Canadians are justifiably disappointed by Stephen Harper’s anti-democratic decision to prorogue parliament. At a time when our troops are fighting in Afghanistan, our community is still hurting from the recession, and we have an emerging climate crisis before us, Stephen Harper has placed his own narrow partisan issues ahead of the wellbeing of the nation.

With the abrupt shutting down of our nation’s parliament many have asked the questions why does it matter, why was it done and what can we do to ensure that it doesn't happen again?

It is clear that Stephen Harper wanted to avoid scrutiny on the Afghan detainee issue and was anxious to "recalibrate" senate committees to his benefit. He was hoping that Canadians wouldn’t notice, or worse, wouldn’t care. But clearly he was wrong.

I have received close to a thousand messages from people across the country protesting the prorogation and calling for accountability. 

Why do Canadians care? The primary function of a parliament is to pass laws and hold the government accountable. In fact, the idea of responsible government rests on the ability of citizens to speak to their government through their elected representatives. Holding government to account is key to any functioning democracy and when that right is denied the primary function of our democracy is affected.

It is important to note that prior to prorogation, the government refused to comply with an order of the House of Commons to hand over documents in relation to the Afghan detainee abuse issue. A committee motion asking for the same documents had the same fate. Later, government members boycotted meetings of the special committee which was given its mandate by parliament to oversee the mission in Afghanistan.

The frivolous reasons given by the government as to why they decided to suspend parliament are of course not credible. They have gone from saying they wanted time off to enjoy the Olympics to arguing that democracy is bad for the economy. Do the Conservatives believe the Canadians are naive?

What can we do to protect our democratic institution? We have to speak out, as many Canadians already have. If you would like to sign a petition against the prorogation, please go to this page and tell Stephen Harper to end the abuse of prorogation for partisan purposes.

We also need to reform our parliamentary procedures and strengthen our democracy. In the weeks ahead, my New Democratic colleagues and I will put forward proposals that would return accountability to our government.