CREDIT: WWW.CP24.COM
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper appears to be a big fan of prorogation.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is giving federal politicians an extended summer vacation at the midway point of his four-year term. The governor general David Johnston determined that it was acceptable for Harper to call a four-week pause to the legislature as the Conservative party tweaks its strategy for the last stretch before the next federal election. Come mid-October, the Conservatives will present their Throne Speech, which is intended to set the direction of the government for the parliamentary session to come.

The mechanism of prorogation is such that any legislation that is in the process of being debated is struck down and must be reintroduced in the new session. Stephen Harper took heavy criticism for proroguing parliament in 2008 because it was seen as a tactic to avoid discussion about the Afghan detainee scandal. Including the 2008 prorogation, this will be the fourth time that the P.M. has employed the tactic and it's sure to be seen as an attempt to shut down debate about the Senate scandal. The crucial difference is that at the time of the Afghan detainee scandal the Harper government was a minority and therefore incapable of enforcing their legislative agenda without cooperation from non-Conservative MPs.

Conservative Senator Pamela Wallin is repaying just over $100,000 to the government after a formal audit of her expenses determined that she had claimed travel expenses for many events that had nothing to do with Senate business. The remaining senators facing RCMP investigations will likely come to a similar fate, but their actions aren't what is worrying Stephen Harper.

Nigel Wright is Harper's former Chief of Staff and potentially the most damning link between Harper and the Senate scandal. Upon finding that Senator Mike Duffy owed the government approximately $90,000, Wright wrote him a personal cheque to repay the amount. The claim is that the cheque was intended as a loan to a friend, but the resignation of Wright back in May leaves little doubt that the cheque was intended to pay the debt and stop the media circus around Duffy.

As if Wright's actions weren't enough, long-time Conservative Senator Michael Tkachuk is back in the spotlight accused of attempting to coerce Duffy into taking the money fromWright. On top of that, Tkachuk allegedly counselled Senator Wallin to alter her calendar entries before submitting her personal records for investigation.

What remains to be seen is whether the additional month that the prime minister has added to the summer break will give him a break from the heat over the Senate. In his Throne Speech slated for October 16, he'll need to introduce a bold new direction or a bold new approach to the current direction of his government, particularly in regard to the Senate. His current strategy of approaching the Supreme Court to determine how much authority he has to change the configuration of the Senate looks like, and probably is, a stalling tactic to avoid taking decisive action.
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