I was busy yesterday and didn't get to say as much as I would have liked about Brigette DePape. Then I read Ned Franks column in the Star this morning, and couldn't possibly find enough words to tell him why he is dead wrong about this young woman.
Professor Franks is a constitutional expert but apparently not much of an expert on democracy.
Because if he believes that what took place on May 2, was democracy in action, then he clearly needs to read a few books on the subject.
This was the most undemocratic election in our history. Fifty-seven Conservative MPs were no shows, and almost as many NDP, the same.
Our prime minister limited questions to five, and even then only answered the ones he wanted to answer. Fences were put up and one person arrested simply for throwing a teddy bear over the barricades. Another because she had a picture of herself with Michael Ignatieff on Facebook.
If you weren't on a list you didn't get in. Period. In Kingston, the police drew an imaginary line for us not to cross, and when one one man fell over it, tripping on the curb, he was thrown against a police car and hauled away.
It was defined by dirty tricks, bogus phone calls, and Gestapo like control.
And with less than 40% of the popular vote (25% of eligible voters), Stephen Harper has almost 100% control of our country. This is democracy?
This young woman, and others like her, are smart enough to see that our system is badly broken.
And if we expect her to treat our institutions with respect, our current government is not leading by example. A 200 page manual instructing their MPs on how to disrupt Parliamentary committees.
Dean Del Mastro conducts himself like an animal, Pierre Polievre has had to have his mike shut off he was so obnoxious, and Peter Braid has attacked witnesses so voraciously, they have trembled with fear.
This government was found in contempt of Parliament, and yet they were able to run for re-election.
Bev Oda doctored a contract after it was signed and yet she was able to run for re-election.
Young people are not going to sit by for the next four to five years, as Canada continues its race to the bottom.
Miss DePape may not have taken her rightful place on the bus, but hopefully, she has earned her place in history.
We need to encourage our youth to get involved, not vilify them when they do, in the only way they can. Through civil disobedience.
I applaud her and look forward to more of the same, from Canadians of all ages.
Haroon Siddiqui reminds us that the election campaign has provided Canadians with an opportunity to assess Harper's performance, and also see the side that some may not have witnessed. His autocratic style and arrogant attitude toward Canadian democracy.
Regardless, Michael Ignatieff did well in the Tuesday debate to take on Harper:
“You keep talking about Parliament as if it’s this little debating society that’s a pesky interference in your rule of the country. It’s not. It’s the Parliament of the people of Canada and they’ve found you in contempt . . .
“We are having an election because you didn’t tell Canadians the truth, you abused democracy. You stiffed Parliament, Mr. Harper. That’s why your government lost confidence; that’s why we’re having an election . . .
“You are a man who will shut down anything you cannot control. That’s the core of your vision of government, and it is hostile to the values of democracy upon which this country is based. You cannot lead this country if you show little respect for democracy.”
Those are clear arguments by the leaders of two of our largest parties for the voters to ponder.
"One would think that man would run out of wars to make or nations to invade or, that at some epiphanous time, nations would conspire to stop the killing, that war would become not the last resort but simply an unthinkable one. But here we find ourselves at war again, against half the world in general and no one in particular, pulverizing ruins and inflicting "collateral damage" - a euphemism for killing - on people we know nothing of, in a land we have nothing against, hope never to see, in a cause so rhetorical and clothed so much in hyperbole as to be unattainable." Dalton Camp
When I was researching something else yesterday, I came across a 2000 introduction to Dalton Camp, by senator Lowell Murray; and it reminded me of what politics and the media used to be like. Yes campaigns got ugly, but once the elections were over, the politicians got down to the business of running our country, and journalists to the business of making sure they did it right.
Don Newman was recently asked about the toxicity of politics today, and when it changed:
Of course, Parliament worked because elections in those periods also produced majority governments and sooner or later majority governments get their way. But it also worked because MPs made it function. They seemed to understand that they were there to get things done. That is not the case today and, on reflection, I'd have to say that the fraying of the system began during the Chrétien years.
The fraying was not — it might surprise some I'm sure — the fault of the Bloc Québécois who, while preaching their own view of both history and the future, always treated Parliament with respect. Rather it came from the Reform Party led by Preston Manning.
Dalton Camp certainly recognized the difference between the Conservative Party we knew and the one created by the Reformers. When he first learned of the attempt to unite the right he was livid, claiming that the conservatism of Stockwell Day "is viewed by most Tories as embedded in the lunatic fringe."
I couldn't agree more.
