A Very Canadian Coup: Some thoughts on prorogation and democracy in Canada

So what exactly was the 2008 prorogation? We know the Governor General acceded to the Prime Minister's request to prorogue parliament to prevent what was a constitutionally-legitimate effort by the Liberals and NDP to form a new government. This all began when the recently-elected minority Tory government had proven unable to gain opposition support for a budget that contained no response to the unfolding economic crisis, sought to gut public party subsidies, suspend pay equity court challenges and federal workers' right-to-strike (when there were absolutely no prospects of a strike).

There seem to be two mainstream approaches to this question, both of which are unsatisfactory and worrying. If we adhere to parliamentary protocol, the Liberals and NDP had every right to form a government without an election. This renders the prorogation illegitimate. Alternatively, if we go by democratic principles, then Harper was right to criticize the Liberals and NDP for not seeking a new election. However, the same democratic principles mean the Governor General has no right whatsoever to prorogue parliament at the PM's request. Whether we go by democratic principles or parliamentary protocol, the affair is both unprecedented and illegitimate. It reveals a profound contradiction between what is and isn't democratic within the framework of Canada's parliamentary system.

Toward a Student Syndicalist Movement, or University Reform Revisited

This document was written in 1966 by Carl Davidson, a University of Nebraska student, and was submitted as a position paper to the August 1966 convention of the Students for a Democratic Society. The paper helped reorient SDS back towards student politics after concentrating its efforts in the early 1960s on civil rights and anti-poverty organizing. The strategy of either reforming existing student government/union/association structures or building a new independent student union remains extremely relevant in English Canada today. - editor 

Davidson leads "Prairie Power" in SDS

In the past few years, we have seen a variety of campus movements developing around the issue of' 'university reform.' A few of these movements sustained a mass base for brief periods. Some brought about minor changes in campus rules and regulations. But almost all have failed to alter the university community radically or even to maintain their own existence. What is the meaning of this phenomenon? How can we avoid it in the future? Why bother with university reform at all?