He continues to weather the opposition's wrath, that of newspaper and magazine editorials, including a scathing criticism in The Economist, and now Prime Minister Stephen Harper will hear from disgruntled Canadians Jan. 23, during a series of co-ordinated rallies across the country to protest his decision to prorogue Parliament.

And local writer and college instructor Patricia Robertson hopes many will turn out in front of the Elijah Smith Building that day for a Whitehorse rally she is organizing to denounce Harper's "contempt for the democratic process.”

"As a writer, I know the history of stifling dissent from governments around the world and Canada's not immune,” Robertson told the Star today. "And I think we're already on the slippery slope, frankly.”

At the end of December, Harper announced he was suspending Parliament until Mar. 3, when his minority Conservative government plans present its Throne Speech and introduce this year's federal budget.

It's the second time in little more than a year that the prime minister has pulled the plug on the House of Commons.

On the first occasion, in December 2008, Harper prorogued Parliament to avoid a non-confidence vote and the possibility his party would lose power to a Liberal-NDP coalition government backed by the Bloc Quebecois.

On this occasion, Harper labelled the prorogation move as a way to "recalibrate” Parliament, blaming the Liberal-dominated Senate for stalling on two crime bills.

The prime minister also maintains this two-month break will provide his government the time it needs to craft the budget. It will also allow him to stack the Red Chamber with five new senators, tipping the balance in favour of the Conservatives.

But Yukon MP Larry Bagnell caged Harper's suspension of Parliament as a means to quell the burgeoning scandal brewing over the treatment of Afghan detainees that plagued the Conservative government for much of the end of 2009.

"My initial assumption was it was to avoid the special Afghanistan committee hearings because things were getting pretty close to the Prime Minister's Office,” Bagnell said today.

After Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin testified before the committee in November that cabinet was aware Afghan prisoners the Canadian military transferred to local authorities could be subject to torture, yet did nothing about it, the Harper governmentswitched to damage control mode, then pulled the plug altogether on any further investigation, according to Bagnell.

"This prorogation not only shuts down Parliament, but the committees are totally disbanded,” said Bagnell.

"It will takes a month or more to even reconstitute these committees, so it will be a long time before serious investigation can even occur on that potential coverup.”

The disintegration of parliamentary committees also impacts the Yukon specifically, Bagnell added, as work from two select committees that held hearings in the Yukon – one on poverty and northern economic development – will never see the light of day.

"Well, those have been disbanded too and so reports cannot even be done ... not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted on travel.”

Bagnell said he would definitely be attending the Jan. 23 rally and will join federal Green Party candidate John Streicker and territorial NDP Leader Elizabeth Hanson, who plan to speak at the event.

Robertson called the nationwide dissatisfaction, evidenced by the planning of simultaneous rallies for next Saturday afternoon (beginning at 1p.m. here), at the very least symbolic.

"It's not going to be a lengthy rally; the point will be to make the gesture, to show Harper that people across the country, including Yukoners, are deeply concerned, that we disagree with this decision,” said Robertson.

"I think Harper's underestimated Canadians. He's actually quoted as saying he doesn't think Canadians care.”