On lawlessness

The Star adds another item to the list of grossly irresponsible panic actions arising out of Stephen Harper's attempt to cling to power. This time, the Cons are instructing the Canada Revenue Agency to treat part of their fiscal update as if it had passed - even though they prorogued Parliament precisely because the fiscal update was set to be voted down.

Now, I doubt there's much disagreement with the concept of some flexibility in RRIF withdrawals to account for the financial crisis. But the place to debate what kind of flexibility is appropriate and seek formal approval is the House of Commons - and it's only the Cons who have prevented the House from dealing with this or any other measure to help struggling Canadians.

Moreover, one has to wonder how far the Cons might go in trying to pretend that other parts of their fiscal update should be treated as if they'd passed: does anybody think they'd have any scruples about simply instructing the Treasury Board not to pay out the per-vote party funding set out by law, or the Human Rights Commission to stop dealing with pay equity complaints? And indeed, in light of their desperate power grab, there's no particular reason to think that the Cons' administrative instructions will be limited to matters that have even been brought up for discussion.

One would hope matters would never get to that point. But it seems clear that Harper would rather govern illegitimately by fiat rather than not at all. And every step the Cons take to evade the need for Parliament to pass Canada's laws moves us further from anything that could possibly be described as democracy.