Joe Clark fought it and when Flora MacDonald learned of their demise called it: "... the demolition of a historic 150-year-old institution that has done so much to build this country ... The party's future lies not in some right-wing alliance that would violate the progressive and moderate traditions of its former leaders, but with a renewed emphasis on the values that the great majority of Canadians feel represent their views."( The Toronto Star, November 14, 2003)
Dalton Camp was responsible for getting the Progressive put into the Conservative party, and Stephen Harper was responsible for knocking it right out, once calling the term Progressive Conservative an oxymoron.
The question Dalton Camp and his Conservative parties tried in their various times and places, and their different ways to answer, is a question Senator MacEachen posed a couple of years ago in his introduction to the book of essays, In Pursuit of the Public Good, published in his honour. The question is, Senator MacEachen said, "who puts bread on the table when private markets fail to do so?" It is a question that today preoccupies Dalton more than ever as his newspaper columns attests. It is a question for Conservatives, Liberals and everybody.
Which somehow reminds me that one day 30 years ago I saw Dalton in Ottawa, marching arm and arm with the late Tommy Douglas, protesting the Vietnam War. Some Tories thought this a preposterous place for their national president to be. More of us thought it a principled and profoundly Conservative response to what David Halperston later called "the aggressive, combative, liberal nationalism" of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and we were proud.
Does the neoconservative Stephen Harper ever worry about who will put "bread on the table when private markets fail to do so?" Hardly. He once bragged that he was often sought out to speak against public money being spent in the name of child poverty.
Neocons just want white women to keep having babies. What happens to the babies after that is not their problem.
I miss Dalton Camp and I miss the Progressive Conservatives and I miss our democracy.
But we will get our country back, so that Mr. Camp can finally rest in peace.
Democracy has proved only that the best way to gain power over people is to assure the people that they are ruling themselves. Once they believe that, they make wonderfully submissive slaves – Joseph Sobran (American journalist and author of The Myth of Limited Government)
Sobran's quote neatly sums up the neoconservative approach to democracy. They know that a country's citizens would not support their autocratic intent, so the trick is to allow them to believe that they have a say, while making sure that they have no say at all.
Stephen Harper once shocked journalists back in the day when the Reform Party was being sold as a grassroots movement. I can't remember the exact quote, though I have it somewhere; but the implication was that Preston Manning had to frame messages to make his followers believe that the messages came from them and not him.
Many eventually did catch on, and complained that all the real power in that party was in the hands of what they referred to as the 'Calgary Clique', which included Harper as Manning's lieutenant. If you've ever read George Orwell's Animal Farm, you'll get the picture.
There was an article in The Mark yesterday, by Shauna Sylvester, headlined; Canada's Crumbling Democracy, with the suggestion that we should be cheering for our athletes in Vancouver, but we shouldn't forget about the looming crisis in Stephen Harper's Ottawa.
Sylvester has lived and worked in countries without democracy and recognizes the signs. She says:
Some of the early warning indicators are: • Limits on the media and the erosion of free speech • The development of policy without consultation • The centralization of power • Limits placed on the activities of public servants • Quelling or squashing dissent
Canada has already undergone all of these early warning indicators and then some.
Our media, including Travers, had gotten it completely wrong. They had been viewing the Harper government through the conservative lens, so often found themselves shocked or puzzled by their actions.
For me it was like listening to a hockey commentator at a Blue Jays game. They just didn't understand the plays.
Travers writes:
Conservatives are out of their particular closet. Not since ripping into social and legal activists during a first year in power has the party so aggressively, or openly, imposed its ideology. Subtlety is strangely missing in the behaviour of a party tantalized by the prize of turning a minority into a majority. Gone is any serious effort to disguise the motives in Conservative machinations. In its place is the blatant use of money and muscle to discourage and to discipline those judged offside.
I think they've realized that they didn't need a majority to accomplish their goals. Just a strong will and a compliant media. Travers again:
Whatever the labels, the writing is on Ottawa's walls: To challenge Conservative orthodoxy is to risk reprisals. Even if it's new to non-governmental and arm's-length federal agencies, the message is familiar to bureaucrats and watchdogs. More quietly – but as effectively – Conservatives have been making it clear to civil servants and independent oversight officials that what the Prime Minister wants is mute obedience.
When Louis Ranger was forced out of his job at public works, John Baird told him "We don’t want your advice; we want you to do as you’re told." Ranger had been with the department for more than three decades.
It's All About the Image Baby
One common phrase used by pundits and pollsters when describing Stephen Harper these days, is that he 'looks prime ministerial'. He is the image of what we expect a prime minister to look like.
