Stephen Harper to seek prorogation of Parliament (AGAIN!)

[Saviolo]

From the CBC article:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has confirmed he will ask the Governor General to prorogue Parliament until October, when his Conservative government will introduce the next speech from the throne.

"There will be a new throne speech in the fall, obviously the House will be prorogued in anticipation of that. We will come back — in October is our tentative timing," Harper told reporters in Whitehorse Monday. Harper is in the Yukon on the second day of his annual summer tour of the North.

The Prime Minister's Office later clarified that Harper will ask for Parliament to be prorogued before the scheduled return of the House on Sept. 16, meaning Parliament will not sit again until after the throne speech in October.

It will be the third time since Harper took office in 2006 that he has sought prorogation. He first used the tactic in 2008 to successfully out-maneouvre the opposition's attempt to unseat him and form a coalition government. He prorogued again in 2010 in the midst of a controversy over Canada's treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan and ahead of Vancouver's hosting of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Why does he need to do this? He's got a -majority government-!!! He doesn't face a vote of non-confidence! This is absurd beyond comprehension. Time to hand this man his pink slip.

Full article here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/08/19/pol-harper-commons-prorogation.html

[Joe Shlabotnik]

1. Wonder whats up.

Maybe he needs more time to quell/buy-off an internal revolt. Its not like the extra month off is going to change anything in the court of public perception and he'll just kill a bunch of his own legislation.

[Saviolo]

2. Seems like

He's trying to draw attention away from the Senate scandal, but he doesn't have anything like the Olympics to distract people for so long this year, and honestly, all of the stories in the news against him right now have legs, so it's unclear what he intends. Maybe he has something up his sleeve for when everyone comes back?

I can only hope the GG declines to prorogue Parliament this time around, but I'm not holding my breath.

[JBoy]

3. I think it's turnover in his PMO that's the reason

So many staffing changes within his inner circle, they've "lost the bubble". The control freak that Harper is, nothing will happen until he knows that his crew can drive the ship.

[arikara]

4. Harper just goes to prove that you CAN put lipstick on a pig

Every time I see that slobbery pink lipsticked yapper on that bewigged creep I feel like gagging. I've never seen makeup more obviously and poorly done on a man... except deliberately of course. I bet it looks really bad in person and it strikes me as strange that nobody ever talks about it.