Prorogation Day 3: An Unusually Relevant History Lesson Part 3

La Quincena Tragica

Playlist: Ennio Morricone, L'Arena & the Man with the Harmonica

First, a quick note on the title. These events are commonly known as la decena tragica, but they took place over 14 days. The internet (may its bandwidth ever be broad) assures me that the Spanish word for fortnight is Quincena. My limited understanding of the language, in association with the Offspring, tells me that this word is far more likely to mean 15 days, but even so it's more accurate than 10.

In 1913, in Mexico, Victoriano Huerto was a general. Right away, we can tell that this is perhaps not the best example of a self-coup, and may not have much in common with the current events in Canada.

Anyway, he was a general, most famous for crushing a domestic rebellion. He a coup with Felix Diaz and the US Ambassador, Henry Wilson. Huerto and Diaz started a public battle between massed armies and artillery, with enough civilian casualties on the side to earn it the name "Tragica", solely for the purpose of spreading chaos and making Huerto look like the hero. Diaz, the nephew of a previous Mexican dictator, was a believable enough villain. Huerto convinced the president and vice president to hide for their own safety, leaving himself in charge. He then had them arrested and executed.

So what does Huerto have in common with Harper? Aside from shamelessly lying to the populace in hopes that their ignorance would make him a hero, not a whole lot. Hopefully better examples will be coming soon.

PS Huerto eventually died while in a US prison where he was locked up for conspiring with the Germans. This is ominous foreshadowing.

Prorogation Day 2: An Unusually Relevant History Lesson Part 2

The Original Napoleonic Powermonger

Playlist: Beethoven's 3rd Symphony (Berliner Philharmoniker, Karajan)

This historical event is a poor fit to the current situation, enough that without the date listed it would be difficult to tell just what event is being referenced. But given 1799, this could only be about Napoleon Bonaparte's first entry into French government.

At the time, Napoleon was one of the most successful leaders in the French army, having somehow managed to convince them to put him in charge despite being a Corsican separatist. He also owned a few newspapers and had considerable political influence. Returning to France from a war, he was secretly approached by a cabal plotting a coup. Now, this sort of thing is not at all uncommon. George Washington and Smedley Butler in the states both had the same thing happen, they were just nice enough to refuse. Napoleon wasn't.

Napoleon finagled the job of guarding the Council of Ancients (parliament, essentially), convinced them there was a pending rebellion, sent them to a hidden bunker for ostensibly for their protection, and intimidated the directors (cabinet) into resigning. Then he and his brother tricked a bunch of grenadiers into breaking up the Council of 500 (the other house of their parliament).

All that military force strengthened Napoleon's position within the conspiracy, and when the dust settled he was pretty much the guy in charge. But that same military force also makes this a really weak comparison. It's a fairly straightforward military coup, albeit one relying far more on luck than any decent planner would like. It's not a self-coup.

Frankly, I think whoever made this list picked the wrong Napoleon... but that's a story for another day.

Prorogation Day 2: An Unusually Relevant History Lesson Part 1

Playlist: Monty Python - Oliver Cromwell

There's a list floating around the Canadian blogs of various political leaders who have suspended their parliaments. From what I can tell, it originated at rabble.ca.

1629 King Charles I in England
1799 Napoleon in France
1913: Victoriano Huerta in Mexico
1933: Adolf Hitler in Germany
1936 Fransisco Franco in Spain
1939: Benito Mussolini in Italy
1973: Augusto Pinochet in Chile
1975 Indira Gandhi in India
1999 Perez Musharaff in Pakistan
2008: Steven Harper in Canada

I thought this was interesting, especially since CBC's Washington correspondent also brought up the Charles I precedent. (http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/12/03/f-rfa-macdonald.html) But how similar are these situations really? The comparison at least deserves a closer look. So here it is.

