Lynch, Cappe and Mitchell: This is no time for ambitious federal projects

Good and needed commentary on Liberal over reach:

…Normally, in the period between the calling of an election and the swearing in of a government afterwards, the government of the day is supposed to refrain from making major discretionary decisions or announcements. The routine business of government carries on, as it must, but it is an important convention of our Westminster system that the government does not take the opportunity of the period between one sdministration and another to announce big decisions. This is called the “caretaker convention.” It’s a norm, a governing convention, not a law. But that doesn’t make it any less important.

Technically, we are not in a caretaker situation. While a federal election has not yet been called, it’s obvious that the circumstances today are far from a normal. Parliament has been prorogued in order that the governing Party can have the free time required to select a new prime minister. Yet however useful prorogation may have been in political or practical terms, it does impose upon the prime minister a duty of care, a duty of respect for the institutions in his charge. Making big decisions of a discretionary nature violates the spirit of the caretaker convention.

Source: Lynch, Cappe and Mitchell: This is no time for ambitious federal projects