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If ever there was “much ado about nothing” it is over the current prorogation. Once the Olympics are behind us parliament will get back to work and shout over the budget. In the meantime no one would even notice that parliament was not sitting if the media was not fanning the flames.

“For the most part, Canadians are well served by the country’s media.”

I disagree. For the most part the media adheres to it’s own agenda, and ignores spectacularly important stories while promoting fluff,example: “climategate”. Nary a word in the MSM while the blogoshpere was aflame with the revelations for two weeks. Instead the many Canadian so-called “National ” news programs chose to cover the marital problems of an American golf star.

Well served? We are still seeing more revelations of corruption of the whole AGW agenda and the IPCC, but hardly a mention of the many conflicts of interest and profiteering by IPCC members in the media.

No, we are most definitely NOT well served by the media. The deceased journalists of yesteryear,like Charles Lynch, must be rolling in their graves as they watch their once proud profession become little more than a fan club for an Ex-Vice President and his cadre of fellow charlatans.

Harper did the right thing in proroging parliament. The senate needed to be cleaned up so they can get the bills passed in a resonable fashion. The opposition parties can still come back and question the government about torture victims when they get back to work. I am not sure Canadians really care what Afganistan government does with it own citizen in their justice system and the laws of their land. the liberal are just playing politics as usal it is a waste of time let get on with the important issues of fixing our government.

Harper had to prorogue Parliament at this time so he could appoint new Conservative Senators to end the left wing control of committees. That is what worries Bob Rae and other Liberals, not the farce of the so-called prisoner brutality in Afghanistan. That was just a Liberal attempt to embarrass the government. In truth, the Liberals don’t care any more than I do about the fate of the Taliban prisoners and, frankly, I don’t give a r–’s a-s about them. Whatever the Afghan government does with the murderous bastards is fine with me.

Harper, for a first-rate politician, often leaves himself so open to criticism that one is amazed. Pointing out the hypocrisy of the ridiculous Iggy and the despicable and self-important Rae doesn’t have to be done by him; but there are plenty of other ways to make sure that the dumb and illiterate Toronto Star and CBC followers understand the truth of what is going on around their envious, resentful and self-absorbed little worlds.

Maybe he doesn’t care what these people and the socialist press think - one has to admire that. It probably is the case, as he did such a lousy and careless job in not bothering to explain the truth and practical problems of prisoner exchange in Afghanistan. I am a great admirer, but I would like him to put the ignorant and unwashed in their places more firmly and more often.

On a different note. To quote from the Chilliwack article:
“Arguably, the sitting of Parliament is the least productive task for MPs. It’s largely theatrics and childish name calling, with little more at stake than getting a sound bite on the evening news. Attendance is generally dismal. Members are constantly running from one section of seats to the other so it looks like there is a crowd gathered around whoever happens to be talking on camera at any point. Rather than listening to whoever is asking or answering a question, MPs are more likely to be text messaging, checking their Blackberries, or involved in a personal conversation with a colleague.”

Our parliament should be a place for solving the problems of the country instead of the media spectacle it is.
Thanks goodness our municple council meetings are not like this. Perhaps the business, purpose and conduct of our representatives while in the HOUSE should be totally redefined so once again it becomes a useful democratic process.

I think harper is using the excuse of prorogation to minimize his exposure as a de facto ruthless dictator in the face of the international community which will soon be attending the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Is interesting to note how many Canadians nudge their approval rating of him till they see how undemocratic and control freak he really is to silence any negative comments of his government. Then they yank back their support. If you want to see the real harper, just give him a majority and shee how fast he can sink Canada and its international reputation! The problem in Canada is lack of a good leader at any Federal level.

I agree with the above comments, Harper did the right thing in proroguing
parliament to fix the imbalance and lack of cooperation in the senate. The opposition parties are afraid that senate reform will follow and the people will get to elect the senators removing that control from any party leaders. Stacking the senate would come to an end.
The front page of this morning’s National Post shows a cartoon trying to tie proroguing parliament to the crisis in Haiti. The people’s intelligence has surely been insulted.

Harper was right to prorogue Parliament. He had to get the new Senators seated and get some necessary bills passed. The Committees and the Senate were both being hobbled by the Liberals.What’s the big deal Cretien used prorogation 4 times and dear Pierre Elliot 11. The opposition leaders are a bunch of braying donkeys.

It just goes to show you how desparate the Liberals and opposition are to be whinning about Parliament being shut out and Taliban cowardly killers not being treated like heros that they are not. We need a conservative majority government before Parliament should resume.

