Inside Politics

UPDATED: Orders of the Day (12/30/09)

by Kady O'Malley Posted: December 30, 2009 8:13 AM Last Updated: December 30, 2009 10:51 AM
Prorogation? Really? Today? Huh. Not to sound like a big ole sceptic -- which, incidentally, I'm not -- but I'm not quite ready to don an extra layer of woolly socks and head over to Rideau Hall to join the stakeout, since I'm not sure why the PM would want to do the deed today, as opposed to waiting until the traditional Friday-before-the-House-is-due-back. 

Even if he really is doing it to stop the opposition parties from launching emergency recall requests for certain Commons committees, he could still put off the pro forma call to the Governor General until next week. This whole happening-today thing just seems -- weird. (I'd also expect a very specific heads-up like that to be leaked far and wide, or at least to more than one media outlet, but who knows? Maybe it was, but all the other leakees are still on holidays and haven't checked their BlackBerries.) 

Oh well. At least it gives the rest of us some idle speculation fodder, so for that alone we should be thankful. Other than that, there's not much going on today -- yes, I know I keep saying that, but honestly, this is always one of the slowest weeks of the year in Ottawa, at least as far as political news goes. Well, except for last year, when we spent it in the middle of a coalition-fuelled constitutional crisis, and in 2005, when we were in the midst of the Christmas Election That Nobody Wanted, and the RCMP put out a press release on its ongoing investigation into the income trust announcement leak, but those were exceptions. 

Anyway, I'll keep you posted if I hear anything else on the prorogation front -- or any other front, for that matter. In the meantime, feel free to discuss the pros and cons of pulling the plug on Parliament in the comments. Ooh, and don't forget the Senate -- with five seats to fill by Monday, it's definitely time for the names of likely candidates to start surfacing, 

UPDATE: Well, the Globe and Mail is now reporting that it's on for today, although still no official confirmation, although it promises "more to come".   

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING UPDATE: Yes, from what I can see, at the moment, we -- that is, we the media -- are all working off that original QMI/Sun Media story, although a few outlets don't seem to be giving credit where credit may be due. 

HE'S NOT SAYING YES BUT HE'S NOT SAYING NO UPDATE: The latest from CBC.ca, in which PMO's one and only Dimitri Soudas refuses to confirm or deny the report after apparently giving an unqualified nope just hours earlier, which makes me wonder whether he knows any more than the rest of us about what's really going on. 

Alright, it's time to take this to a shiny new post -- follow the ongoing ProrogueWatch here! 

Tags: blackberry jungle, orders of the day