Canadian Parliament suspended until March
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
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- 13 January 2012: Observing the 2012 Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the US, and wider world
- 4 January 2012: Suspect arrested in Los Angeles arson rampage case
- 25 November 2011: Scientists sequence small genome of a pest: spider mite
- 22 October 2011: Canadian actress Barbara Kent dies at age 103
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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has received approval from Governor General Michaelle Jean to prorogue the Canadian Parliament for about two months, up until the end of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the Prime Minister's Office has announced today.
Under the prorogation, Parliament will resume on March 3, as opposed to January 25, when it was originally scheduled to return from the holiday break. The move to prorogue will strike any currently proposed legislation off the order paper, including the anti-crime bill that was proposed by the Conservatives as part of their election platform.
The move, which has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition, would allow the Conservatives to gain a majority in Senate committees, while also dodging criticism stemming from allegations of the abuse of Afghan detainees.
Parliament was prorogued once before in 2008, causing a coalition of the opposition Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois to collapse, and seeing then Liberal leader Stéphane Dion replaced with current leader Michael Ignatieff.
[edit] Sources
- "Parliament shut down until March" — CBC News, December 30, 2009
- Randall Palmer. "Canada to suspend Parliament until after Olympics" — Reuters, December 30, 2009
- "Parliament suspended until March 3" — The Canadian Press, December 30, 2009
