More power than the Queen of England

In Canada, the Governor General is considered an honorary post. She isn't elected, she's just a figurehead of the British Commonwealth. At least, that was what we all thought up until yesterday where Governor General Michaelle Jean proved that she had more power than the Queen of England.

Bowing to pressure from PM Stephen Harper, Jean chose, yesterday, to shut down, or rather "prorogue", parliament until 26 January after a 2 1/2 hour meeting with Harper.

What this achieves I don't know.

I don't expect Harper will be much more conciliatory to the coalition parties and so why will the coalition change their position after a time out? After more noise and fury, we'll be back at the same place we are now at the end of January.

In the meantime, Canada is completely rudderless in a time of economic crisis. Talk about making a dog's dinner of Democracy.