(=_=)
2015-01-04 00:05:07 UTC
Note which pollster has come out with this latest doozie - a poll on 'shutting
down Parliament by Harper in very difficult times' !!
Why the hell would any pollster make that a question at this time of election
campaigning in Canada?
A second question should be: Who the hell is 'AmericasBarometer' and why are
they taking a poll of Canadians?
Do a little research and you'll find that a someone by the name of Rich Kinder
is behind the Kinder Institute which is behind the AmericasBarometer survey.
'Kinder' ring a bell? It should. Rich Kinder is also the CEO of Kinder
Morgan - the damned pipeline that is trying to forge a way from the tarsands to
the coast of BC. -
to ply our pristine coast with thousands of Chinese tankers.
Now, back to the question of why someone behind Kinder Morgan pipelines would
be posing the question of 'shutting down Parliament in difficult times' . . . .
IS HARPER CONSIDERING SHUTTING DOWN OF PARLIAMENT AGAIN - JUST BEFORE THE
'DIFFICULT TIMES' COMING UP WITH THE DUFFY TRIAL?
We're being 'worked', Canadian voters. Watch these pollsters and read between
the lines on what they're trying to do. And what Harper is using to play us all.
______________________________________________________
Ottawa Citizen - January 1, 2015
Some say PM could justifiably shut down Parliament in crisis: survey
A small but growing minority of Canadians says the prime minister would be
justified in closing down Parliament and the Supreme Court in the face of “very
difficult times,” according to a survey.
The question about the two democratic institutions is part of the sweeping,
biennial AmericasBarometer study, and Canadians were among the citizens of 26
countries surveyed for their views and attitudes about democracy and governance.
The Canadian part of the online survey, conducted by Environics Institute and
Ottawa’s Institute on Governance in the summer, recently released its results.
It found 23 per cent of respondents said the prime minister would be justified
in shutting down Parliament when the country is facing a crisis or “very
difficult times,” and 17 per cent would accept dissolving the Supreme Court for
the same reason.
The vast majority of Canadians — 77 per cent — object to the idea of the prime
minister silencing Parliament, but what’s noteworthy is that the size of the
minority who could accept it under dire conditions has inched up since 2010 —
when only about 10 per cent said the prime minister would have grounds to
govern without Parliament or the Supreme Court in “difficult times.” By 2012,
that percentage was 15.
The proportion who said the same about the Supreme Court stayed about the same
at 11 per cent in 2012 and rose to 17 per cent in 2014.
The Americas survey found Canada was also among the countries most likely to
support silencing their legislatures in such scenarios — behind Paraguay (29
per cent), Peru (27 per cent) and Haiti (26 per cent). Support for national
leaders suspending their legislatures during crises was the lowest in Venezuela
(7 per cent), Belize (8 per cent), Guyana (8 per cent) and Uruguay (9 per cent).
Keith Neuman, executive director of Environics Institute, said he couldn’t
explain the findings. Canadians support democracy and the survey gave no
indication of the kind of crisis that would warrant steps as drastic as
suspending the judicial and legislative arms.
“There is nothing else in the data that clearly provides further insight into
that,” he said. “There are no questions around that nor other trends that
suggest a loss of confidence in democracy.
“It may be more about how people feel about the external world and
circumstances and crises that could call for extraordinary responses … I don’t
know if that is more present today than a couple of years ago.”
Latin America has more of a history of constitutional suspension and
insurrection than Canada, which has had few threats to its civil order.
The last time Canada suspended civil liberties was for a domestic crisis, when
then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau imposed the War Measures Act in response to
the FLQ crisis of 1970. Neither Parliament nor the Supreme Court was suspended,
however.
The War Measures Act was adopted by Parliament in 1914 after the outbreak of
the First World War, allowing the government to suspend civil liberties and
bypass Parliament to maintain security and order during war or insurrection. It
was also used during the Second World War. It has since been replaced by the
Emergencies Act.
Crises have forced Parliament to temporarily shut — such as when the building,
then based in Montreal, burned down in April of 1849 during riots over the
approval of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
It was closed again after another fire in 1916 until a place was found where it
could be reconvened. It was shut for the day on Oct. 22 when Michael
Zehaf-Bibeau shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial,
then rushed to Parliament Hill where he was killed during a gunfight.
The Supreme Court has never been suspended and parliamentary expert Ned Franks
says he can’t conceive that it would be.
“The government could ignore it, but it can’t shut it down. The court is
autonomous, head of the judicial branch and the main feature of the separation
of powers is that it is separate from the executive,” said Franks, a professor
emeritus of political studies at Queen’s University.
Parliament must meet once every 12 months. In normal circumstances, it is
prorogued at the end of a session and dissolved when an election is called. But
experts said it’s inconceivable what “difficult times” Canada could face that
would warrant such extraordinary action without consulting Parliament.
“It is hard to imagine the situation where any useful purpose would be served
by shutting down Parliament or shutting down the courts,” said Rob Walsh,
Parliament’s former law clerk and chief legal adviser.
The survey found the idea met minority support across the population but was
somewhat higher among Canadians on the political right, Conservative party
supporters, those without a high school diploma and immigrants. This increase
since 2012 was most notable among younger Canadians, those without a high
school diploma, immigrants and those on the middle and right of the political
spectrum.
down Parliament by Harper in very difficult times' !!
Why the hell would any pollster make that a question at this time of election
campaigning in Canada?
A second question should be: Who the hell is 'AmericasBarometer' and why are
they taking a poll of Canadians?
Do a little research and you'll find that a someone by the name of Rich Kinder
is behind the Kinder Institute which is behind the AmericasBarometer survey.
'Kinder' ring a bell? It should. Rich Kinder is also the CEO of Kinder
Morgan - the damned pipeline that is trying to forge a way from the tarsands to
the coast of BC. -
to ply our pristine coast with thousands of Chinese tankers.
Now, back to the question of why someone behind Kinder Morgan pipelines would
be posing the question of 'shutting down Parliament in difficult times' . . . .
IS HARPER CONSIDERING SHUTTING DOWN OF PARLIAMENT AGAIN - JUST BEFORE THE
'DIFFICULT TIMES' COMING UP WITH THE DUFFY TRIAL?
We're being 'worked', Canadian voters. Watch these pollsters and read between
the lines on what they're trying to do. And what Harper is using to play us all.
______________________________________________________
Ottawa Citizen - January 1, 2015
Some say PM could justifiably shut down Parliament in crisis: survey
A small but growing minority of Canadians says the prime minister would be
justified in closing down Parliament and the Supreme Court in the face of “very
difficult times,” according to a survey.
The question about the two democratic institutions is part of the sweeping,
biennial AmericasBarometer study, and Canadians were among the citizens of 26
countries surveyed for their views and attitudes about democracy and governance.
The Canadian part of the online survey, conducted by Environics Institute and
Ottawa’s Institute on Governance in the summer, recently released its results.
It found 23 per cent of respondents said the prime minister would be justified
in shutting down Parliament when the country is facing a crisis or “very
difficult times,” and 17 per cent would accept dissolving the Supreme Court for
the same reason.
The vast majority of Canadians — 77 per cent — object to the idea of the prime
minister silencing Parliament, but what’s noteworthy is that the size of the
minority who could accept it under dire conditions has inched up since 2010 —
when only about 10 per cent said the prime minister would have grounds to
govern without Parliament or the Supreme Court in “difficult times.” By 2012,
that percentage was 15.
The proportion who said the same about the Supreme Court stayed about the same
at 11 per cent in 2012 and rose to 17 per cent in 2014.
The Americas survey found Canada was also among the countries most likely to
support silencing their legislatures in such scenarios — behind Paraguay (29
per cent), Peru (27 per cent) and Haiti (26 per cent). Support for national
leaders suspending their legislatures during crises was the lowest in Venezuela
(7 per cent), Belize (8 per cent), Guyana (8 per cent) and Uruguay (9 per cent).
Keith Neuman, executive director of Environics Institute, said he couldn’t
explain the findings. Canadians support democracy and the survey gave no
indication of the kind of crisis that would warrant steps as drastic as
suspending the judicial and legislative arms.
“There is nothing else in the data that clearly provides further insight into
that,” he said. “There are no questions around that nor other trends that
suggest a loss of confidence in democracy.
“It may be more about how people feel about the external world and
circumstances and crises that could call for extraordinary responses … I don’t
know if that is more present today than a couple of years ago.”
Latin America has more of a history of constitutional suspension and
insurrection than Canada, which has had few threats to its civil order.
The last time Canada suspended civil liberties was for a domestic crisis, when
then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau imposed the War Measures Act in response to
the FLQ crisis of 1970. Neither Parliament nor the Supreme Court was suspended,
however.
The War Measures Act was adopted by Parliament in 1914 after the outbreak of
the First World War, allowing the government to suspend civil liberties and
bypass Parliament to maintain security and order during war or insurrection. It
was also used during the Second World War. It has since been replaced by the
Emergencies Act.
Crises have forced Parliament to temporarily shut — such as when the building,
then based in Montreal, burned down in April of 1849 during riots over the
approval of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
It was closed again after another fire in 1916 until a place was found where it
could be reconvened. It was shut for the day on Oct. 22 when Michael
Zehaf-Bibeau shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial,
then rushed to Parliament Hill where he was killed during a gunfight.
The Supreme Court has never been suspended and parliamentary expert Ned Franks
says he can’t conceive that it would be.
“The government could ignore it, but it can’t shut it down. The court is
autonomous, head of the judicial branch and the main feature of the separation
of powers is that it is separate from the executive,” said Franks, a professor
emeritus of political studies at Queen’s University.
Parliament must meet once every 12 months. In normal circumstances, it is
prorogued at the end of a session and dissolved when an election is called. But
experts said it’s inconceivable what “difficult times” Canada could face that
would warrant such extraordinary action without consulting Parliament.
“It is hard to imagine the situation where any useful purpose would be served
by shutting down Parliament or shutting down the courts,” said Rob Walsh,
Parliament’s former law clerk and chief legal adviser.
The survey found the idea met minority support across the population but was
somewhat higher among Canadians on the political right, Conservative party
supporters, those without a high school diploma and immigrants. This increase
since 2012 was most notable among younger Canadians, those without a high
school diploma, immigrants and those on the middle and right of the political
spectrum.