Sweet Rhymes and Hard Times

Our goals this week,

As the Economy looks bleak:

Learn more about RAP and the CSGP,

And get big Commitments from every MP!

Gather together and collect Information,

To Spread PSE all over the Nation!

The above is courtesy of the great team at the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. I am hunkered down in Ottawa at the Lord Elgin Hotel, with VP Admin Brodie Pattenden, and President Elect Jeremy Girard. We are in the process of briefing new and old members about how to effectively advocate PSE issues to the federal government.

For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, CASA is a national lobby organization that focuses on issues related to post secondary education in Canada. Over the next week (3.5 days technically) over 70 student leaders will be meeting with ~150 MPs, Senators, and Policy staff of the government.

This event, called Lobby Con (Con is for conference, not some clever reference to government), and has become quite the event on the Hill. The priorities that CASA has can change from year to year, but it always focuses on improving Canada’s university system through non-partisan, rational, and intelligent policy recommendations.

This year, in the face of the “looming economic crisis” (I really hate that term actually. Sorry for perpetuating it), CASA has had a tough job. It is not easy to ask for funding when the government is staring down the wrong end of defecit budget for the first time in a decade. But CASA does not give up that easily. We are nothing if not persistent!

This year, the membership has decided to focus on the following priorities, in no particular order:

- Expand the Canada Student Grant Program

- Enhance the Repayment Assistance Plan

- Take a Balanced Approach to Copyright Law

- Reduce the Cost of Academic Materials

- Create Tri-Council Funding Autonomy

- Improve Tri-Council Salary Guideline

As the week goes on, I will post more on each of the above points.

Until the future,

Adam Vossepoel

President

“The Strange Design of Conscience”

What a whirlwind of political exuberance and the oh-so-awesome finals season. This is a little like that one time I wound up on a deserted island with only my favorite book, my ipod and a water filtration system.

Seriously folks, it  has been a couple of very exciting weeks. Finals are getting everyone down and the wind in Lethbridge has lived up to its reputation, but the holidays are just around the corner…So keep you chin up darlings!

It seems every Canadian across the country has been glued to computer’s, TV’s, papers anything that could convey news about the happenings in Parliament. Keep your eyes on this page for information on federal government going on’s come January. Should be a very interesting month. In spite of our (by our, I mean Canadians as a whole) elected MP’s failure to keep the house in session and the growing lack of faith the Canadian people have in our political system; I see a lot of good coming out of this.

Average Canadian citizens care about politics. What’s more, they care about Canadian politics! The past federal election saw the lowest voter turnout since confederation, and with 41% of the country opting to not vote that is 41% of the country who essentially held up their hands and said they didn’t care.

This current crisis exemplifies the inherit fallibility of our elected MP’s and the need to Canadians to truly take hold of our democratic system. Our political institutions only work as well as the Canadian people expect them to work. When we lose faith ourselves and choose to wash our hands of the matter, how can we expect the government to govern in a fair and responsive matter? By no means am I excusing the actions of any of the federal parties over the last 2 1/2 years. Three consecutive minority governments elected by increasingly lower voter turnouts sends a message, loud and clear. Canadians do not trust our current parties, what’s more Canadians no longer trust or respond to the way we elect our representatives.

In the many rallies that have sprung up around the country the biggest call of change is not against any particular party, nor is there overwhelming support for the coalition or the conservatives. What I hear the most is Canadian crying out for electoral reform.

Some very excellent site for information on electoral reform in Canada: Fairvote.ca, Library of Parliament official site, Law Commision of Canada, Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform and Mapleleafweb.com.

These are pretty exciting times, times where your voice can carry a great deal of weight. Write to your paper, write to your MP, write to our current Prime Minister. Voice your opinion, make it known that Canadians care!

Rick Casson, MP for Lethbridge:

E-Mail: casson@rickcasson.com

Lethbridge Constituency Office:

255 8th St S. Lethbridge, Alberta, T1J 4Y1

Toll Free: 1-877-327-0135

Telephone: (403) 320-0070, Fax: (403) 380-4026

Parliamentary Office:

Room 504 Justice Building, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

Telephone: (613) 996-0633, Fax: (613) 995-5752

Jenn Prosser, VP Academic

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT: BRING ON THE PAIN

** Again, like yesterday’s post, I will try to keep the partisan stuff out of it***

WHAT IS GOING ON?

Well, after a 2.5 hour meeting today with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, her Excellency the Governor General has granted the request to prorogue, suspending Parliament until January 26th, 2009.

For those who don’t know, prorogue is simply a technical term that means to end a session of Parliament. It is a decision that is made by the Governor General, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

It is not undemocratic and is in fact allowed by the Constitution that Canada operates under. During prorogation, all formal business conducted by the Parliament, the House of Commons and the Senate, is stopped.

Members of Parliament still remain in their positions, however all orders of business, i.e bills, motions, etc, are expunged.

In practice, the prorogation is simply a delay. Until January 26th, nothing on Parliament Hill will officially be changing.

BREAKING IT DOWN

Let’s review how the Westminster system works, and clear up some the rhetoric that is being tossed around so wantonly.

