Harper To Stack Senate

"However, Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean placed no restrictions on Harper's ability to govern when she granted his request last week to prorogue Parliament."

So basically, she granted him six weeks to continue to destroy Canada without any opposition from anyone? Thanks GG - you're quite the model Canadian, even though you weren't even born in Canada. Ha! Ha!

How can he be allowed to do this!?! Harper, (who is not king though he acts like he is suffering under the delusion that he is), has a minority government that has completely lost the confidence of the house! Apparently the Gov. Gen. is oblivious to the fact that Canada is a democracy NOT a dictatorship. Harper and his gang, AND Michaelle Jean, should be run out of Canada for their seriously undemocratic and corrupt actions and Canadians need to stand up and say enough is enough and get rid of Harper, AND Michealle Jean, before things get much, much worse.

The opposition and Canadians need to of course strongly protest these clearly improper and corrupt appointments that can not be accepted as valid, and if the opposition doesn't, Canadians need to very seriously question this.

The Prime Minister has soul duty in appointing Senators. It's nether improper, nor corrupt. Nor was it when Liberal Prime Ministers did the same thing.

It's clear that those that represent the majority of Canadians have lost confidence in Harper as Prime Minister and that he should have and would have been removed as Prime Minsiter by now if the Gov. Gen. had acted appropriately and in the best interests of Canadians and our country, so I strongly disagree with your position Dr Caleb. Harper choosing to do what he is doing at this time regarding appointing these Senators is clearly improper and further proves he has no integrity, as clearly he should face a confidence vote by those who represent the majority of Canadians before he takes any further steps as Prime Minister, especially one so significant as appointing Senators. In my opinion, based on the facts, Harper is no longer legitimately Prime Minister.

The danger is that if there are new elections, the propaganda machine and the sympathy vote might give him a majority.

And God help us with a majority in his hands.

Ed Deak.

I'm not disagreeing with you that Harper has lost confidence or people, etc.

But it's in the Constitution. The Prime Minister appoints Senators. It is not improper, invalid or corrupt. It's actually in the job description. Nether was it improper when any other outgoing PM filled empty Senate seats, be they a Conservative PM or Liberal PM.

And, based on facts, Harper is the Prime Minister. Opinions have nothing to go with it. He is the leader of the party with the most seats in the last election, and he was asked by the GG to form Government. He is Prime Minister.

The difference here is that Harper specifically SAID that he had no faith in the Senate and so would not be 'stacking it' or even making nominations. It's much like when Preston Manning stated that he'd never move into Stornaway, until he could. So hypocrisy is at issue here, not simply protocol.

Our democratic system is set up so that when those that represent the majority of Canadians no longer have confidence in a minority government, they have the power to take power away from this minority government and to replace the Prime Minister, as Harper well knows because he was trying to form a coalition himself to replace the Liberal minority government prior to him becoming Prime Minister, as the evidence supports. Yet Harper, who has failed to keep his word and to meet his responsibilities to Canadians, has no integrity and desperately wants to hold on to power in any way he can,against the choice of the majority of Canadians and against the best interests of Canadians, improperly refused to face the confidence vote, corruptly ignoring those that represent the majority of Canadians and therefore refusing to answer to the majority of Canadians, which is seriously undemocratic and corrupt, and the Gov. Gen. allowed Harper to avoid answering to the majority of Canadians without any reason to justify doing so and without any restrictions on his continuing as Prime Minister despite the fact that he does not represent the majority of Canadians and has silenced the ones who do with his and her actions, and despite the fact that the coalition now are the ones that should be in power according to Canadian law and the rules governing a democracy that allows a coalition that has the majority of the votes of Canadians to form the government should they lose confidence in the minority government in power.

It is a fact that the evidence shows that Harper and his gang would have been the ones protesting the loudest and calling the Liberals undemocratic and corrupt if a Liberal Prime Minister had acted as Harper is acting now.

And further as Marcarc pointed out, Harper has further exposed himself to be a hypocrite and without integrity by doing the very thing he has accused the Liberals of doing relating to the Senate and the very thing he said he would not do, and when he said he has no faith in the Senate, and I believe even wanted to abolish it.

Harper's motivation is clear, it's all about him having and retaining power in any way he can and using it to solely corruptly serve his own interests. He lied and cheated to get it, he's lying and cheating to try and keep it. He has absolutely no integrity at all and the sooner Canadians get rid of him, which the majority of Canadians clearly want to do based on the coalition having the majority of the votes of Canadians, and those representing the majority of Canadians have tried and are trying to properly and within their rights and the law do in the forming of the coalition and the actions they have taken,the better off Canadians and our country will be.

Well, he lied about fixed election dates, so why not lie about an elected Senate while he's at it. Kinda makes one wonder what else he has or will, lie about.......? I suppose it's safe to say -- everything?

The first thing he did when he became PM was to appoint a campaign official to the Senate, then make him minister of HRDC. That also made HRDC not accountable to Parliament.

You can't push a bill for a triple E senate, through a Senate full of people not willing to pass it. We'll see if he's serious about Senate reform, if he appoints the Senators Alberta has already 'elected'.

It's my "understanding" (a poor one, I admit) that once it goes through the Senate three times, it can be passed by the house of commons anyway (in a majority government situation that is).

It is correct to say the PM has the right and perhaps the obligation to appoint senators it is also clear that he has said he will not, and in fact has expressed a desire to abolish that chamber.

This from the PMO website dated 7 Sept 2006

"The Government is not looking for another report. We are seeking action. Action that responds to the commitments we made to Canadians during the recent federal election." said the Prime Minister. "The Senate is changing, and we will be the ones to make it happen.”

The Government introduced Bill S-4, An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 (Senate Tenure) in the Senate on May 30, 2006. It proposes to limit senate terms to eight years for new Senators. Prime Minister Harper urged Senators to pass S-4.

THE PRIME MINISTER ALSO INFORMED SENATORS THAT THE GOVERNMENT WILL INTRODUCE A BILL THIS AUTUMN TO CREATE A PROCESS TO CHOOSE ELECTED SENATORS.

“This bill will further demonstrate how seriously the Government takes the issue of Senate reform,” said the Prime Minister. “And to Canadians, it will further signal that the Senate is changing.”

(Yep, its changing, by about 18 Conservative Senators!)


http://pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1307

"A Conservative government led by Stephen Harper, its platform says, "will appoint only elected senators to the Senate."-- Globe Editorial, 18 June 2004"


Now I believe that the senate is essential to maintain the necessary checks and balances upon governments, as we have seen over the last 2 years with this MINORITY government without such chamber of sober second thought a government could ram through poorly conceived or self serving legislation.
However it is also clear that now is not the time to add a minimum of 2.4 million a year to the public budget (18 x $130,000 salaries) despite the tradition of stacking the seats with cronies by all outgoing PMs!