As the Senate and the House of Commons adjourn for a week on the occasion of Victoria Day, tensions between the Government of Canada, Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party of Canada have reached a peak — the anger in the Lower House seems to be the highest since the opening of the Thirty-ninth Parliament of Canada. After a series of Government moves, the opposition parties are poised to attack.
The most obvious of those moves was the decision to force a snap vote on a motion respecting the mission in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Members of Parliament were given thirty-six hours' notice to prepare for the debate and to vote — and the Government denied requests from committees to hear from witnesses and experts in relation to the mission. The Liberal Party of Canada contends that the Government forced the vote in that manner for the purpose of attempting to damage their caucus; however, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P., the Member for Calgary Southwest and the Prime Minister of Canada, asserts that the vote was prompted by a request from His Excellency Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan.
Another point of contention in recent days has been Mr. Harper's scrapping of the Public Appointments Commission, in response to opposition parties passing a motion to reject Gwyn Morgan as the Chairperson of the Commission; the Prime Minister now contends that he requires a majority government before he can move forward on efforts to end patronage, angering the opposition parties.
In addition to this, the Prime Minister appears to be expressing interest in joining into the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, prompted by some comments from the Honourable John Howard, the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia; the opposition parties are seething at Mr. Harper's admission that he is going to ignore a Bloc Québécois motion, respecting the Kyoto Accord.
One issue which is sure to continue to heat up in coming weeks is the subject of the gun registry; each of the three opposition parties support the registry. The Government, however, bypassed the Parliament of Canada by announcing a gun amnesty, which, in effect, disables the registry for the time being. The Standing Committee of the House of Commons on Public Accounts is likely going to be a "battleground", of sorts, on the matter of the gun registry; the committee has vowed to push ahead in its effort to discover how sixty-million dollars (CA$60 000 000) was hidden from Parliament so effectively. The Grits seem to think that the issue is a matter of a disagreement over accounting practices, whereas the Conservative Party of Canada has expressed the opinion that the previous Government of Canada hid the costs with the intent of misleading Parliament.
:?: Sources
1. Click here for the Web site of PoliticsWatch.
The most obvious of those moves was the decision to force a snap vote on a motion respecting the mission in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Members of Parliament were given thirty-six hours' notice to prepare for the debate and to vote — and the Government denied requests from committees to hear from witnesses and experts in relation to the mission. The Liberal Party of Canada contends that the Government forced the vote in that manner for the purpose of attempting to damage their caucus; however, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P., the Member for Calgary Southwest and the Prime Minister of Canada, asserts that the vote was prompted by a request from His Excellency Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan.
Another point of contention in recent days has been Mr. Harper's scrapping of the Public Appointments Commission, in response to opposition parties passing a motion to reject Gwyn Morgan as the Chairperson of the Commission; the Prime Minister now contends that he requires a majority government before he can move forward on efforts to end patronage, angering the opposition parties.
In addition to this, the Prime Minister appears to be expressing interest in joining into the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, prompted by some comments from the Honourable John Howard, the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia; the opposition parties are seething at Mr. Harper's admission that he is going to ignore a Bloc Québécois motion, respecting the Kyoto Accord.
One issue which is sure to continue to heat up in coming weeks is the subject of the gun registry; each of the three opposition parties support the registry. The Government, however, bypassed the Parliament of Canada by announcing a gun amnesty, which, in effect, disables the registry for the time being. The Standing Committee of the House of Commons on Public Accounts is likely going to be a "battleground", of sorts, on the matter of the gun registry; the committee has vowed to push ahead in its effort to discover how sixty-million dollars (CA$60 000 000) was hidden from Parliament so effectively. The Grits seem to think that the issue is a matter of a disagreement over accounting practices, whereas the Conservative Party of Canada has expressed the opinion that the previous Government of Canada hid the costs with the intent of misleading Parliament.
:?: Sources
1. Click here for the Web site of PoliticsWatch.
