PLEASE FORWARD TO MICHAEL IGNATIEFF

I am not sure that any MPs read this blog.Time was, when I had a public platform, I spoke and some people listened. Some even reacted. But today, I am shouting at the bottom of a very deep well.

Never mind. I do not need your sympathy. This is a sort of Open Letter to Michael Ignatieff who is head of the one party that could bring it off. Harper proroguing Parliament is an act of absconding with my rights as a Canadian. I have to leave governing to the civil servants. All proposed legislation dies on the order paper. Nothing happens.

So here’s my idea: Mr. Ignatieff, rent a large ballroom, meeting room, whatever – at the Chateau Laurier. Announce that the Liberal Rump Parliament will be sitting as of – say January 28th. It will have its own version of a Speech from The Throne in which the Liberals can put forward their ideas for the next year. To keep it absolutely fair, there would have to be an open invitation to all other MPs – not just Opposition like NDP or Bloc, but any Conservatives who might want to join in.

Of course, the “parliament” would have no real legitimacy, since it does not represent government. However, it would be, in a way, a kind of open-to-the-public caucus. Bills could be proposed. Issues could be discussed. There could be motions made concerning everything from the Environment to Afghanistan. Maybe Bob Rae, harking back to his old NDP days could propose a new bill of rights for workers, where the government finally comes to grips with one of the oldest unfulfilled political promises of all time: guaranteed annual wage.

I know, this sounds like a kind of juvenile grandstanding. But do you think we could make it happen? Or are the pundits right: there is no real popular concern over proroguing. It is not a huge political issue. It is perhaps at the same level as the “issue” of whether of not the Minister of Defense knew that Afghans were torturing detainees handed over to them by the Canadian Armed Forces. In my opinion, that “issue” is a non-starter. The only place it seems to have any traction is in the media.

Having said all this – what exactly would be wrong with calling, however illegitimate, the sitting of Parliament?