In August 2013 Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed that he would be proroguing (shutting down) the House and Senate for an extra month. He is doing this to avoid questions about Senate spending and other scandals currently plaguing his government. This means Parliament will be closed for more than 1/3 of the fall session!

Whether Parliament is sitting or not, it costs $24 million per month to run.

We've already been through the 2008 and 2009 prorogations where the Harper Government shut down Parliament even though it was unfair, undemocratic, and unethical. Despite public outcry nothing has changed and yet again Parliament is being prorogued, so it is time to call for new laws to limit the abuse of prorogation.

Fight for democracy in Canada by pushing Prime Minister Harper to open Parliament on September 16th, as scheduled, and by pushing all federal politicians to pass a law limiting prorogation by:

1) only allowing the Prime Minister alone to prorogue when the legislature is already adjourned, and only for the adjournment time period.
2) requiring approval of 2/3 of MPs in the House of Commons before a prorogation can happen when the House is open.
3) limiting the length of prorogation to a maximum of 2 weeks.
4) requiring that the legislature be opened within 30 days after each election.