Prorogation did Canada’s democracy no harm

Stephen Harper suspended Parliament to stave off a confidence vote, and came out considerably stronger

Is Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament really, as Speaker John Bercow put it yesterday, a “constitutional outrage”? If the experience of Canada is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding no. We went through the same process a decade ago and you can rest assured that parliamentary democracy in the UK is not about to be destroyed.

It started in Canada in October 2008, when prime minister Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party was re‑elected with a second straight minority government. His administration then immediately announced a controversial policy proposal: eliminating public financing for political parties.

At the time, Canadian parties earned Can$1.95 for every vote they received in a federal election, costing the taxpayer roughly Can$30 million (£18 million) in total. The Tories would have taken the biggest hit from scrapping it but, as the most successful party at fundraising, they would have survived. The Liberals, socialist‑oriented New Democrats and separatist Bloc Québécois all relied heavily on this slush fund and could have been in huge financial trouble. So the opposition revolted, in what could be called a political coup d’etat.

The three Left‑wing parties decided to band together to defeat the Tories in a no‑confidence motion, set for December 8. Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, who had already lost his party’s confidence and planned to step down in May 2009, would have had his career resuscitated and become prime minister. He and New Democrat leader Jack Layton planned to jointly govern in a 24‑member cabinet, propped up by the Bloc Québécois.

Mr Harper knew he was in dire straits, and made a last‑ditch attempt for political survival. On December 4, he asked for the consent of the governor‑general, Michaëlle Jean, the unelected ceremonial official who serves as the Queen’s representative in Canada, to prorogue Parliament. The royal prerogative had been used in 1873 by Sir John Macdonald, the Tory prime minister, and then again in 2002 by Jean Chrétien, the Liberal PM, but when Mr Harper’s request was granted it marked the first time that Canada’s Parliament had been shut down before it had even started.

Mr Harper and the Tories were afforded a small window of opportunity to speak directly to Canadians. They argued that the opposition wasn’t going to respect the people’s vote, but would play political games and usurp power in a legal, but less than democratic, fashion.

Parliament ended up being prorogued until January 26 2009, but ultimately it worked. Canadians turned against the opposition’s tactic and the political coup d’état collapsed, with the agreement between the opposition parties falling apart.

The situation remained fractious for several months and there was some concern when MPS returned that a new federal budget would ultimately bring down the Tory minority government – but Mr Harper was having none of it. He was a strong, confident leader who ran his two minority governments like majorities. He regained his footing, survived the political tide and eventually won a majority in 2011.

The similarities between Canada’s prorogation and the UK’S are striking.

Mr Johnson, like Mr Harper, faces the threat of his Government collapsing over a single divisive issue while the Labour and Liberal parties are perfectly content to play political games in the hope of usurping power.

Proroguing Parliament isn’t a desirable solution, but Canada has shown it can be used to calm a fiery political situation and that it could enable Mr Johnson to get back to the pressing issues at hand.

When Canada faced a prorogued Parliament, politicians claimed their parliamentary democracy would ultimately suffer and die, but these political Chicken Littles were proved wrong.

The episode did not set a terrible precedent of governments using prorogations as a tactical way to cling to power. Indeed, Canada’s parliamentary democracy is alive and well. I can confidently predict the same thing will happen in the UK.

follow Michael Taube on Twitter @michaeltaube;

read More at telegraph.co.uk/ opinion