This is in direct contrast to a statement in the New York Times after Harper's 2006 election victory. They wrote that he "... lacks charisma and looks mad all the time".
The picture on the left is from 2005, which better fits the profile laid out in the NYT.
That's the real Stephen Harper, not the one created by image consultants at taxpayer's expense; who go out of their way to make him look 'prime ministerial'. I think they even died his hair grey, because it seemed to have gone from mousy brown almost overnight.
But the grey hair makes him look more statesmanlike, fatherly and wise; while concealing the fact that he is aggressively pursuing the agenda that scared Canadians away from voting for him in the first place.
This is all part of Image Politics, where a 'leader' is created through images, while the real power lies in the hands of the unelected.
When Paul Calandra's former boss, Mike Harris cabinet minister, Steve Gilchrist, got into trouble when his past revealed charges for tax evasion and alleged fraud, where was Mike Harris? At a photo-op, in a schoolroom surrounded by smiling children.
And the evening news which briefly covered the Gilchrist story, was filled with images of the premier and those children. The media were not even given a soundbite from Gilchrist and he didn't stick around long enough for a decent photo.
When Peter MacKay was first put into the hot seat over the Afghan detainee issue, where was Stephen Harper? At a photo-op with the Olympic Lacrosse team.
And when Canadians learned that their sovereignty was traded away for a few crumbs of dry toast, where was Stephen Harper? At a photo-op standing and cheering the Canadian athletes.
And when NATO forces recently bombed the hell out of Afghanistan, killing 27 civilians, where was Stephen Harper? You guessed it. Visual at the Olympics and a pre-taped interview with Wayne Gretzy and Gordie Howe.
The late American historian Daniel Boorstin once wrote: "When images have become more vivid than originals, it is only natural that we should commonly prefer to speak of the more vivid copy."
My father was a veteran of the second world war. My grandfather fought in the first for England, and while he didn't die in battle; he suffered horribly from the effects of mustard gas, and died of lung infection not long after returning home.
My dad rarely talked about his experiences in the war. Letters to his sister found after he passed, where he speaks of the sounds of gunfire echoing in the night; give some sense of his fear, but for the most part, his messages were positive.
In one letter, trying to reassure her, he reminds her of a little prayer their father had taught them, and said that she should repeat that, when she's having trouble sleeping.
However, one of the the most vivid memories I have of him, was when I was a teenager and he had just called into a local radio station, complaining of an arbitrary decision made by the government. I whined that I would now be embarrassed to go to school if my friends had heard him (teenage drama you know).
But he reminded me that the fight for democracy did not end on the battlefields, but was something you had to fight for everyday.
It didn't mean much then, but it resonates now.
The only way we can get this destructive government out of office, is to get people to vote. Apathy is responsible for their success, and ending apathy is crucial to to the success of our nation.
The other day, one of our CAPP members, Martin Peterson; stated that he was now becoming politically active in honour of an uncle who had died at Normandy. That is such a compelling statement, and inspired me to continue on a theme I had considered several months ago, even before Harper's latest power grab.
We honour our veterans, troops and fallen soldiers on Remembrance Day, with a message 'Lest we Forget'. Why not also honour them on election day, with a message of 'We Remember'?
Poppies could be sold, giving the legions a bit of extra income, and our campaign would not be partisan, but simply a fight for Canadian democracy.
I think I'm going to create some posters or flyers, with this theme. Most of us have someone in our family who is either fighting for democracy now in Afghanistan, or has fought in previous wars. Maybe we can carry a photo or keepsake, and let others know who we are really voting for.
Not the candidate but the person we will be paying homage to.
I will be voting for my father, my grandfather and a great uncle who died 'somewhere in France'. Who will you be voting for?
They will not be for him, but for our democracy, which he now has under lock and key.
So create your own, or buy some. Let your kids have fun and be sure to express the love to your democracy and how you miss it terribly. They are going to be delivered all at once and we're hoping to get some media coverage.
You can even make a video of yourself making your cards. Sing a song, write a poem ... have fun.
When you have completed the card or cards, mail them to this address:
Mr Harper c/o P.O. Box 693, Osgoode, ON K0A 2W0.
Pass it on.
I have written a poem:
There once was a man from Nantucket ... Oops, wrong poem.