No one in Canada voted for a government. Every person that voted, (which was not many; lowest in our history), voted for Members of Parliament. Those MP are affiliated with specific parties, simply as a means of easy categorization. Parties do not exist in the Canadian constitution.

Now, it is standard practice that the party with the most number of MPs, who were voted into into the House of Commons, is allowed to form government. But it is not the people of Canada who directly decide the government, it is Parliament.

In the recent election, the Conservative government did not win enough seats to form a majority (50% of seats plus 1), thereby forming a minority government.

Minority governments, because they do not have the necessary number to pass bills or motions alone, require the support of other MPs from other parties. Otherwise business on the Hill stalls.

So, leaders in a minority government must have the “confidence” of the House of Commons in order to govern. Simply put, this means that a majority of the MPs must feel secure in the Prime Minister. They tacitly agree with this through the support of confidence motions.

On Monday, December 8th, there was to be a confidence motion introduced into the House of Commons by the minority Conservative government: The federal budget.

In addition to outlining the strategies to deal with the pending economic downturn, the federal budget initially included some proposals that would limit the public financing of political parties. These have since been withdrawn. However, it made the opposition parties (NDP, Liberal, and Bloc) cautious.

Talks of a coalition began, sparking an incredible polarization that we have not recently seen in Canadian politics. The coalition MPs, who collectively form a majority, stated that they would not support a confidence motion (budget) that the Prime Minister was to bring forward.

Faced with this, the Prime Minister requested that the Governor General prorogue, preventing the confidence motion from occurring. This is not illegal in our Canadian system, though it is does not have precedent.

On January 26th, the Parliament will move back in session, with the budget to be brought forward again. Cue political circus.

It is safe to say that MPs from all sides will not be getting much rest over the Christmas season, in preparation for the end of January.

As with all rumblings on from the Hill, we will be watching with keen interest. At the very least, politics are sexy again.

Adam Vossepoel

President

“The Liberals, NDP, and Bloc are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNMENT!!!” (Source: Most Canadian headlines over the last couple of days.)

*** I have tried to keep this as non-partisan as possible. I am intrigued, to say the least. We live in very interesting times. Share and Enjoy**

So, you may of heard rumors of something big going on with our federal government. Rumblings of a coalition, charges claiming it is not democratic, and the horrors that another election will be called, seem to be the “talk of the town”.

Since, as usual, there is a lot of rhetoric being thrown around like this little number, let’s clear some things up about the issues on Parliament Hill.

HERE IS WHAT IS HAPPENING:

- Canada uses the Westminster System of parliamentary democracy. Read this first, it is very important! Key points to remember are the difference between the Head of State (The Governor General, through the Queen) and the Head of Government (The Prime Minister). This is an important distinction in our democratic system.

- The recently formed government does not hold a majority (50% +1) of seats in the House of Commons, forming what is called a minority government.

- The Conservative minority government recently announced their economic statement. In addition to outlining some strategies that the government will take to combat the economic downturn, there were some points about public financing of political parties, limiting government employee’s ability to strike, and preventing the use of tribunals on matters of salary equity.

- The other three parties (Liberal, NDP, and Bloc) saw these plans, were unsatisfied, and began making plans to draft a coalition. Officially, only the Liberals and NDP are a part of it, with the Bloc tacitly agreeing, as long as the coalition keeps the interests of Quebec in mind.

- On Monday, December 8th, the coalition plans to bring forward a confidence motion to defeat the Conservative minority government, and replace it with a government made up by members from all three parties.

- The Governor General of Canada now comes into play. Michealle Jean, legally the leader of the country (according to our Constitution), is responsible for ensuring that the government functions. If the vote of no-confidence passes, it is up to her to decide to call another election, or allow the coalition to rule.

Canadian people, perhaps confusing our form of government with the American one, what with all the attention it has gotten recently, are in an uproar, and the politcal blogs and commentators are going wild!

BREAKING IT DOWN:

Although it hasn’t happened since 1941 in Canadian federal politics, coalition governments are fairly common in parliamentary democracies. See any of the Nordic countries by way of example.

Actually, coalitions are usually preferred over a minority government, simply because they force parties to”play nice” with one another. They are, of course, not as stable as majority governments, but they can work.

From the way people are reacting, you would think that it was the end of the world!

Right now, the coalition government is not necessarily a forgone conclusion, though it does have some serious implications for our country’s future.

You see, when we in Canada voted back in October, we weren’t voting for a Prime Minister (except for the people that lived in the home ridings of the party leaders). We were voting for members of the House of Commons, not members of government.

The Prime Minister is actually selected by the Queen, through her representative the Governor General, from those politicians elected to the House of Commons from each riding.

The person to be selected for this position is not the person who leads the party with the most seats. This is because political parties are not part of the Constitution.

Rather, the person to be selected as Prime Minister is the person who can best form government, the person who has the most influence over the House of Commons. Stephen Harper has apparently lost that. We shall see if that is still the case on December 8th.

Suffice it to say, we will be watching the federal games with much interest over the coming week. And who said Canadian politics were boring!?

Adam Vossepoel

President