Continued contempt for Parliament

THE Editor,
House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer ruled that Conservative party tactics against Liberal MP Irwin Cotler were “reprehensible.” Did the Conservatives acknowledge their wrongdoing and apologize to Mr.Cotler and Parliament? No. Instead, senior cabinet ministers defended their actions and said the Speaker was mistaken, thus compounding their egregious behaviour.
Canadians are coming to expect this from Mr. Harper and his government. The word reprehensible applies equally to the “bending truth to the point of breaking”  of cabinet ministers Oda, Clement and MacKay. Perhaps more ominous, we see this same contemptible behaviour in the government’s decision to dismiss a federal court judge’s ruling that the Tories acted illegally when they moved to dissolve the Canadian Wheat Board. With a wave of the hand, Mr. Harper declared that dissolution would proceed anyway. This matter will undoubtedly go before the Supreme Court of Canada.
Stephen Harper and his ministers have shown, repeatedly, contempt for Parliament, the court and the Canadian people. What is so worrying is that the government’s majority position enables this to continue for the next four years and this majority comes courtesy of our warped electoral system, whereby 39 per cent of electors can produce a “majority.”
The word reprehensible doesn’t begin to describe what is happening.
Sincerely,
ian hepburn
Vankleek Hill