Ode to my Democracy
Oh democracy, democracy
how rare a gift you were
But we forgot you were so fragile
and a catastrophe did occur
An evil man, from across the land
swept down while we were asleep
And he grabbed you in his gnarly hands
Hoping we'd not utter a peep
And he locked the doors, on our precious gift
and he threw away the key
Then he posted sentries, dogs and guards
No entrance for you and me
But he forgot to lock an important door
One that he didn't see
As this once apathetic nation
Rose up with indignity
We want it back, we cried enmasse
This does not belong to you
But this monster held tight, and he put up a fight
This one is really quite easy. You can change public opinion simply by providing information.
A motivated citizen armed with knowledge, can go a long way into changing the way that people feel.
Because Stephen Harper has kept such a tight control on the media and the message; very little is reaching the public, except in carefully scripted press releases.
You can change that, by first going to CAPP, where we have more than 20,000 links, and then sharing what you know as a twitter, or visiting online articles, where you can leave comments anonymously.
Simply choose a handle and provide them with a valid email address (they don't publish it). Often even the simple act of selecting 'agree' or 'disagree', or giving a comment a thumbs up or down, can have an impact.
This is especially important with small newspapers. On CAPP we often share an article that has irked us, and send people over. Many of these publications rarely get feedback, but as a team we can generate a buzz.
This is a link to an alphabetical list of Canadian newspapers, where you can read their online articles and interact by taking their polls, or lending your voice to the debate.
Have you ever read an article in your paper that just got you so riled up, you wished you could give them a piece of your mind?
Well you can.
Just write a letter to the editor, but be sure to keep it nice. If you swear or make libelous statements, they won't print it.
But this is a perfect opportunity to change, or validate public opinion. If you don't like what this government is doing, say so.
Often there are many others who feel the same way, and reading your words, may give them to courage to speak out too.
This is a link to an alphabetical listing of all newspapers in Canada. You can read current events and most also provide links to 'contact us' or 'letters to the editor'.
You will feel so empowered by this simple action, and you will be taking a proactive stand to defend your democracy.
If you want to share any you wrote, use the comments at the end of this posting, and I will publish them for you. We're all in this together.
What I really like about CAPP is that we represent such a cross-section of Canadians. All ages and political stripes. One member posted this video as an inspiration for tomorrow, so I'm sharing it. Les Miserables is one of my favourites.
I also had to join the National Post community board so I could post a comment, at the end of the following article. Everyone was trying to suggest that CAPP is just for lazy people. That we are not grassroots until we feel grass under our boots ... or some such nonsense. Boy did I set them straight. Hee, hee. I'm such a rebel.
The following piece is from Shilo Davis, our National Rally Coordinator.
Every columnist, blogger and pundit in Canada has explained, definitively, why the online outcry against prorogation is either a watershed in Canadian politics … or pure slacktivism. As one of the first members of the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament (CAPP) Facebook group, and the co-ordinator of nationwide rallies planned for tomorrow, I think I can shed some light on how online activism is shaping our politics, and why Facebook matters.
Let’s start with the numbers. At last count, the CAPP Facebook group had over 200,000 members, with more joining every hour. That makes it not only the biggest Facebook group in Canada, but also the quickest large-scale grassroots political mobilization in Canadian history.
CAPP has more Facebook followers than all of the major political leaders combined — not bad for a three-week-old group founded over a matter of parliamentary procedure. After all, a petition with 200,000 signatures would be nothing to sniff at; so why are so many in the media so dismissive of a Facebook group that serves the same purpose?
On this question, the National Post’s flippant Jan. 6 editorial, “The Toronto Star and the Interweb,” exemplifies the establishment view of Facebook as a puerile distraction emporium. Aiming to demonstrate CAPP’s relative insignificance, the Post editorialists noted that TV show 90210’s Facebook group boasts over 500,000 fans. I would like to take this teen-drama moment to mention a few numbered points. (1) When you measure politics against popular entertainment, politics loses. No surprises there. (2) As a Canadian group, CAPP must be measured by Canadian, not international, standards. We guess Canadian democracy would sound pretty insignificant when you mention that roughly twice as many people watched the most recent season premiere of American Idol than voted in the last federal election.
But somehow, the growing buzz around the CAPP Facebook group helped turn the prorogation issue from a political non-event on Dec. 30 to a major government headache that cost Mr. Harper approximately 10 points at the polls two weeks later. By giving the media something to either laud or lambaste, CAPP has kept the national conversation going, to the point where nearly 64% of Canadians now believe that the prorogation was “anti-democratic.”
