View Single Post
  #13  
AChimp AChimp is offline
Resident Chimp
AChimp's Avatar
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: The Jungles of Borneo
AChimp is probably a real personAChimp is probably a real person
Old Dec 3rd, 2008, 12:52 PM       
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colonel Flagg View Post
So, what's the timeline for the total collapse of the Canadian government?
It could happen as early as next Monday or even as late as the end of January.

Harper is probably going to ask the Governor General to prorogue the parliamentary session, which essentially means ending the session early without ending the government. This is typically only used for situations where the government's agenda is finished for the session and everyone agrees to go home early. It's never been used to actually avoid a non-confidence motion, so it would technically be an abuse of power to do so.

The other factor is that the government is required to grant at least one Opposition Day per session, which is where the opposition parties get to introduce bills and stuff. The Opposition Day was supposed to be last week, but Harper postponed it until next Monday to try and recover from this crisis. Proroguing the Parliament now would deny the opposition from it's special day, so the Governor General has to decide which rule takes precedence.
Reply With Quote