Facebook Group Protesting Harper Dictatorship Now Has More than 20,000 Members

I mentioned in several of my posts a new

Facebook group: Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament. (there are now 24,139 members) Make sure you join this group if you haven't already.

I have been tracking their progress, from when I joined at 500 members to 10,000. Today they have more than 20,000; so maybe there's hope for democracy yet.

They have planned rallies for the dates when Parliament should open and are encouraging everyone to become active in this.

Stephen Harper has set a very dangerous precedent, by simply proroguing Parliament every time he's under investigation. From the "In and Out" to war crimes to the Cadman affair, he answers to none of them.

We can't allow this. It's that simple.

It's interesting that the pollsters are claiming victory here, but we have to remember that most pollsters are now becoming obsolete. They only call lan line phones, so the opinions are based on those of the older and more conservative mindset.

Most young people now use cell phones or other forms of communication, so their views are rarely sought. I think this is something these people need to think about.

This works good for the Conservatives because they get to direct the questions and the press will always be accommodating in providing the answers. So the next time a lan line phone is polled those being polled go with the status quo. And remember this pooll came out when people had not really understood the implications of 37 pieces of legislation simply being erased.

But what I'm sensing is a grassroots democratic revolution, that could very well change the nature of Canadian politics. The call for a progressive coalition are becoming louder, and we may very well see a uniting of the left to combat Harper's tyranny. It may be the only way we can get rid of him and get this country back on track.

20,000 join anti-prorogation Facebook group
January 5, 2010
CBC News

More than 20,000 people have joined an anti-prorogation group on Facebook following Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to suspend Parliament for two months until after the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Christopher White told CBC News that he was upset by the prime minister's decision to prorogue Parliament until March 3, and decided to create the Facebook group, Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, urging people to contact their MPs to get back to work.

The group, which began last Wednesday, now has 20,312 members.

"My first reaction was anger," said White, on learning last Wednesday morning while still in his pajamas that Harper would suspend Parliament. "And then this time I was like 'okay I should do something about it instead of going and having cereal.'"

But Pierre Poilievre, Harper's parliamentary secretary, said a recent poll suggests Canadians are indifferent to the prime minister's decision to prorogue Parliament.

According to a Harris/Decima poll, 46 per cent of Canadians polled were indifferent, 34 per cent were unhappy with the proroguing decision and 15 per cent were happy with it.

The poll of 1,000 Canadians, which was conducted between Dec. 17 and Dec. 20, 2009, has a margin of error of 4.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Legislation in LimboANALYSIS: Proroguing Parliament delays review of bills
Several pollsters and observers say social media groups have given people the opportunity to make their views known but they downplayed the group's importance.

"But the question is ultimately who are these people?" Bruce Anderson of National Public Relations told Power & Politics with Evan Solomon. "Are they representative of the broader community and polling can help us answer that question."

"The mass of the population has become quite disengaged from what's going on in Ottawa and we have slices of the population on either end of the spectrum that are highly engaged and highly active in using social media to make their views known. But that doesn't give us a perfectly balanced and representative view."

National Post columnist John Ivison told the show, "This is not a groundswell of public opinion." (He's hoping)

Regardless, the Facebook group is encouraging Canadians to hold rallies in cities across the country on Jan. 23, two days before Parliament would have resumed had it not been suspended.