. They want them by Monday at the latest and say they will vote against any motion to schedule a confidence showdown for Thursday.
Stinson's vote could be critical in a deadlocked Commons. The vote will be so tight that the result depends on how three Independent MPs vote.
But the prime minister said he will not change the date of the confidence motion and a possible election call.
"There is an election in British Columbia (on Tuesday)," Martin said.
"The Queen is arriving on Tuesday and Wednesday (for a visit to Saskatchewan and Alberta) and I think it's very important that we respect that."
Liberal whip Karen Redman says her party and the NDP are still showing up for work.
"There is work being done," she said.
"We're reporting into work - we're punching the clock. We're here doing what Canadians sent us less than a year ago to do, and that's to do the business of government."
A defeat of the budget next Thursday would pave the way for a June 27 election.
The Bloc and Tories say they're not willing to wait.
They say the Liberals lost the confidence of the House in a vote earlier this week and they're determined to prove it by shutting down Parliament.
The Liberals' frailty was underscored when Independent MP David Kilgour demanded 500 Canadian soldiers be sent to Sudan.
He warned that the Liberals might not get his key vote on the budget unless he sees enough Canadian boots on the ground in Darfur.
He said he was unimpressed with Martin's promise to deploy up to 100 Canadian Forces personnel and hinted he might vote to defeat the government.
Canada's constitution is a mix of written primary statutes and conventional precedence.
The statutes include British statutes patriated to Canada or given deference in Canada and deemed to be constitutional, including, inter alia, Magna Charta, the Carolinian Bill of Rights, The Colonial Laws Validity Act and the British North America Act and Canadian statutes deemed to be constitutional include the Constitution Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Canada's constitution has largely, perhaps overwhelmingly, become a written one on the US model but conventional practice is still a significant element.
Were the Governor General to prorogue, she could also (historically and technically) drop the writ or instead appoint the Leader of the Opposition to try to form a government and try to gain the confidence of the house but the King-Byng Wing Ding has seemed to have put an end to that Royal prerogative. Were the Governor General to act contrary to the advice of the Prime Minister, that would provoke a constitutional crisis, the result of which would be a further step in the evolution of the conventional constitution.
It's good to know our government isn't the only one who sometimes functions like a dysfunctional family.
Canadian banana republic politics are fascinating to watch from the rinkside seats. Like an African banana republic only without any shooting, and with the majority of the people hiding under the bed hoping it will all go away before they have to remember where they left their backbones, if they ever had any.
The opposition leader actually came out this morning defending his lack of visible passion by protesting that he will become angry "when the time comes." Presumably this will be when he has to abandon his taxpayer funded cushy American lifestyle and live like the rest of the proletariat.
Oh, and the major difference between Canada and the USA is that Canada has a very large proletariat and the USA doesn't have one at all. But the proles up here will never establish communism because they don't want to even be responsible for wiping their own bottoms, much less trying to make bricks out of straw.
I watch this stuff North of the Border is total wonder. It's amazing because they are so willing to criticize us.
Sort of like the pot calling the kettle black.
Please let me know if you want on or off the Canada/Adscam ping list
Go home
Sounds like the liberals are conducting a deathwatch. This way they don't actually have to arrange for accidents themselves.
Leave it to liberals to exploit the weakest link in Government.
Good work, Canadian conservatives!
The leader of the opposition does not need to throw a tantrum to express his displeasure.
He is being much more effective by keeping his cool and by hamstringing the committees and the House to amply demonstrate the the Liberals have well and truly lost the confidence of the House and should therefor resign and allow the Governor General to drop the writ.
Although I love the dismissive closing line, I really have to question your claim about the Canadian proletariat. I have been a working Canadian for 40 years, in many different circumstances, and have never met anyone claiming membership in the proletariat. Even Quebeckers are as North American as you or me.
Of course, I never had a government job.
Perhaps you reside in one of Canada's urban 'Red Zones', populated by lefties who talk a good Revolutionary game, but who mostly settle for a job at Canada Post with the other Trotskyites.
Adrienne Clarkson is a talentless hack... what a disgrace for Canada that she is GovGen.
just my 2 cents...
This is a problem for Martin...
But I think the con's and bloc are over reaching.
we shall see..
if nothing else its entertaining. :o)
That's debatable...
LOL! We all work for The Tax Man.
The Fraser Institute has been one of the few lighthouses of reason in the dismal Canadian socialist fog.
They have always been a great bunch of people to deal with, in all aspects of their work. Their many contributions to op-ed pages were often almost the only voice of reason and liberty to be found in the Canadian mainstream press.
The admiring phrase 'They have done yeoman work' was invented for them.
Besides, they sell a beautiful Adam Smith tie in their bookstore. ;^)
They called Sen. Byrd and Justice Kennedy for international advice ...
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
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