Even though the Canadian Government is so called “Shut Down” just who is giving orders to spend unlimited amounts of tax payer money? Why should canadians get excited about Government matching funds of individuals to various charitable organizations? Sounds counter-productive when as a Taxpayer you are the people funding from both sides. Where does the Government funding “Money” come from. Are we fools or just being fooled? I would like to see or hear from others what their thoughts are on this subject. A Thought! If the government can run without members of Parliament why are tax-payers keeping them highly paid and employed? Thank you NCC for providing this forum to state our feelings. Stephen Gillespie.

It is obvious that our Prime minister is doing the work of Canada as he hosts the Haiti forum in Montreal this week.THIS IS WHAT THE PEOPLE OF CANADA WANT HIM TO DO. Be first and formost on the agenda for both Haiti and Afghanistan scene.We are a small country of only 33 million people while being the second largest in the world today.We only have the taxes of thos e millions to work with and cover all that is important to canadians and the world.Bad timing for the other parties and bad blood between them all.Jealousy is ugly when it hurts the country.

PM Harper had little choice other than prorogue parliament. All bills passed in the house were stopped in the Senate by the Liberal majority.It meant that,no matterhow many laws were passed, nothing has been accomplished. The Afghan prisoner situation is strictly a opposition smoke screen to defer the real reason from the public. I wish the Media would jump on that rather than blather about a situation (Afgan Taliban prisoners).Do we really care what happens to these people who hide behind civilians to fight?

It seems to me the whole fuss over this most recent use of prorogation is being generated by the radical fringe of those who believe implicitly that more government is better government. I would ask: Is the state of Montana well governed? To the best of my knowledge their legislature still sits only for a limited time every other year. I am sure that Canada could still be governed well if the House of Commons sat for a much shortened sitting once per year. Less govnment is better government!

What we need in this mess of a Country is 1 party….period…I am in my 60’s and am sick and tired of these left-wing donkeys having anything to do with running the place….the media has always been left and why this Conservative government even gives one cent to the CBC and its likes is beyond me. Harper is doing a fine job and should show up in Parliament with BS protectors over his ears…worrying about how terrorists who have killed Canadian soldiers are treated, can you imagine?…it is sickening listening to the likes of Iggy and Rae talking about anything…they have no idea what their talking about..isn’t it great to spew socialism when your a millionaire like these two clowns..and to think several people actually vote for these disgusting hypocrites….what a place!!!

It’s true what you say Ted. But the fact that our MSM are complicit in this is something that shouldn’t be ignored. The bias of the overwhelming majority of Canadian media toward the leftist agenda borders on criminal in my opinion. We can expect the likes of Boob Rae to say what they do but we should expect our media to report honestly and call the hypocrits on their tantrum.

The article from the “Chilliwack Times” (wrtten by John Martin) is very well written and in my opinion actually presents a true picture.
john’s article should be placed into all major papers in Canada, so that the populus would finally have a second opnion to consider.

My husband and I are sick and tired of listening to the silly unconstructive question period in Parliament. Yes, I agree with proroguing parliament but not for a shorter period of time. The media has blown the whole proroguing situation out of proportion. As for the Afghanistan abusive of their own citizens, I am more concerned of the safety and well being of our Canadian Soldiers. If the opposition parties would only be more concerned for the unemployed Canadians and the cost of living for senior citizens,and getting our financial affairs in order everyone could benefit.

It doesn’t matter what the Conservatives do, it will be condemned by most of the media. It also doesn’t matter what the Liberals do, it will be supported by most of the media. The NDP are, of course, most upset when the Liberals get media coverage, and they don’t. The Bloc is simply irrelevant everywhere except Quebec, and they know it. They also know that they can milk the rest of Canada for everything they can get by simply supporting the party in power, when it is to their advantage, and threatening to take them down, when it isn’t. If that happened in private life, they would all be in jail for extortion.

Prorogation is probably the best thing that ever happens in the Canadian government. At least when MPs are not sitting, they are not making absolute fools of themselves (all parties). Of course that does create a problem for the media, because that doesn’t produce news, unless they invent the news (which they do all too often). Lucky for the media, and the Conservatives, that the media has found a disaster in Haiti to keep them occupied.

I would also like to comment on the Haiti situation. It seem that the Canadian government (along with all of the rest it seems) takes far longer to respond to disasters than what would seem to be reasonable. If they took that long to respond to an invasion of the country, the war would be lost before it even got started. The Canadian government (military division) should be able to be on the ground with the basic needs to prepare for more help, within 12 hours, anywhere in the western hemisphere, and 24 hours anywhere in the world. An additional 12 hours should have airports operational so more supplies, and people, can get into a disaster zone. I have heard it said, that they can’t do that because they need to wait for an invitation from the country that has the problem. Fair enough, but why not negotiate an agreement with those countries who are willing to accept our help, BEFORE the disaster happens.

