As the House of Commons remains virtually deadlocked over its order for the government to hand over documents related to a green technology foundation, some MPs are commenting on the chances of the prime minister proroguing Parliament to break the impasse.
Prorogation would end the current session of Parliament early, meaning MPs are released from duties, no committees can sit, and all bills that have not received royal assent are “terminated” and must be reintroduced in the new session as if they had never existed.
Senior Liberal ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and House Leader Karina Gould, have said in media interviews that proroguing is not something they’re considering. But the use of this parliamentary tool isn’t without precedent in the Trudeau government.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet told reporters on Oct. 2 he believed that if the Liberals lost the confidence of the other parties, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may decide to prorogue Parliament or call for an election.
Why Feds Are Being Asked About Prorogation
After receiving whistleblower allegations in the fall of 2023, the federal government suspended the ability of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to fund new projects and commissioned a third-party review of the claims.A subsequent report by Auditor General Karen Hogan in June 2024 found 90 breaches of conflict-of-interest rules, including directors voting to provide money to their own companies.
Parliament passed a motion that month requiring the Liberal government to hand over all documents related to SDTC, with the Conservatives arguing the matter is one of parliamentary privilege—that is, a matter relating to the House’s powers and rights—which a failure to comply violates.
The Liberals, for their part, have raised concerns about the order trespassing on certain Charter rights regarding police investigations and privacy.
Following a recommendation from House Speaker Greg Fergus, the Conservatives introduced a motion on Sept. 26 to send the matter to committee. The motion is still being debated, and since privilege issues generally take precedence over other parliamentary business, the government hasn’t been able to advance any bills in the House and the House has remained deadlocked.
Why Liberals May or May Not Prorogue
If the prime minister were to decide to prorogue, this could put an end to the impasse in Parliament that has prevented legislation from being debated and passed. And with Trudeau facing increasing pressure from members of his caucus upset with his leadership, the party could have a chance to reset its priorities and try to address internal divisions before the next session.However, proroguing Parliament would also stop Liberal progress in Parliament on several of its priorities. Among them are Bill C-63, related to online harms; Bill C-322, to develop a national school food program; Bill C-61, related to drinking water and wastewater issues on First Nations lands; and Bill C-40, which would establish a commission to review miscarriages of justice. For a government facing possible defeat in the next election, this would mean losing the chance to push through legislation it wants to see enacted before potentially leaving power.
Proroguing would also open up the Liberals to further attacks from the Conservatives, who have accused the government of hiding SDTC evidence from the police. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said his party is “not just going to let $400 million of corruption be swept under the rug.”
Recent Cases of Prorogation
In August 2020, Trudeau sought and was granted approval from then Governor General Julie Payette to prorogue Parliament until Sept. 23 that year, giving the government a chance to lay out its long-term plan to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Trudeau said the government’s throne speech delivered eight months earlier had not accounted for the pandemic and that proroguing Parliament would give the House of Commons the chance to vote on whether it had confidence in the government.The announcement of that prorogation came amid the WE Charity ethics controversy and less than a day after Bill Morneau announced he was resigning as finance minister and as an MP. Both Trudeau and Morneau faced allegations by the federal ethics watchdog of participating in talks to give the charity a contract to run a pandemic-related student-volunteer program. Both apologized for not recusing themselves from discussions about the contract despite the charity being tied to their families.
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament four times—in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2013—during his nine years in power from 2006 to 2015. In September 2007, he declared that his minority government had delivered on all major commitments made during the 2006 election and that Parliament would resume six weeks later to start the next phase of his government’s mandate.
Harper was criticized for asking the Governor General to prorogue Parliament in December 2008 to avoid a non-confidence vote by the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Québécois that threatened to take down his government, and ultimately avoided such a vote as the coalition had fallen apart by the time Parliament reconvened.
Harper again prorogued Parliament in December 2009 for two months, saying the government would consult with Canadians on how best to deal with the economic issues surrounding the 2008–09 recession. Opponents accused him of proroguing to avoid investigations into allegations that his government ignored the torture of detainees during the War in Afghanistan, and also to take time to gain a majority on Senate committees.
In August 2013 he again prorogued Parliament, until October after Thanksgiving, indicating that it was to allow the government to refresh its legislative agenda at the midpoint of its mandate. Critics said it was to avoid questions about a scandal involving Senate expenses.