For making an impact, Facebook is far more powerful than a pen-and-paper petition. It was this online gathering that gave rise to the “real world” organization of CAPP, which is planning rallies in more than 50 cities and towns across Canada tomorrow. Without the initial Facebook throng, there is no way that such a disparate collection of citizens could have organized themselves so quickly across such great distances (the planned rallies cover every province and territory except Nunavut). With CAPP remaining strictly non-partisan, our volunteers comprise people from across the political spectrum — including some who are brand new to political action. Indeed, many of the people leading these rallies simply showed up to a planning meeting advertised on Facebook and took it from there.
If we can agree that Facebook has proved itself as an important tool in the fight against suspending Parliament, the question remains: Why is it important to protest prorogation at all? Why not, as some editorialists have suggested, simply voice our disapproval at the ballot box? Essential as elections are to democracy, a federal vote is a terrifically blunt weapon. People vote for one party or another for any number of reasons.
The issue of prorogation is not about Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats or the Bloc. It’s not about one set of policies over another. It’s about demanding that our government respect the spirit of democracy in which we elect it. A 200,000-strong Facebook group and nationwide anti-prorogation rallies show the government that, regardless of what else divides us, Canadians will not stand for the suspension of Parliament for partisan advantage.
We don’t pretend that 200,000 people will take to the streets on Saturday. That’s not the point. Three weeks ago, Mr. Harper calculated that proroguing Parliament would be less politically costly than allowing MPs to hold the government accountable for its actions — specifically, to continue investigating the Afghan detainee issue.
We’re out to prove him wrong, and dramatically increase the political cost of disrespecting democracy. We’ve made our voices heard online and across Canada.
Tomorrow, we call on all concerned Canadians to join us wherever you live, and tell our Parliamentarians to get back to work.
Democracy in Canada may have died on December 30, 2009; but we put it in a position of being an easy victim.
We have not held our politicians to account. We have allowed them to get away with things we should never have allowed them to get away with.
Well tested rhetoric has replaced sound governance. The media measures party leaders by how well they can control their caucus.
This is democracy?
Stephen Harper first came to power on a promise of accountability, but he is the most secretive controlling, unaccountable prime minister we've ever had.
They say you have to hit bottom before you can bounce back. Well we've hit bottom.
I came across an editorial from James Travers, published in the Toronto Star last April; that's well worth revisiting. Our system is broken, but we are the only ones who can fix it.
The quiet unravelling of Canadian democracy Muzzled MPs. A powerless cabinet. Politicized senior bureaucrats. Unaccountable parties. Canada's democracy is in trouble. To fix it we have to connect the dots By James Travers National Affairs Columnist April 4, 2009
OTTAWA–For a foreign correspondent reporting some of the world's grimmest stories, Canada in the '80s was more than a faraway home. Seen from the flattering distance of Africa, this country was a model democracy.
Reflected in its distant mirror was everything wrong with what was then called the Third World. From Cape to Cairo, power was in the hands of Big Men. Police and army held control. Institutions were empty shells. Corruption was as accepted as the steeped-in-pessimism proposition that it's a duty to clan as well as to family to grab whatever has value before the state inevitably returns to dust.
By contrast and comparison, Canada was a cold but shimmering Camelot. Ballots, not bullets, changed governments. Men and women in uniform were discreet servants of the state. Institutions were structurally sound. Corruption, a part of politics everywhere, was firmly enough in check that scandals were aberrations demanding public scrutiny and sometimes even justice ....
Just Canadians getting together in a fight for democracy.
There has been a lot of buzz about protests in Truro where Harper is opening a civic centre. But as one resident pointed out: "Harper's announcement seems to have been made to invited guests only - now correct me if I am wrong, is he handing over his own money to the town? If not, and it is money from the public purse, why is the event not public???"
Harper, the media and the pundits; definitely underestimated the Canadian people. As Rick Mercer said recently: "See this is what I love about Canada. Yes, we are apathetic. But the minute anyone tries to use our apathy against us suddenly we start to care big time. It's funny the Prime Minister doesn't get this."
Over the last few weeks a number of pundits have been unsure how to react to sudden rise of the Facebook group Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament. Conservative politicians attempted to label the over 200,000-person strong group as part of "the chattering classes" and political pundits have questioned whether online protests even have meaning or weight.
