With 1.6 million Canadians still out of work, Stephen Harper has decided that Members of Parliament shouldn’t work either.

While it’s clear that Conservatives don’t think MPs should be doing their jobs in Ottawa, they still can’t explain why. Since Harper’s announcement in December, Conservatives have offered dozens of dubious excuses for shutting down the House of Commons for the next five weeks, none more convincing than the next.

As a public service, New Democrats offer the Harper Conservatives’ excuse of the day for padlocking parliament.

The “We aren’t avoiding accountability, we are just shutting it down” excuse …

"Democracy and Parliament are not being sidestepped — they are only being suspended.” – Conservative MP Brent Rathgerber (Edmonton-St. Albert), St. Albert Gazette, 6 January 2010

Four years ago, the Conservatives were elected on a promise of to do politics differently. Instead they have resorted to the old politics of running from accountability and betraying Canadians’ trust. There’s no excuse for that.