Canadians often claim their nation's independence from the British Empire, but their colonial colors are shining brightly today after Prime Minister Stephen Harper implored the Crown to re-assert its control. Yesterday Harper, in a drastic and unprecendented action, won the approval of Governor-General Michaëlle Jean, official representative of Canada's Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II, to suspend Parliament to avoid a no-confidence vote from a coalition of the Liberal Party, New Democratic Party, and Bloc Québécois (the Quebec separatist party), who have been seeking to oust Harper's Conservative government. Canada's last election was less than two months ago, and though the Conservatives had a very strong showing, they failed to win parliamentary majority and as such are open to leadership challenges. In an example of doublespeak at the highest levels, Harper declared the Liberal-NDP-Bloc plan to form a new government to be a threat to Canada's democracy, then turned to the imperial office of the Governor-General to subvert this same democracy.
In the current economic environment, I fear that more of this kind of political strongarming will occur in well-established "democracies" as the entrenched powers fight to maintain their grip on a rapidly changing world.
More on the story here:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/05/america/canada.php
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-canada5-2008dec05,0,3038908.story
For those interested in a more leftist take on this issue, the World Socialist Web Site features an article exploring some of the political factors involved:
http://wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/pers-d05.shtml
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