House votes to limit prorogation powers

OTTAWA – The New Democrat motion to limit the Prime Minister’s powers to prorogue Parliament was adopted by a majority of the House of Commons on Wednesday – a major victory for democracy and transparency of government.

“Since taking office, Stephen Harper has used prorogation as tool to dodge accountability,” said New Democrat Leader Jack Layton. “This power was never meant as reset button. This motion will now hopefully curb the abuse of prorogation.”

The motion calls for a seven-day limit on the power of the Prime Minster to shut down Parliament whenever he pleases. According to the motion, any prorogation of longer than seven days would require the approval of a majority of MPs in the House. The motion now forms part of the constitutional framework that must be considered by the Governor General when considering requests from the Prime Minister to prorogue.

“Prorogation itself isn’t the problem,” said Layton. “The problem is when this power is abused for political reasons and to avoid accountability”. Sault MP Tony Martin added that “By introducing this motion, New Democrats have gone a long way in preventing this kind of abuse in the future.”