Canada - A Useful Comparison

Since his election in 2008, Canadian Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been a perfect demonstration to many of a politics where cooperation has been rejected. A look at Harper's second term in the top job is a useful comparison for the UK; a chance to see what Tory Ministers may have faced if they had gone it alone following the 2010 general election.

There are some challenges that Harper has faced that the lack of a working majority have turned from a matter of convincing a sceptical public into a persistent fight using every weapon he can muster. The most controversial of these weapons has been prorogation. According to Canadian constitutional conventions, the Prime Minister can ask the Governor-General to prorogue parliament, bringing a legislative session to a close for a length of time until parliament is recalled.

Harper has seen a number of controversies arise from his use of this convention. The second and most recent use of prorogation by the Conservative leader, in January 2010, saw the Canadian legislature suspended due to the expressed need for the executive to focus its attention on the Winter Olympics and the ongoing economic crisis (The Economist, 2010). Some have however suggested that the measures were taken for less pure reasons (The Economist, 2010), such as attempting to prevent scrutiny of issues that were difficult or embarrassing for the Minority Government.

There is, of course, nothing new about the tactical use of Prorogation to students of the history of Canadian democracy (Storrow Brown, 1872):

'The session of Parliament meeting in September, 1836, was opened by Lord Gosford with a speech, vague and meaningless, except in showing that no determined attention had been given by the Colonial Office to Canadian complaints. This could be endured no longer. Fourteen years of neglect, procrastinations, prevarications, and delusions, carrying trifling beyond all limits, had exhausted all patience, and the Assembly, rising in their dignity, in the name of an insulted people, replied to the address (3rd October, 1836) that they should adjourn their deliberations until his Majesty's Government should by its acts commence the great work of justice and reform; until grievances were in progress of redress, they would listen to no demand for supplies. This Parliament was prorogued at the end of thirteen days - not one bill having been passed.'

The Canadian people (and other ardent Democrats around the world) took to the streets to protest against what they saw as deliberate attempts to undermine parliamentary scrutiny and there-in democracy (Byrne, 2010). Numerous senior Canadian Politicians were out in full voice, including Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, New Democrat leader Jack Layton & Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe.

After months of outcry and motions once parliament resumed, it was established that a constitutional amendment would be required to change the way prorogation could be used in future (Smith, 2010). Without the firm backing of a majority government, Harper had been forced to use every trick & constitutional convention to keep his ministry afloat and in doing so had managed to provoke discussions about the use of powers & prerogatives during future disputes (Elliot, 2010).

But taking on the difficulties of minority government does not liberate a government from the media pressure that always follows the top jobs. For Harper, his Premiership has been dogged by a constant combat with the media. Back in 2006 during the Conservative leader's first term, he had a persistent run-in with the press core in Ottawa (CBC News, 2006). This bad blood has been no secret and it was to no one's surprise when in 2009 connections were made between Harper's Conservative administration and an attempt to set up a right-wing news media network in Canada (Cheadle, 2009).

In a story that will seem very familiar to the rise and resignation of Andy Coulson in the UK (Wintour, 2011), Kory Teneycke, the former director of communication for the Canadian Prime Minister's Office, was connected to the news media project. This project seemed to have come to an end with Teneycke's departure from the Quebecor organisation following a spate of controversy (CNW, 2010) and several licensing issues (Brownlee, 2010). However the project, Sun News, is due to hit Canadian screens in Spring 2011 thanks to the success of its new license application with lessened demands (Sharp & Wilson, 2010).

Harper and his administration have come through these clashes with the media, albeit with a sullied record (Taber, 2010). Accusations of interference and pressure have followed the Conservative government through the affair. And it is a smear that has been hard for the Harper administration to shake off in any part of this term in office. In tune with an air of disappointment with the government's 'obsession with secrecy, stifling debate and manipulating information' (Brennan, 2011), it was reported that Canada had ranked last in a study that made an 'international comparison of freedom-of-information laws'.

Stephen Harper's democratic credentials have certainly not been helped by the prorogation debate, particularly back in 2008 during the first prorogation crisis when he moved for prorogation to avoid a confidence vote that could have toppled his minority government (CBC, 2008). The attempts at forming a coalition to replace Mr Harper fell through during the parliamentary recess (Clark & Taber, 2009). A particularly telling exchange during the dispute was Mr Harper actively denouncing coalitions as undemocratic usurpation (Harper in Campion-Smith et al, 2008), saying the coalition attempt was a:

'Backroom deal to overturn the results of the last election without seeking the consent of voters. They want to take power, not earn it.'

All the while Mr Harper was advising the Governor-General to prorogue parliament and suspend the democratic processes of Canadian legislators in order to keep his government in office.

For parts of the UK, particularly Scotland, the pains of minority governance are no new thing. The alternative is coalition. There are two benefits to a coalition government. The first and most often quoted is moderacy. Moderacy is something that has had a long absence from British politics and its absence has often undermined UK democracy. The second reason is that it drags government factional splits into the light. For the sake of party integrity, not to mention cabinet collective responsibility, the public face must always be the sweetness and light of party unity.

Coalitions however offer the potential for these spats to become public, dragged out into the public forum, where scrutiny of political motives, ideologies and policies can be brought to bear. Sadly, this has yet to be the case with the Cameron Ministry, besides the odd cabinet leak or indiscretion. But there are still four years to go...

References

The Economist's 'Canada's Parliament: Harper goes prorogue'; January 2010;

The Economist's 'Canada without Parliament: Halted in mid-debate'; January 2010;

Thomas Storrow Brown's 'Brief Sketch of the Life and Times of the Late Hon. Louis Joseph Papineau';

Ciara Byrne's 'Thousands protest prorogued Parliament'; January 2010;

Outcry against Prorogation:
Rallies Saturday against prorogation of Parliament
London prorogation protest skips Buckingham, heads for pub
Halifax anti-prorogation rally draws hundreds
Thousands protest Conservatives’ shutting down of Canadian parliament
2010 Canada anti-prorogation protests - Wikipedia entry

David E. Smith's 'The Crown and the Constitution: Sustaining Democracy?'; June 2010

Louise Elliot's 'PM gave Jean pledges in prorogation crisis';

CBC News' 'Harper says he's finished with Ottawa press corps';

Bruce Cheadle's 'Fox News North? Former Harper spokesman joins QMI bid for all-news network'; 2009;

Patrick Wintour's 'Andy Coulson resigns as No 10 director of communications';

CNW's 'Avaaz Requests Criminal Investigation into 'Stop Fox News North' Petition Fraud';

Mark Brownlee's 'Sun TV believed changed application would answer concern of objectors: documents';

Alastair Sharp & Rob Wilson's 'Quebecor gets go-ahead for Sun TV News channel'; November 2010;

Jane Taber's 'Margaret Atwood takes on "Fox News North"'; September 2010;

Richard J. Brennan's 'Harper’s democratic record wins little praise'; January 2011;

CBC News' 'GG agrees to suspend Parliament until January';

Campbell Clark & Jane Taber's 'Ignatieff okays budget, with conditions'; January 2009;

Bruce Campion-Smith, Tonda MacCharles & Joanna Smith's 'Harper scrambles to retain power'; November 2008;