I very much agree with the comments from dmorris. He mentions the lack of coverage of the East Anglia ‘climategate’ by the MSM. Currently its Himalayagate - deliberate lies from the IPCC that the glaciers would be gone in 35 years; but how many NCC members are even aware, unless from the blogosphere? I find the best news global news coverage on the Drudge Report (http://www.drudgereport.com/) and best commentary from Mark Steyn (http://www.marksteyn.com/). I’d like links to other suggestions from any NCC’er who would like to post them.
About the Pro Rogues? I can’t even spell it.

I agree with the comment & the four posters above. I also read & agreed with the linked article. While I’d rather see Parliament working, I understand Harper’s reasons & cannot condemn him.

I’ve long objected to the roll the media has taken in controlling & directing the political agenda. It would be nice to have accurate, objective reporting without a biased agenda.

IGGY TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING IMPORTANT …WHAT COULD BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROROGATION ?? MAYBE CUTTING COSTS TO PAY OUR DEFICIT , HAITI OR SOME OTHER MUNDANE THING !!lETS FACE IT HE DOESN’T HAVE MUCH TO CHEW ON AND HAS FALSE TEETH TO BOOT !

Without the proroguing of Parliament, we would not have been able to re-constitute the Senate committees.
One that comes to mind is the “Justice?” committee that made a change in the legislation, passed unanimously by the Commons, that 5 MJ plants were for “Personal Use”. (More than that and you were in the business.)
The Liberal dominated Senate committee, in it’s wisdom, decided that was too few and changed that number to 200 plants.
One wonders what thought process lead to that kind of a decision?
And how many others have been bastardized and made meaningless by their actions, that we know little or nothing about.

I don’t know why all these people allow themselves to get their knickers in a twist by the opposition over proroguing parliament. After all the following people prorogued Queens park and Parliament: Bob Rae 3 times;

I don’t give a hoot about proroguing NOR what happens to Taliban terrorists. A Captain who shot a Taliban is being court-martialled.
I think he deserves a medal. We should shoot all Somali pirates as well.
Iggy, Bob Rae ; Jack Layton and Giles Duceppe are all idiots.
But have you ever seen a lefty who can think straight? I haven’t.

Perhaps NCC could shed some historical light on prorogation in Canada. I have seen 2 different stories on Bob Rae suspending Ontario Government 3 OR 4 times. Lets be clear on it. I have seen that Chretien has done so 4 times during his reign. PMSH has prorogued twice, the first clinging to power and not allowing a separatist party having control. What the Heck are Canadians thinking?

The media is definitely kicking up a news story when a bunch of lefties who really don’t know the history of their own gang of hypocrites organize rallies which have no meaning.

Now that we are prorogued, the MPs can get out with their Constituents. Let’s cheer on Canadian athletes in the Olympics and nevermind parliament till March. The country will still run just fine. Even better IF we could ever lose the Opposition. Some folks believe Ottawa is the only place they work.

I don’t know why some people allow themselves to get wound up by the opposition concerning proroguing the government. Do you not know the following: the government was prorogued by: Bob Rae 3 times; Jean Chretien 4 times: Trudeau at least 10 times; Premier Bill Davis prorogued the House at 10 a.m. and started a new session at 3 p.m. the same day. Where were all you people when these prorogues were mandated? Come on, were all of you out protesting and gnashing your teeth? Why are you now in such a hissy-fit?

Harper is the best thing that has happened to Canada in the last 150 yrs. More power to him .I can see why eastern snobs don’t understand because intitlement is their only concern.Iggy the imposter will never cut it even with two networks & four political parties against him Harper & his team come out looking good.AMFyfe

I agree with most of the others. The media coverage of this is abominable. I have understood prorogation is when the prime minister goes to the governor general and asks for a limited suspension of parliament. It is not prorogation for the prime minister to extend the break of parliament when it is not sitting.Every party that has been in power has done this. (the Liberal party numerous times in my 67 years. It is time the media started reporting things as they are and not as they want. Right now the CRTC is sitting to decide on fee for carriage as the television networks are trying to get satellite and cable companies to pay more money than they already do for local programming, mostly for local news. I say with the reporting that we get lets get rid of the local stations or let the consumer pick what channels he wants to pay for. Stop the bundling.

The flap over the proroguing of Parliament is a Hail Mary gambit by Ignatieff and a desperate Liberal Party as the public, in the last year or so, has finally caught on to their gotcha-a-month tactics. They have seen their popularity drop steadily even as they ginned up their bogus “scandals”, over and over. If proroguation is un-democratic, what do you call pretending to ratify legislation in the Commons while relying on their majority in the unelected Senate to bottle it up until it dies on the order paper?
As for the handling of Afghan prisoners, our forces are operating in a backward Central Asian tribal society. We are doing all we can under the laws of war to properly handle our POW’s. If we wanted to do anything more, we should invade the country, take over their government, liquidate the tribal leadership and set up our own criminal justice system. Any takers in the Liberal Party on this proposal?