Charles the First and the English Civil War

"The most interesting thing about Charles the First is that he was 5'6" at the start of his reign, but only 4'8" at the end of it. Because of...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLIVER CROMWELL
Lord Protector of England
(Puritan)
Born in 1599 and died in 1658
September"

Thank you Mr. Cleese for the most amusing introduction. The story begins in 1628. The English parliament had over the past centuries gradually becoming more powerful, ever since the Magna Carta. It did not meet all the time, nor did it govern, and there was not yet such thing as a Prime Minister. What Parliament did was control taxes, so a Parliament was summoned whenever the ruling monarch needed money. In exchange for authorizing a tax, the Parliament typically exacted a price from the monarch, a transfer of some sort of political power.

Shortly after becoming King, Charles I got himself involved in the Thirty Years' War, which as you can probably tell by the name was not a thrifty choice. He was running on empty, so he called a Parliament and told them to get cracking. In return, they passed a bill codifying a number of traditions and conventions that had developed between the Monarchy, Parliament, and the people over the past centuries. For the most part, it was a reaffirmation of the Magna Carta.

Charles was not thrilled with this development. He signed it anyway, because he was desperate, but with no intention of following it.

The next year, in 1629, tensions were building between the Monarchy and the Parliament. An MP had been arrested for failing to pay a tax that Parliament hadn't imposed. Parliament censured Charles for this, and passed a resolution declaring that anyone who paid the tax had betrayed the liberties of England. As a result, Charles dismissed the Parliament.

What followed was a period affectionately known as the Eleven Year Tyranny. To get around the tax issue, Charles extended a coastal defence ship levy to inland areas, and said that if they didn't want to pay in ships they could pay in cash. This annoyed people enough to start a civil war.

What happened next is long and complicated, and not particularly relevant to the matter at hand, lets get to the comparisonizing. Yes, Charles did away with Parliament because he disagreed with it. And yes, he was a tyrannical megalomaniac. But aside from those things, the similarities are shallow. Sure, the current suspension could be extended to March, but there is no extraparliamentarry naval levy these days, so legally there must be a budget by then. There is no way this 6 weeks of undemocratic powermongering can continue indefinitely.

Incidentally, part of the draconian anti-terror legislation passed by the UK Parliament recently allows the Parliament to be suspended by the queen in a crisis. Seems a bit short sighted.

So what happened to Charles? I'll let John Cleese explain.

"Charles was sentenced to death
Even though he refused
To accept that the court
had... jurisdi-i-iction
Say goodbye to his head.

Poor King Charles
Laid his head
On the block.
Do-o-o-own came the axe.

And in the silence that followed the only sound that could be heard was a solitary giggle, from...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLIVER CROMWELL
Lord Protector of England
OLE
Born in 1599 and died in 1658
September..."

Prorogation Day 1: A Civics Lesson

Welcome to the new blog. I've had cause to post a couple of impromptu civics lesson on Facebook, but I have to think that a blog is a more appropriate forum. Since it seems strange to start a blog with "Day 2", I'm reposting yesterday's lesson.


I was somewhat surprised by an obscure point of parliamentary procedure today, so I did a bit of cramming on all things Canadian. The end result was me digging into the question bank for the Canadian Citizenship Test, so that I have the opportunity to show the Facebook crowd that I know more about this country than the people writing the test.

Since I'm a die-hard republican who has seen a just seen responsible government suspended by an unelected representative of a foreign country, today's test may contain up to 50% more snark than usual.


From where does the name "Canada" come?
My Answer: From a native word for village.
Their Answer: From "Kanata", the First Nations word for village.
My Response: Well, for starters, the attempt to avoid ending that sentence with a preposition is terribly awkward. Actually my issues here are entirely grammatical. Using the definite article here is utterly wrong, and it makes me want to go learn the First Nations language.

Where did the first European settlers to Canada come from?
My answer: Greenland (Erikson), then Basque Country (?), then England (Cabot), then France (Cartier). There may have been some Irish ca. 500, but if so they left no trace.
Their Answer: France.

What does "Equality under the law" mean?
My answer: All individuals are subject to the same laws, regardless of their job, their titles, or whether they are descended from Sophia of Hanover.
Their answer: Protection from discrimination.

