Michaëlle Jean

 
This is Michaëlle Jean, the Governor General of Canada. She acts as Canada's Head of State. The Prime Minister is the head of government.¹ Sometime in the next few days Michaëlle Jean is going to have to make some serious decisions. She will have to decide whether to invite the Liberal-NDP coalition to form a new government if Stephen Harper and his Conservatives lose a vote of non-confidence next Monday. I think that's a no-brainer—she has to turn to the coalition.

More importantly, what will she do if Stephen Harper asks her to delay parliament for six weeks (the technical term is prorogue)? Everyone knows that Harper will only do this in order to avoid the non-confidence motion scheduled for Monday. That has never been done before and it is contrary to the standards of a parliamentary democracy. However, it is also important that the Governor General not put herself in the position of second guessing the advice of the Prime Minister. In my opinion, she will have to accept his request to prorogue parliament because to do otherwise is to set a dangerous precedent. The Governor General, like the Queen she represents, is a figurehead and not an active participant in government.

Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail and Harper won't abuse his position by requesting that parliament be suspended. Harper brought this problem upon himself by acting like a petulant, childish, bully and it's time for him to accept his fate and behave like an adult. That goes for his supporters as well.

Grow up Conservatives. You were stupid enough to force the opposition into a corner where they had only two choices, surrender and die, or unite against an unethical minority government. Much to your surprise, they were able to unite and now you must suffer the consequences of your own stupid mistake. Accept it with grace and dignity and stop acting like crybabies [Canadian Cynic].

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1. America is one of the few democracies that combine these two jobs.