All the fuzz about prorogation (did I spell it right?)is a tempest in a teapot. John Martin’s article in the Chilliwack Times is right on the money. The media is largely left leaning and don’t like anything Harper is doing, plus the newspapers are firstly in the business of selling newspapers.

I remember once when I went to Toronto looking for a edge finishing machine the deburred and folded the outer metal edge. The company did not have the product, however he suggested that I go see his competitor. Wow I thought! Here is a man that is so interested in my needs that he advises me to go see his competitor. This man understood the purpose of competition. The Politicians probably ask other people what they should do when they get to Ottawa.Well if you do not know your purpose in Ottawa just keep disagreeing with everything the other party puts forward. Maybe just maybe Parliament was porogued on the advice of the C.S.I.S.

Fully agree with the article from John Martin in the Times.
This should be published in the main newspapers in Canada.
The Liberal are trying everything to discredit the Conservatives.

It is very gratifying to read that most respondents agree that proroguing parliament to pass bills in the senate was the correct step to take.Why does the opposition pretend to pass laws knowing that the majority senate opposition will just ignore them? Is this not a wate of time and OUR money?

Thank you John Martin for an excellent article and to the National Citizens Coalition for copying it. I am sending this article to as many friends as possible to educate them where the media fails. If we all do this the news will get out.

As you can plainly see when Iggy Idiot doesn’t have a clue and needs something - anything to get attention, these are the non issue items the he (and his friends the media) attempt to keep alive. As i’ve said before folks, the louder and longer they squeal, then we know we’re doing the right things.

Mr. Harper is certainly not getting the credit he deserves. The media ignors the good works he does. I guess the Liberals have been in so long they thought they were the only ones who could do the job. Well Mr.Harper by far is doing the right thing by improving Canada and its people, not just eastern Canada. We in the West certainly can feel the difference.
He had to prorogue because the bickering from the opposition is unreal and nothing can be done. Now that is waisting taxpayers money.

Kuddos to Stephen Harper for surviving our media onslaught. What really surprises me, is the number of seemingly intellegent people in this country who refuse to read their history to review ‘facts’ of the past (Chretien, Trudeau, Rae, all poroguing their respective governments - hold it, they were Liberal or left leaning….)
Probably the biggest problem today, is that the media has become about entertainment and ratings, rather than ‘news’. Consequently, we must search high and low to get a more reliable view of current events.

Is it useful and necessary nowadays for Parliament to sit more or less continuously?

The function of Parliament is, or should be, to debate matters of consequence and to develop and ultimately vote on legislation resulting from those debates. Now that debate in Parliament has fallen to the level of schoolyard name calling, we may reasonably assume that Parliament is no longer capable of a useful debating function. The only useful activity that Parliament appears to undertake is to deal with proposed legislation in committees and to vote on it in the House.

I suggest we amend Parliamentary rules to allow committees to function regardless of whether Parliament is sitting or not, and otherwise recall the full Parliament for the few weeks every year that it takes to vote on whatever matters require it. Backbench MPs can then spend most of their time performing the only useful function left to them, which is listening to their constituents and representing them to the government of the day.

“Get thee glass eyes and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see the things thou dost not.” William Shakespeare , from King Lear Act IV, Scene 6: the old King to Gloucester in the countryside outside Dover.
Very apt!
Even up the Senate, bring back parliament, pass the law we need… like C-391.

I think that the whole parliamentary system is in need of an overhaul. To start with in my humble opinion, partisan politics is not in the best intested of the majority of Canadians. Some maybe, but not the majority, and isn’t that the important criteria in a democracy?

If these politicians are going to belong to political parties, they should not be expending there efforts in the House of Commons to better their parties position while thereby reducing efficiency and costing the taxpayer far more than it should to run the country.

Perhaps instead of prorogation, they should all work from their constituent offices and conduct there face to face and group meetings (as in the house of commons) via a satelite link - skype or whatever. This might be worth looking into. It would help to keep the squabbling down - just like when you send your kids to separate rooms.

I do not favour one party over another, but rather, I vote for the candidate and what I can only hope they and their leader will do once in Ottawa.

By the way, these people who have been elected by parties to be their leaders are just party leaders. They are NOT the leaders of the Canadian citizens. They are our representatives and each are in Ottawa to represent their constituents, and that is what they should be doing. The leader of the party with the majority of seats becomes the Prime Minister, but he/she still is just a representative. For decades, for as long as I can remember, the sitting Prime Minister has acted like a dictator. This is what Canadians should be trying to change. The peoples wishes are superior to any wants or desires that any politician has for themselves or for their party.

I agree with the editorial in the Chillawack Times. I believe we are poorly served by our media in Canada. Most are liberal or (worst) socialist. Why can I not see balanced news reporting when it comes to our political “scene”
Terry Lamping,Burlington. On