So the news is that the House of Commons has been prorogued, to be recalled in early October.Here's what you need to know.What's Proroguing?It's like "calling it a day" for parliament. You just decide you're not going to get anything else done, and you agree to start again at some later date. All the stuff that isn't finished now you have to start again from scratch.Why are they Proroguing?We can't know things like this for sure. The Conservatives have definitely been lacking in direction for the last while, maybe they want a throne speech to give themselves a new 5 priorities, or something. On the other hand, maybe they're not interested in having to deal with a potential vote on the Clean Air Act which has been amended by the opposition parties to actually do something for the environment.What are the implications?The Bloc Quebecois have promised to vote against any throne speech (which has to be the first thing you do when you get back to work in October) that doesn't deal with getting our soldiers out of Afghanistan. The NDP have promised to vote against any throne speech that doesn't deal with Kyoto adequately. If both parties were to vote against it, it would not likely get majority support, and you'd end up with an election.Maybe it's optimism on my part, but I don't think anyone wants an election, so something is going to happen that lets some people save face. That will probably be on the Afghanistan front, where the conservatives have been sending mixed messages about whether our soldiers will be fighting in Afghanistan after 2009. They will be there, but the question is whether or not they are fighting.Frankly, I don't know if that's going to solve the political problem that the BQ are reflecting and the Conservatives are trying to deal with. Yes, if they're fighting and dying, that's unpopular. But if they're not fighting and still dying... for whom is that better? So the Conservatives need desperately to find something extremely safe for Canadian soldiers to do in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2011, without looking like they're cutting and running, as Bush likes to say.So, between now and October, expect the Conservatives to more clearly set out a new position on Canada's role in Afghanistan. Also, expect them to blame the opposition parties for their lack of moral support for the soldiers in any decision that reduces the Canadian military's combat role in that country.Damnit... I made a prediction, didn't I. Always sketchy.