What does it mean to prorogue Parliament? Northern MPs weigh in

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“Prorogation is essentially hitting reset on the parliamentary session,” says Skeena-Bulkley Valley NDP MP Taylor Bachrach. “And this is something the prime minister works on with the governor general. It’s like pulling the chute.”

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So, what, if any, are the ramifications of proroguing parliament?

“It wipes clean any legislation that was in process. It essentially dies,” says Bachrach. “Any of the committee work that was happening gets suspended. There’s a new speech from the throne and we start a new session altogether.”

Bachrach says it’s the same thing the Conservatives did back in 2008 though Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies Conservative MP Bob Zimmer says this situation is different considering the Conservatives went on to win a majority government in 2011. He believes Trudeau’s motives are not the same.

“He really wants a parliamentary reset from all the agenda mistakes he’s made. I was chair of the ethics committee with the Trudeau 2 report, there was a Trudeau 1 report, and there’s soon to be a Trudeau 3 report about his WE scandal where you just about funnel a billion dollars to one of your favourite buddy’s charities.

“And this one seems to be hitting him exceptionally hard as it should and he’s really needing to push away from it and that’s why he wants to hit the reset button and hopefully on the other side people forget about this.”

Parliament is prorogued until September 23 at which time Governor General Julie Payette will deliver her speech from the throne and the Liberal government will unveil its plan to help the country recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.