On isolation

CanWest offers up another story about the possibility that the Cons could prorogue Parliament to try to avoid opposition questioning for an extra month. But the more important part of the story lies in how disinterested the Cons are in working with the other parties in Parliament no matter when it starts up:

New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton has called for Parliament to get back to work as scheduled. An NDP official says proroguing would be a needless waste of precious parliamentary time because MPs would wrangle for days over confidence motions and, if the government survived, motions to restore bills that died on the order paper...

Mr. Goodale is affronted that the Conservatives have not engaged the official opposition in any parliamentary planning since the adjournment. He says Harper governs as though he has a majority, "probably more than any minority government in Canadian history." And a "civilized" majority government, he notes, should engage the opposition in parliamentary planning and negotiation.

"Minorities are very difficult by their very nature," he says. "They require some give and take, some real appreciation of what a parliamentary system is. It is not a republican system. It is not a presidential system. It is different. Parliament does matter.

"And Mr. Harper and his key ministers have just refused to acknowledge that. If you keep being rude and belligerent, thumbing your nose at your colleagues across the floor, it creates a certain atmosphere in that place."

While Goodale's main concern is apparently with civility rather than accomplishment, the Cons' actions appear virtually certain to prevent either from making much of an appearance as long as the Cons are in charge.

In particular, a minority government surely figures to have far more trouble getting any bills of its own through the House of Commons if it doesn't make at least some effort to talk with the opposition parties. But from the sound of it, the Cons are too obsessed with leaving open their political options to even try to find common ground with any of the other parties in Parliament. Which can only help to solidify opposition to what the Cons end up trying to strong-arm onto the agenda this fall - and make it all the more clear that Deceivin' Stephen is proud to be out of touch both with the majority in the House of Commons, and with the very concept of good government.