IN OTHER WORDS

In other words -

After months of study and deliberation, the Speaker of the House of Commons has finally come up with the ruling that is blatantly obvious to anyone with any understanding of Canadian democracy (which seems to be everyone except the Reformed Conservatives and their supporters): Parliament is supreme, not whatever government happens to be in power.

Unfortunately, Prime Minister Stephen Harper skipped out of the House before Speaker Peter Milliken made the announcement, so he might not have heard the news. Harper's curious absence might be explained by his habitual reluctance to face democracy head-on (maybe he went looking for the Governor General so he could hide behind her skirts again, although if he found Michaelle Jean it seems she rejected a third request to prorogue Parliament, since if she hadn't we would have heard something by now), but quite possibly the Prime Minister got out of earshot so he could preserve a state of plausible deniability.

If Harper didn't hear Milliken's clear and unequivocal statements, he can choose to interpret them any way he likes - to the point perhaps of declaring the Speaker's ruling to be a victory for the minority Conservatives.

This reinterpretation has already begun. The government's immediate response was voiced by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson who, in a statement after which he refused questions, attempted to water down the ruling by conceding that the government has to follow the laws that Parliament passes, but claiming (in contradiction to the Speaker) that the Conservatives retain the right to make the final determination of what constitutes a matter of national security and so only they can decide what should or should not be released to Parliamentarians:

"Our government will not compromise Canada's national security," he said, "nor will it jeopardize the lives of our men and women in uniform."

Of course, the Speaker is not demanding that the government jeopardize anyone. He is only seeking to safeguard Canada's democratic system by preserving the centuries-long pre-eminence of Parliament, which has been under attack at least since the Conservatives tried (and somewhat succeeded in their attempt) to engineer a popular uprising against the majority opposition by declaring any possible coalition government that did not include them to be illegal - a clear falsehood that was nonetheless accepted by a considerable number of sadly uniformed citizens. However, the Speaker seems reluctant to force the government into a corner (trapped animals can be very unpredictable and dangerous) so he has given MPs two weeks to figure out how Parliament can see all the documents it demands without revealing sensitive information to Canada's enemies.

That should not actually be a difficult task, since the opposition have already been proposing various mechanisms that would allow them to read everything they want, but still keep necessary secrets out of public view. However, any sense of optimism on this point fades when Conservatives speak. According to a representative on CBC Radio the morning after, the only compromise the government seems to be contemplating is the very one the Speaker already rejected because it did not involve reporting to Parliament: a review of sensitive documents by a judge who would only make his findings known to a government minister.

What will happen at the end of the Speaker's two-week deadline depends on whether all the parties in Parliament are willing to take an open and forthright approach to the issue, but so far the signs are not good. It's revealing that while both the Liberal and New Democratic parties immediately announced the Speaker's ruling on their websites, the Conservative Party published nothing about it on its page. Instead, the Conservative campaign seems to have gone underground (as their campaigns usually do when they find themselves in a weak and embattled position) and nameless supporters have begun attacking the Speaker's integrity and objectivity, accusing him (despite all evidence to the contrary) of being a Liberal lackey:

"Peter Milliken is a Liberal clone and it isn't surprising that he wants to make the Conservatives look bad," one anonymous source commented online. "I am sure he consulted with his Liberal buddies, before making a decision. He has shown 'bias' and 'favoritism'."

If the Prime Minister hasn't already made a visit to the Governor General, he's probably hoping he can still resort to his favourite dodge to avoid the loss of the autonomous power he craves. If that happens Canadians who value their democracy can only hope she'll finally reject prorogation this time around.