What is more likely is that few politicians or pundits have actually spent time on the Facebook group and fewer still have tried to understand who its members are and what they believe. Recently Pierre Killeen, an Ottawa-based online public engagement strategist, conducted a survey of the group's membership in partnership with the Rideau Institute. Over 340 members of the anti-prorogation Facebook group shared their views and while not a scientific survey, it does provide a window into the group's makeup and the motivations of its members. Some of the results will surprise both pundits and politicians:
Older than expected
To begin, contrary to the view that Facebook is entirely youth driven, just under half of those who completed the survey were 45 years of age or older. Thirty-four per cent were aged 31 to 44 and 16 per cent answered that they were aged 18 to 30. Not a single person who opted to take the survey was aged 12 to 18. They vote
Perhaps the most interesting part of the survey was the fact that 96 per cent of the participants said they voted in the last federal election. Survey recipients frequently overstate their voting history (people wish to sound more responsible than they are) and this result should be regarded with some skepticism. However, it nonetheless suggests group members are more likely to vote than the general population. (Sixty per cent of Canadians voted in the last federal election). New to, but believers in, online activism
Over half of the members surveyed (55 per cent) said this was the first time they had joined a politically oriented Facebook group. Another 33 per cent indicated they had previously joined only two to four Facebook groups with political themes. Interestingly, 75 per cent of respondents believe the group “will make a difference” while 22 per cent were unsure. Democracy and accountability are the key issues
Lastly, when asked why they joined, just over half (53 per cent) of respondents indicated it was because “proroguing parliament is undemocratic” and another 33 per cent said it was because “Parliament needs to investigate the Afghan detainee matter." Again, it is worth noting that this survey is not scientific, but is our best window to date into who has joined Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament.
And what should people take away from all this? The Facebook group matters for reasons beyond those Iinitially outlined for The Globe. The fact that this is the first time a majority of those surveyed have joined a politically oriented online campaign suggests such groups may serve as an on-ramp to greater activism and awareness. More importantly, however, if the survey results are even remotely representative, then the members of the Facebook group vote. Any time 200,000 citizens say an issue will affect their vote, politicians should not discount them so hastily.
Finally, given that Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament has signed up twice the number of Facebook members than all the political leaders combined (Conservatives 29,616; Liberals 28,898; NDP 27,713; Bloc 4,020; for a collective total of 90,247 fans) this is a constituency whose impact may be better monitored in the voting booth than on the street.
(David Eaves is a public-policy entrepreneur, open government activist and negotiation expert based in Vancouver )
I have said before, that Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament (now 207,558 members) is more than just a protest group. Sure there is anger, but mostly there is solidarity, and above all patriotism. The Oh Canada above was posted there.
Neoconservatism relies on turning people away from the polls. They play to their base, while driving the opposition's base away. But to Harper's demise, he may have just driven the opposition's base to the polls, so I think we are going to see a much better turnout next election. I hope so anyway.
Because this is what happens when you don't mind your political store.
Two comments on the board this morning are typical:
With the vision from Christopher White, the “elite chattering classes” came thundering across the plains, valleys, mountains and surge channels of the troll ridden, undemocratically suppressed provinces and territories of the once great nation on the planet Earth known as Canada. And the nation reunited in the name of Democracy.
And:
I'm from Ontario, but am now retired and living in Nova Scotia. I also have computer puffy eye syndrome. I just don't spend this much time on it, but for the past week or so, I haven't been able to drag myself away. It's truly wonderful to experience this. I had faith in my fellow Canadians and they have met the challenge.
The Globe and Mail suggested that the Opposition did a better job at PR by convincing Canadians that prorogation was about the Detainee issue. The nerve of that Corporate right-wing piece of trash newspaper wannabe ... did I mention that I haven't had my coffee yet?
CAPP has nothing to do with the Oppostion, but everything to do with the Canadian public.
Perhaps you’ve noticed how protest has become an online centre of attention.
Our current civic information structure is defined by undirected links, mash-ups, updates and postings. More so than ever, individual activism can snowball mass change.
It’s how an Albertan graduate student’s impulse to create a Canadians Against Proroging Parliament Facebook group kicked into high gear a movement that’s led to local chapters, freely distributed banners, catchy sloganeering and this weekend’s national Canadians For Democracy! Not For Prorogation protests.
The barrier to political activism has never been lower.
Log onto Twitter, and the pro and con opinions can be accessed by typing in the hashtags #capp (Canadians Against Parliamentary Prorogation) or #roft (Right of Twitter, a play on 'Right of Centre'). Want a non-partisan news stream of links about the proroging issue? Try #cdnpoli or #canpoli.
If protest is unnerving authority by behaving unexpectedly, social media accomplished this. The “dead zone” announcement of prorogation went front page with users re-distributing mainstream media dispatches of staged photo ops and talking point memos. If anything, this online culture of participation has undermined Stephen Harper’s culture of secrecy.
