Libby Davies, the deputy leader of the federal NDP and the MP for Vancouver East, issued the following statement today (January 7):
By proroguing Parliament, once again, Stephen Harper is shutting down democracy and locking out Members of Parliament, preventing them from doing the very important work they were elected to do in the House of Commons.
New Democrat MPs will continue to work hard in their ridings. That is what they do when the House is not in session. But MPs need to be able to bring back to Parliament the concerns of their constituents.
They won’t be able to, and this constitutes a debasement of Canada’s democratic system.
Canadians want their MPs to be in the House to deal with the important issues facing them and their families. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians are still out of work, they are trying to recover from this recession wondering how or when they are going to find a job. Thousands more are worried about the safety of their pensions, wondering if they will have what they need to make ends meet when they retire.
Yet Stephen Harper chose to lock the doors of parliament instead of dealing with these important issues.
By pulling the plug on Parliament Stephen Harper killed 36 pieces of government legislation which were making progress, including bills dealing with important issues such as consumer protection, white collar crimes or digital policy.
While Stephen Harper is blocking elected Members of Parliament from working in the House of Commons, he is in the process of appointing more and more unelected Senators, something he promised he would never do.
All this to run away from accountability and to further cover up the Afghan detainee torture scandal.
It is unacceptable. New Democrats will continue to work hard, and this is why our MPs will attend, as planned, the NDP Caucus retreat scheduled the week before the return of Parliament in Wakefield, Quebec.
The meeting will go ahead, because, more than ever, New Democrats are committed to keeping the Conservative government accountable. We may need to be creative. But we will be relentless.
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Comments
There are over 14 million canadians on Facebook, 12.5 of which are over 18 yrs. of age. How high this number gets is indicative of something, just what that is remains to be seen?
Does anyone wonder if Harper was told to do this because the Liberals were getting a bit too weak, and that a flat-lined Liberal Party could open the door for an NDP breakthrough?
Rod Smelser
This may be different---we'll see if Mr. Ignatieff can produce on the glen p robbins post secondary market of voters and close in. In any event it smells like minority spirit. The Afghan detainee matters -- even if you detest the Taliban and don't care about torture of them, because it matters to Canadian soldiers (read--Olympic athletes where necessary) who support the Geneva Convention and its standard relating to torture--because standards matter to solidiers--those fighting the battle and not to politicians in Ottawa who apparently prefer not to.
Our voices of protest, to, the ruination of Canada, means absolutely nothing. Next, the government, caused, chaos for the people, by engineering the recession. The more confusion they cause, is better. That way, they can sneak policies through, much easier, if the citizens are distracted by, such as the HST. The North American Union, will be, Canada, the USA and Mexico, are to be one big state. Education, health care and the Amero currency, will be, identical. The, NAFTA, agreement, which Canada participated in. NAFTA, is, going to give 60%, of our natural resources to the USA. This, is, why, BC's, resources, are gone. Our, Canadian National Railroad, went to the USA, as well as the BC Railroad. NAFTA, will, redistribute the wealth. All, we, wage earners, low income citizens and, seniors, will only be, cannon fdder.+++++++++++++++
It is only a matter of time before the NAU becomes a reality. For those that want to watch a free video on this on the internet check out, Zeitgeist the Movie as well the follow up movie titled, Zeitgeist the Addendum...both videos are well worth the time spent.