How is the government formed after an election?
My answer: The queen, or the vice-regal representative if the Queen is absent, chooses the party best able to command Parliament.
Their answer: The party with the most elected representatives becomes the party in power.

Which territory shares a border with another country?
My answer: Either 2 or 3. Yukon shares a border with the United States, and Nunavut shares a border with Denmark. All three might share borders with Russia, but this is disputed.
Their answer: Yukon.

What is Canada's system of government?
My answer: Constitutional Monarchy
Their answer: Parliamentary government

How is the Prime Minister chosen?
My answer: The Queen, or the vice-regal representative if the Queen is absent, chooses the Prime Minister who they suspect will be best able to govern.
Their answer: The leader of the party with the most elected representatives becomes the Prime Minister.

Why did early explorers first come to Atlantic Canada?
My answer: Nobody really knows, but the local resources and empty space for the taking were likely the major factors. 11000 years after that, the Vikings came for timber and the Basques came for fish.
Their answer: To fish and trade with the First Nations people.

Who do Members of Parliament represent?
My answer: Members of what now?
Their answer: Everyone who lives who lives in his/her electoral district.

How are Senators chosen?
My answer: I thought they were appointed by the Prime Minister, but suddenly I suspect they are appointed by the Queen or vice-regal representative yadda yadda yadda.
Their answer: By the Prime Minister.
My response: I checked, yep, it's the Queen. She does so much for us, we really ought to see about making her an honourary citizen or something.

What is the Canadian shield?
My answer: A slab of impenetrable adamantium which along with the Parliamentary Mace is wielded by Captain Canuck in his defence of peace, order, and good government.
My other answer: A rock formation conssisting of a considerable part of the North American plate, one of the oldest formations in the world with rock deposits dating back over 2 billion years.
Their answer: A rock formation millions of years old.

What are the three levels of government in Canada?
My answer: Government is not always so neatly divided into levels. Federal and Provincial could be considered levels, but then you have Territorial which exists solely at the whim of the Federal government, Municipal and regional which exist solely at the whim of the Provincial governments, and an assortment of natives with varying levels of self-governance.
Their answer: Federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal/local.

In which parts of Canada did the Aboriginal peoples first live?
My answer: Either the BC Coast or the Yukon interior, depending on how exactly they wandered in from Beringia.
Their answer: All regions.

How many provinces and territories are there in Canada?
My answer: I'm sure the answer you want is 10 and 3, although embassies are considered Canadian territory, and the Vimy Memorial is considered an honourary territory.
Their answer: Ten provinces and three territories.

What animal is an official symbol of Canada?
My answer: Any one of the Beaver, the Lion, the Unicorn, or the Canadian Horse, although calling the Unicorn an animal is stretching things a bit. Please note that I actually researched this one, it turns out the Canadian Horse was made a national symbol in 2002 while nobody was looking.
Their answer: The beaver.

What year did Canada become a Country?
My answer: Either 1867, when it became a unified subsidiary of the British Empire, or 1931, when it became a slightly more independent subsidiary of the British Empire, or 1982, when we became slightly more independent than that and the Queen decided we would only have to stay that way as long as we wanted to.
Their answer: 1867.

Who has the right to run as a candidate in federal elections?
My answer: Anyone eligible to vote, I.E. a citizen 18 years old or older who has resided in Canada for some months of which I have forgotten the precise number.
Their answer: Any Canadian citizen at least 18 years old.

What are the provinces of Central Canada?
My answer: Well, Canada starts at about 41 degrees in Lake Erie and goes up to about 83 degrees on Ellesmere Island, so the center must be around 62 degrees, making it a territory. I think the east-west center is in Manitoba, so the overall center must be in Nunavut. Therefore, there are no provinces of Central Canada.
Their answer: Ontario and Quebec.

What do political parties do?
My answer: You know, this one is just too easy for satire. Fish in a barrel.
Their answer: Share ideas about how government should work.