“By itself, social media is not going to overthrow the Harper government,” said University of British Columbia professor Alfred Hermida in an interview published by Canadian online magazine The Tyee, analyzing this Canadian “online uprising.”
The BBC News vet — who studies the Web 2.0 impact on journalism — ultimately considers social media “an indicator of social change.”
But, “liking” a posting dissecting the torture probe or even re-tweeting a humorous quip by @cheddar_harper (Stephen Harper’s cuddly, ginger tabby kitten is a popular Twitter user) doesn’t necessarily guarantee attendance at the Jan. 23 rally. Evgevy Morozov, a Foreign Policy magazine contributing editor and commentator on the Internet and politics, pinpoints the downfall of web politics with the appropriate phrase “internet slacktivism.”
He describes “feel-good activism that has little or no political and social impact,” and warns, “Let us in the future be a bit more skeptical about the need to recreate the protest wheel.”
But why would we expect online protests to only lead to traditional mass offline protests?Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing anyone’s right to democratic action. But if social media has already re-booted citizens’ “idle chatter,” surely we should consider how it also updates “the protest wheel.”
It’s these online connections that are enticing me to make those offline connections with people in my community — or at the very least, serve up a steaming plate of perogies.
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A 25-year-old Yellowknifer is spearheading an online campaign to get people involved in protesting Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament. Christopher White, an anthropology graduate student at the University of Alberta who grew up in Yellowknife, started the Facebook group Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament on Dec. 30, shortly after the prime minister announced he was suspending parliament for two months.
White said he wanted to empower people to pay attention to politics.
The bilingual page includes directions for how people can get involved, by e-mailing their Member of Parliament or Harper, and a form letter people can use.
"It has a very clearly stated intention but it's one thing at the beginning to think that, it's another thing to be in the middle and actually see results happen," White said.
Within the first week, the Liberal party announced it would return on Jan. 25.
As of Friday afternoon, the group had 192,799 members, making it the largest Canadian-specific Facebook page ever.
Individual chapters sprung up in centres across Canada and White has acted as a spokesman for the group as national media outlets have used the group to gauge public opinion.
White said he doesn't consider the group partisan and he wouldn't classify himself as an activist. He was motivated to contact his MP for the first time after Harper's announcement.
"What's happening here is more than having the Liberals or Conservatives in power. It really comes down to the fundamental issue of democracy," he explained. "This is more than prorogation, this is about government accountability."
Thousands of Canadians agree, with people of all ages posting their opinions in around-the-clock discussion forums. But White says the media isn't the message, he wants people to engage beyond the social networking site.
"Facebook is just a tool, not the movement in itself ... people are starting to question what it means to be a Canadian citizen," he said. "It democratizes the media, we're deciding what the issues are."
People have used the group to network and localize the anti-proroguing movement. Local chapters will hold rallies in more than 35 communities across the country. The Northern Territories Federation of Labour is holding a rally in Yellowknife on Jan. 23, and more than 70 people have confirmed their attendance on the federation's Facebook page. White is helping organize a rally in Edmonton, and hopes several hundred people come out to show their support.
"The Facebook group, and the fact that it continues to grow, is an example that (the prorogue) continues to resonate with Canadians," White said.
Don't forget the rallies on Saturday. There should be one in your area or hopefully, at least within driving distance. And make sure you join Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, if you haven't already. (206,201 members)
The new year is less than three weeks old, but the Canadian Internet story of 2010 may have already taken place. Ridiculed by political parties and analysts, the growth of the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group, which now has more than 200,000 members, provides the clearest indicator yet of how poorly the Canadian political community understands social media and digital advocacy.
When the prime minister announced he was proroguing parliament in the midst of the holiday season, political commentators applauded the tactic, confident that few Canadians would notice or care. In less than three weeks, Christopher White, a university student from Alberta, proved the experts wrong, building the largest Facebook group in the country, one that's the focal point for national discussion and voter discontent.
As the group began to take flight, it was surprising to see political leaders and analysts blithely dismiss the relevance of Facebook advocacy. Editorials pointed to other large groups to demonstrate the group's irrelevance, noting that joining a Facebook group was too easy -- just click to join -- to mean much of anything.
This represents a shocking underestimation of the power of digital advocacy, which today is an integral part of virtually every political or business advocacy campaign.
