If nothing is done in response to this situation it undermines the credibility of the entire constitution.  A constitution is just a legal charter or contract.  Some parts are written in a special document and other parts are scattered through other documents and court decisions.  Just like a contract you might sign to buy a house or obtain employment, the rules or conditions specified within must be observed.  Now if I violate a condition of say an employment contract, said contract becomes null and void.  Once I violate one part without sanction, why would I not violate other areas and expect, based on precedent, to avoid sanction?  This is what has happened.  The Supreme Court constitutional decision on conditions for Quebec separation is now void.  The constitution no longer exists.  The Charter of Rights and Freedoms no longer applies because it is part of the constitution which no longer has authority.  These examples may sound far fetched and I don’t expect Quebec to leave today or the RCMP to start violating your Charter rights (at least no more than they do already).  My point here is to drive home that this is serious and has consequences beyond the immediate situation. 

This is the first time that I am aware of since 1926 that a sitting prime minister has made an inappropriate request of a governor-general.  In that case Lord Julian Byng had the strength of character to fulfill his responsibilities and deny the request.  Apparently Michaël Jean does not. 

But who has the power to remove a governor-general?  Certainly, as a representative of the Crown, Elizabeth should have the authority to say I would like someone else to represent me.  Elizabeth is the Queen of Canada (among her guzillion titles).  We are a constitutional monarchy.  Therefore, I suppose we could ask Elizabeth herself to overturn the ruling of her representative.  That is not going to happen.  The British Crown, while nominally our Head of State, is not about to crawl into this can of worms.  The next question then is can the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court remove Jean from office?  I don’t know.  That question will have to be answered by a constitutional scholar of much greater expertise than me. 

Still, something must be done, if we wish to maintain self-respect as an independent state.  Our spineless news media will be of no help as they are already trying to downplay this (under command of their Conservative-buying corporate bosses no doubt).  Since the beginning, through innuendo and suggestion, they have been convincing Canadians that the opposition parties were doing something, if not illegal, then unethical and certainly sleazy.  They have consistently echoed the Conservative assertion that the opposition only coalesced around the cuts to political party funding in the economic statement tabled in the House.  I understand the Conservatives saying that and I don’t expect them to prove it.  It is partisan rhetoric which is equalled by the other side, fair enough.  But if the laughingly self-described objective media are going to print it or broadcast it, then they should have to prove it.  At this point there has been no such tendering of evidence to the public. 

So as everything else it is left up to you and me.  What can we do?  Freedom and democracy are always fought and struggled for from below as John Pilger said in his speech on “Freedom This Time”, (his new book).  It is up to us.  Do we stand up for the rules and attempt to make things right?  Or do we sit back and accept whatever happens?  If we do the former as the news media seems to want us to do we are saying that ours is not a serious country; Canada is a toy, a Disney production, the little country that could; our politics are not serious.  If that is the case, if that is what Canadians feel, then stop the pretense and let’s apply for annexation by the United States.  I can think of nothing more loathesome to me than being an American except being a citizen of a national joke.  At least Americans take their politics seriously.  You know there was an old Russian saying that a peasant did not care who was in the Kremlin as long as he had his vodka and a woman.  So I guess that kind of describes most Canadians too.  You are not going to lose your job tomorrow (and hell next week is so far off) so the case of beer is safely in the fridge for this weekend and I am sure you can all find some warm company (even if some of you have to blow her up first).  So hey there has to be something better on TV than all this political crap.  Well I want you to remember these thoughts when they are loading you onto the train to the gulag in Nunavut like so many Russians or you are watching your entire family being murdered like so many Ukranians.  That’s right, don’t worry about your rights.  If you ignore them they will go away (actually most already have gone with silence from our intrepid media)

But me?  Here is what I am going to do.  Tonight I will write 3 letters.  One to Michaëlle Jean requesting that she do the honourable thing and resign.  The second letter will be to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to request the Court to intervene if it has the power.  The third letter will be to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to request that she remove her representative at once and reverse her erroneous decision.  Maybe, probably, nothing will come of it.  Who the hell am I?  A nobody prof at a small college in the backwaters of Ontario.  But at least I will have done something.  Flo Kennedy once said the worst thing you can do is sit on your ass.  So the question is do you want to stand up with the crackpots like me and do something or would you rather spend tonight nursing a new hemorrhoid?  Your choice.

In the event that Mr. Harper lacks character and chooses to cut and run, I suggest the opposition coalition consider a preemptive strike.  Today, as every day there will be a debate on adjournment.  During that time any member of the House may rise to speak on an issue she/he feels has not be adequately addressed during the day’s proceedings.  The coalition could use this opportunity to bring down the government.  The agreement is in place.  Everything seems prepared to move ahead.  So why wait until Monday? 

I am sure someone is going to scream ‘Where’s the precedent?’.  In 1940, on the day that France surrendered to the Nazis, the British House of Commons at Westminster entertained a motion to adjourn for the day.  The ensuing debate ended up lasting a couple of days as MPs made the argument that the House should not adjourn when faced with the loss of their largest ally on the European continent.  When the vote was finally called Prime Minister Chamberlain did indeed win but the vote was so close that he realized that a large number of his own MPs had voted against him.  The next day he visited the King to resign and the King called on Winston Churchill to form a government.  The rest as they say is history. 

Canada is facing a crisis.  We may be on the edge of a new Great Depression.  Hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs in the manufacturing sector while the government boasts of the creation of low paying part time jobs in the service sector.  Even the restructuring bail out being considered in Washington for North American automakers contains further job losses which they euphemistically call downsizing to increase profitability.  Heaven help us if we call a spade a spade anymore.  We need these sweet sounding phrases so as not to think about the fact that we are destroying people’s lives.  We are mired in a foreign war which is draining wealth from our economy while providing no positive return for Canada or Afghanistan.  None of our allies are dumb enough to take over and relieve us.  Maybe that alone should tell us something. 

So enough.  Stand up like a man Mr. Harper and take your medicine.  Better to go down in flames than linger on a pathetic weasel.  If you don’t have the stomach for it then the opposition coalition should put you out of your misery.  Mr. Dion, Mr. Layton and Mr. Duceppe act now before the vermin slips the trap.