A Letter to Dion and Layton

Re. GG Agrees to Suspend Parliament

Dear Mr. Dion and Mr. Layton,

I must say that I have not been this upset about a political situation in my own country since I was an idealistic university student during the Mike Harris years. Unfortunately, the recent situation in Parliament has resurrected those old feelings of outrage.

Before the Governor General’s decision today to grant Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s request to prorogue Parliament, I was certain that she would refuse his request. The crisis was of his own making, and he created it for nakedly partisan and cynical reasons. Yet, much to my shock and dismay, she granted his request to suspend Parliament for two months. I am still in shock, but now I am also perplexed. I just cannot fathom why she would abet Prime Minister Harper’s self-serving political manoeuvring.

According to Elections Canada, 13,832,972 voted in the last federal election. Of that number, only 38%—or 5,256,529 people—voted for the Conservative Party. The other 8,576,443 of us did not. A coalition government would have duly and democratically represented the majority of voters. However, instead of turning Prime Minister Harper back to face a vote of confidence this Monday, which may have led to the formation of a coalition government, he has somehow won a reprieve from Her Excellency. Certainly, the 8.6 million people who voted for the members of the proposed coalition were not the deciding factor.

There may come a time when a future government will also seek to prorogue Parliament in order to avoid a vote of confidence. Now that this decision has been made, they will have every reason to expect that their request will be granted, regardless of the reason. I am grappling with a very powerful sense of disappointment and not a little apprehension as well regarding the future of my country.

I sincerely hope that you will maintain a steadfast and united opposition to the PMO, which is entirely too thirsty for a type of exclusive power that should never be permitted to a Canadian Prime Minister. It is for this reason that we have elected you; to stand on guard and protect our rights as citizens of Canada.

It has been many years since I was directly involved in any type of political movement, but I think the time has come again for me to be more politically active. If there is one good thing that can come of this, I hope it will be that I am able to encourage more of those around me to take our nation’s destiny out of the hands of a man who grasps for too much power than is seemly and place it back into our own. We are Canada, glorious and free, not the subjects of one man, be he Prime Minister or otherwise.

Sincerely,

[Pandora]

Cc. Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper
Olivia Chow, M.P., Trinity-Spadina