Count me in as one of the tens of thousands who does not approve of Stephen Harper proroguing parliament again. I just won't be signing on to Facebook to add to the count, because I have thus far managed to avoid joining that closed community and see no reason to change things.

Note to organizers: spend a little time and effort to build an open community site to champion your cause. Sure, Facebook is instant and easy, but if you want to attract the most people, use FB for promoting your open site, not for hosting it.

Via CBC's Kady O'Malley an EKOS prorogation poll summary:

According to these latest fresh from the field findings from EKOS -- full report available here -- fully 52.3 percent of respondents said that they were "clearly" aware that the prime minister had "decided to prorogue - that is, suspend - Parliament until early March."

An additional 15.2 would describe their level of awareness as "vague," and 32.5 percent who claimed to know nothing at all about it. Well, until they ended up on the phone with the EKOSbot, presumably.

Clear -- as opposed to vague -- awareness was highest amongst self-declared Conservative supporters -- 66.9 percent, compared to 59.5 percent of Liberals, 51 percent of Greens, and 45.3 percent of New Democrats, and just 33.9 percent of Bloc voters. Undecideds, not surprisingly, were more likely than partisans to be previously unaware of the PM's move -- 46.5 percent had no idea, compared to 35.3 percent of those in the clear, or on the clear, or however that should sentence should end.

So, how did they feel about it? Not all that warm and fuzzy, as it turns out. Out of those who told EKOS that they were aware that parliament had been prorogued, 68.7 percent are against it, including 40.5 percent who stand "strongly opposed." Just 31.4 percent said they supported the move, and 10 percent declined to share their feelings.

Via Susan Delacourt at The Star, The Economist slams prorogation:

Never mind what his spin doctors say: Mr Harper's move looks like naked self-interest. His officials faced grilling by parliamentary committees over whether they misled the House of Commons in denying knowledge that detainees handed over to the local authorities by Canadian troops in Afghanistan were being tortured. The government would also have come under fire for its lack of policies to curb Canada's abundant carbon emissions. Prorogation means that such committees-which carry out the essential democratic task of scrutinising government-will have to be formed anew in March. That will also allow Mr Harper to gain immediate control of committees in the appointed Senate, where his Conservatives are poised to become the biggest party.

Mr Harper has form. He prorogued Parliament last winter, too-to dodge a short-lived threat by the three opposition parties to bring his minority government down. Having gone to the polls three times since 2004 Canadians do not want another election. He might say that governing in a minority obliges him to play fast and loose with parliamentary nicety. He has nursed the economy and he has confounded those who feared that he would impose his supporters-loathing of abortion and liking for the death penalty on a generally tolerant country.

A legislature matters more than the luge

Mr Harper is a competent tactician with a ruthless streak. He bars most ministers from talking to the media; he has axed some independent watchdogs; he has binned campaign promises to make government more open and accountable. Now he is subjecting Parliament to prime-ministerial whim. He may be right that most Canadians care more about the luge than the legislature, but that is surely true only while their decent system of government is in good hands. They may soon conclude that it isn't.

To the opposition parties: when you talk about Harper's disdain for democracy please do not forget that he showed Canadians on his very first day in office, way back on February 6, 2006, just how little he cares for the concept.

What happened that day? David Emerson, re-elected after having campaigned as a Liberal cabinet minister, was sworn in as a Conservative cabinet minister. Turns out Emerson was in secret negotiations with Harper and his proxies less than 24 hours after having been re-elected and promising to become Harper's worst nightmare.

The votes of sixty-four thousand Vancouver-Kingsway citizens apparently meant nothing to either Harper or Emerson.

Appointing Michael Fortier to cabinet in that same parliament, even though he was not elected, and even though Harper essentially promise on French language TV during the campaign that he would not do that, was yet another example of the Harper approach to breaking Canada's democratic traditions.

Hey Canada, you can't say you weren't warned.