Speech by Jack Layton on the prorogation of Parliament

Good morning.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti today.

We are deeply concerned for the safety of Canadians in Haiti and for the hundreds of thousands of Haitians devastated by the quake.

We call on the government to provide humanitarian assistance without delay and to support the efforts of Oxfam, Red Cross and others providing immediate relief to Haiti.

We are pleased that the Disaster Assistance Response Team has been deployed to Haiti.

I know that many Haitian-Canadians are worried today, awaiting news of loved ones.

My heart and the hearts of our caucus are with you – we hope and pray for their safety.

I would like to turn now to prorogation and an offer we have for the Prime Minister to get Parliament back to work.

The Prime Minister has locked the representatives of the people out of the people’s House.

Mr. Harper's unilateral decision to suspend Parliament is wrong.

It’s wrong because suspending Parliament will hurt those Canadians who were counting on Parliament to be there for them to pass laws that would protect their pensions, clean up their environment or extend their employment insurance

None of that help can happen now.

Suspending parliament represents the old politics.

The old way of doing things in Ottawa.

Jobs are still being lost.

Pension funds are still in crisis.

Credit card fees are still hurting families.

But Mr Harper is more worried about his poll numbers than letting Parliament do the work needed to help Canadians.

If proroguing in the middle of the holiday season were not evidence enough,

Mr Harper proved his contempt for Parliament on Monday when he said that Parliament doing its job is bad for the economy.

That’s an unbelievable comment from the Prime Minister of Canada, who is supposed to answer to the Parliament of Canada.

He’s also said that Canadians don’t care if Parliament has been shut down.

With such arrogance on display, is it any surprise that Canadians are angry?

They’re sick of this old politics, the politics of prorogation and Stephen Harper.

Canadians know they cannot trust Mr Harper.

Grassroots concern is deep and growing.

Countless Canadians are contacting our MPs – writing, calling, stopping them on the street.

Canadians who’ve never felt engaged by politics before are engaged now.

On the flight over to Vancouver, the flight attendant who served me coffee bent down and whispered in my ear:

“I’ve never really cared about politics, but how do we stop the Prime Minister with this prorogation?”

That’s the new politics – the politics of the grassroots, of Facebook, of social networking.

This is an issue of trust and Canadians are telling us that Mr. Harper has crossed the line.

By closing the doors of the House of Commons, Mr Harper is trying to grab power that Canadians refused to give him.

He doesn’t have a majority. He just doesn’t get it.

He is telling Canadians that he won’t be held accountable –

On the war in Afghanistan and the clear evidence of a massive cover-up of the torture of detainees handed over to Afghan forces by the Canadian military.

On climate change and his failure, in Copenhagen, to represent the interests of the vast majority of Canadians.

On the economy and the stagnant, jobless recovery that his inept economic management has created.

He is refusing to let Parliament do its work –

But Canadians can’t prorogue their credit card bills, their pension shortfalls, their unemployment, their worries about the future.

Just before the Christmas break, he cut off debate and rammed through a new tax on families.

And he’s just put through another tax cut for corporations.

Now, he’s content to turn off the lights and lock the door while important work remains to be done.

The Copenhagen Accord requires that Canada must submit targets to cut carbon this month –

Targets that are fundamental to Canada’s future.

Targets Parliament won’t even be able to discuss.

Well , that will not stop New Democrats from doing our jobs full-time

We will be in Ottawa on the 25th of January and we will be inviting Canadians directly affected by prorogation to join us:

The Nortel and Abitibi workers whose pensions are even further at risk because Parliament cannot pass our Nortel Act.

But we can’t take our seats in the House and not every Canadian can come to Ottawa, so we’ll also go directly to the Canadian people.

We’ll be attending rallies across Canada to protest prorogation and build the movement for accountable, responsible government.

Our MPs are already working hard in their ridings – helping constituents struggling in this economy, listening to Canadians outraged by Mr Harper’s abuse of power.

Next week, our Caucus will meet as planned in the Ottawa-Gatineau region, where we will consider proposals for parliamentary reform.

Those proposals will explicitly deal with prorogation, ensuring it is a privilege not abused in the future.

Canadians are tired of the partisan games.

People of Canada want Parliament to do its work; they want the Prime Minister to be accountable.

Here is the offer we are making to Mr Harper:

Bring back Parliament on the 25th of January and we will agree to reinstate government legislation that had been killed by prorogation.

With so many pressing issues facing the country, from the war in Afghanistan to job creation to climate change, Mr. Harper has an obligation to take up our offer and unlock the doors of Parliament

Thank you.