When Canada needed her the most, she betrayed us miserably.................
For many Canadians who worry about Stephen Harper's approach to parliamentary democracy, one of the low points came in December 2008.
That's when he asked then governor-general Michaëlle Jean to shut down the House of Commons when it appeared that a majority of MPs were prepared to back a new coalition government led by then Liberal leader Stéphane Dion.
The plan called for NDP MPs, including then leader Jack Layton, to join cabinet; Bloc Québécois MPs were prepared to keep the coalition in power in any votes that came before Parliament.
At the time, Harper and his ministers falsely characterized the plan as a "coup d'état", even though this is how parliamentary democracy works in other countries.
In the end, Jean approved the prime minister's very questionable request to suspend Parliament, staving off the defeat of Harper's government in the House.
Since then, Harper has demonstrated a stunning disregard for parliamentary democracy by introducing omnibus bills that alter dozens of pieces of legislation at a time.
As John Ralston Saul wrote in his new book The Comeback, bills C-38 and C-45 amended 133 "largely unrelated laws" in 2012 with "very little debate".
Saul's long-time partner and Jean's predecessor at Rideau Hall, former governor general Adrienne Clarkson, has never spoken publicly about how she would have handled the prorogation crisis in 2008.
However in an interview with the Georgia Straight in 2011, Clarkson said that she has given a great deal of thought about what the boundaries are for a governor general in that position.
“I wrote it all down and put it in my papers for the National Archives,” Clarkson said at the time. “They can be opened in 30 years, so there is a lot of material there for a PhD thesis.”
Jean's decision to let Harper get away with essentially padlocking Parliament emboldened him to become even more aggressively antidemocratic after that point.
Today, Jean was named secretary-general of la Francophonie, making her the first Canadian to head the organization of French-speaking countries.
The former CBC Radio-Canada broadcaster and immigrant from Haiti now has a platform to speak about the Harper government's international initiatives on maternal health. No wonder the prime minister is crowing about her appointment.
Michaelle Jean appointed to head la Francophonie after saving Stephen Harper's butt in 2008 | Georgia Straight, Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly
For many Canadians who worry about Stephen Harper's approach to parliamentary democracy, one of the low points came in December 2008.
That's when he asked then governor-general Michaëlle Jean to shut down the House of Commons when it appeared that a majority of MPs were prepared to back a new coalition government led by then Liberal leader Stéphane Dion.
The plan called for NDP MPs, including then leader Jack Layton, to join cabinet; Bloc Québécois MPs were prepared to keep the coalition in power in any votes that came before Parliament.
At the time, Harper and his ministers falsely characterized the plan as a "coup d'état", even though this is how parliamentary democracy works in other countries.
In the end, Jean approved the prime minister's very questionable request to suspend Parliament, staving off the defeat of Harper's government in the House.
Since then, Harper has demonstrated a stunning disregard for parliamentary democracy by introducing omnibus bills that alter dozens of pieces of legislation at a time.
As John Ralston Saul wrote in his new book The Comeback, bills C-38 and C-45 amended 133 "largely unrelated laws" in 2012 with "very little debate".
Saul's long-time partner and Jean's predecessor at Rideau Hall, former governor general Adrienne Clarkson, has never spoken publicly about how she would have handled the prorogation crisis in 2008.
However in an interview with the Georgia Straight in 2011, Clarkson said that she has given a great deal of thought about what the boundaries are for a governor general in that position.
“I wrote it all down and put it in my papers for the National Archives,” Clarkson said at the time. “They can be opened in 30 years, so there is a lot of material there for a PhD thesis.”
Jean's decision to let Harper get away with essentially padlocking Parliament emboldened him to become even more aggressively antidemocratic after that point.
Today, Jean was named secretary-general of la Francophonie, making her the first Canadian to head the organization of French-speaking countries.
The former CBC Radio-Canada broadcaster and immigrant from Haiti now has a platform to speak about the Harper government's international initiatives on maternal health. No wonder the prime minister is crowing about her appointment.
Michaelle Jean appointed to head la Francophonie after saving Stephen Harper's butt in 2008 | Georgia Straight, Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly
