Going Rogue in Canada

From the Rick Mercer Report on Canadian television...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided to prorogue* Parliament in Canada just prior to the New Year and basically shut down the operations of the House of Commons until after the Olympics. (From our history classes in the U.S., of course we know that Parliament is like the Legislative branch of the U.S. government).  Imagine if a U.S. president told the House of Representatives to take a two month vacation because the country was too busy thinking about the Olympics. Or telling everyone to take the week off because the Saints are in the Super Bowl.


In case you have not heard -- Canada is hosting the Winter Olympics in 13 days. We know this because we've had a countdown to the Olympics since we moved here some 500-something days ago. We've heard commercials (narrated by Donald Sutherland) and a viewer can't get through an episode of any show without hearing at least a dozen promos. As it should be. It's a big deal and after all. And Canada is a winter sport nation, although the weather would indicate otherwise. The news now is that there's little snow in British Columbia (much to the dismay of the U.S. pundits and dudes like Sean Insanity Hannity who doubt global warming exists) and snow is being imported by truck and helicopter from higher elevations. 


Every bit of news in Canada goes back to the Olympics these days. Even the weather. And Politics. That said, residents here are not too happy about Harper shutting Parliament down, even if it is so we can spend more time concentrating on curling and the luge. Some say it's because he didn't like the direction of how things were (not) going for his Conservative party. Some Canadians like the guy and his politics. Others think he's a dork not connecting with the Canadian people. But to use the Olympics as an excuse?


In the meantime, the Canadian Pisani family is anxious for the Olympics to start...we may even get inspired to take up curling.


*prorogue |p(r)əˈrōg|
verb ( -rogues, -rogued, -roguing) [ trans. ]discontinue a session of (a parliament or other legislative assembly) without dissolving it : James prorogued Parliament in 1685 and ruled without it.• [ intrans. ] (of such an assembly) be discontinued in this way : the House was all set to prorogue