This is just so hilarious I thought I would share it with my American friends, and why Canadians are so frustrated with our political system.
Rick Mercer spoofs the Sham Wow guy to explain no matter what we do at an election we are stuck with the Conservatives in power.
Now Prime Minister Stephen Harper's actions of late have him accused by the mainstream media of being undemocratic by proroguing Parliament, or shutting it down. This in essence, means that all bills in the House Of commons will die, even bills introduced by the Conservative Party himself.
The respected Economist magazine, had this to say about the Prime Minister's Prorogation,
Harper goes Parogue, Parliamentary scrutiny may be tedious, but democracies cannot afford to dispense with it
Never mind what his spin doctors say: Mr Harper’s move looks like naked self-interest. His officials faced grilling by parliamentary committees over whether they misled the House of Commons in denying knowledge that detainees handed over to the local authorities by Canadian troops in Afghanistan were being tortured.
This has been the second time in 12 months that Harper has chosen to prorogue Parliament to avoid critisism or the fall of his government, and Canadians are sick of Harper's gamemanship.
A Facebook Page has been started up a week ago by a University of Alberta Student has over 140 thousand members, which is now the largest Canadian Facebook Group in Canada, is the place where Canadians of all parties are uniting against the PMO's decsion to go Prorogue. According to an EKOS poll, one third of Conservatives think Parliament should not be shut down. Please feel welcome to join the page to show support even if you are not Canadian, it seems to be the only way Canadians can vent about their dysfunctional government, and hope for change.
The Prime Minister is being accused of shutting down democracy to avoid embarrassment with regard to the torture of Afghan detainees. He is also being accused of shutting down Parliament so he can appoint Conservative Senators, we have an unelcted Senate, and the PMO won't have absolute power until he has full control of the Sentate. Also he is being accused of shutting down Parliament so he can use the Olympics for photo-ops and positive PR.
Mr.Harper never expected the outrage over prorogation. A year ago, most Canadians didn't know what prorogue meant. Today 68% of Canadians who know the word, don't agree with it. And think prorogation is undemocratic.
On January 23 Canadians in cities across the country will be having a day of protest and telling our politicians to get back to work. The populist anger is real, as the people struggle to hold on to their jobs, they see a Parliament that is getting paid to sit on its hands.
So as depressing as Mercer's, "Slap Chop" skit maybe, Harper's miscalculation over the public anger to prorogue Parliament, gives us some hope we can fight for democracy in Canada.