Four signals shockingly missed
First, the criticism is particularly surprising since Canada has experienced this form of advocacy before and it has proven effective. In 2007, the Fair Copyright for Canada group I launched grew to 90,000 members and was credited by some with convincing the government to more carefully examine its proposed bill. The following year, a group opposing proposed changes to Ontario's rules for young drivers reached 150,000 members and persuaded Premier Dalton McGuinty to drop the amendments.
Second, anyone who tells you that building a 200,000-person Facebook group is easy has never tried to do it. Indeed, Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, and Gilles Duceppe, the four national party leaders, have less than 100,000 members combined on their respective Facebook pages.
In fact, much like Facebook, the political parties all make it as easy as possible to become members. In the case of the Conservative or Liberal Parties, completing a form with just your name and address along with a $10 payment makes you a party member. Not a particularly onerous burden, yet party membership numbers are regularly trumpeted as evidence of popular support.
Third, attempts to marginalize Facebook users as outside the mainstream is difficult to reconcile with the fact that Canadians are among the most active social network users in the world. Recent estimates found 42 per cent of Canadians have a Facebook account with more than 50 per cent under the age of 45 on the social network.
Fourth, the dismissal of social media as a useful tool for rallying support fails to recognize what marketers have long understood -- word of mouth from a trusted source is always the most effective means of spreading a message. Political parties invest millions in ad campaigns trying to garner public support, but Facebook advocacy is potentially more effective because it's all about word of mouth. Joining a group may require little more than a mouse click, but behind that click is a trusted network of friends and colleagues providing their personal recommendation.
The battle is already won. Skeptics have pointed to rallies planned for this week as the litmus test for the effectiveness of the anti-proroguing Facebook group. But with polls finding mounting interest in the issue, the battle has already been won, suggesting it is long past time to cast aside doubts about the importance and effectiveness of digital advocacy.
You know that the Reformers must be feeling threatened because the trolls are out on the Canadians Against proroguing Parliament Facebook page, which is now at 192,468.
Chris White should be flattered.
I love that sight. You feel validated and have a place to vent, share stories, links, videos. Canadians coming together in the name of democracy. What could be better?
1. A breathtaking shift. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives would lose 33 seats if an election were held today and only maintain a tenuous hold on minority government, according to a new EKOS poll.
“From comfortable majority and kudos in October to the razor’s edge of losing government altogether,” says pollster Frank Graves, whose new survey finds that Canadians simply don’t like the Parliamentary shutdown. ...
My Joe Canadian award for today goes out to Justin Trudeau, who has been travelling the country trying to engage young people in politics. This is their future, and they need to become active participants in it.
One of the strategies of the neo-conservative movement is to turn people away from the polls by turning them off politics. That's the reason for the constant attack ads.
Republican strategist Paul Weyrich once stated "I don't want everyone to vote ... our leverage in the election quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down. We have no moral responsibility to turn out our opposition."
The late Milton Friedman, Ronald Reagan's economic advisor once lectured at the Fraser Institute: 'You can't say that majority voting is a basic right ... That's a proposition I object to very strenuously.' The institutes's senior economist, Walter Block, agreed. Why does it follow that we should have an equal right to vote in the political process?'
"Friedman followed up his thoughts in a Fraser Forum article which concluded, 'One of the things that troubles me very much is that I believe a relatively free economy is a necessary condition for a democratic society. But I also believe there is evidence that a democratic society, once established, destroys a free economy.' Not content to stop there, he suggested that it was the pursuit of wealth that was the ultimate social value, while the pursuit of justice would lead to total ruin'." (Hard Right Turn: The New Face of neo-Conservatism in Canada, Brooke Jeffrey, Harper-Collins, 1999, ISBN: 0-00 255762-2, Pg. 423)
You might ask yourself why the Liberals want to get people out to vote, when the Reform Conservatives prefer they stay home? Because the less we care, the better their chances.
In speaking with hundreds of students, he explained that politics desperately needs the ingenuity and ideas of Canadian youth to restore purpose and passion to our political system. Mr. Trudeau talked at length about the importance of politics in shaping our future and the future of our country and discouraged the students from letting cynicism deter them from getting involved. He acknowledged that superficial political games could turn people off, but if we really care about dealing with the issues that face our society, issues such as the economy, climate change, poverty, human rights, etc, the youth can and must play a pivotal role in exerting pressure and influencing policies.
Justin, delicately remained above heated partisan rhetoric, but he didn’t shy away from discussing the various competing ideologies among the different political parties. He also spoke passionately about the need for having a conversation with Canadians about a large encompassing vision for the role of government in shaping our society and helping our citizens. Overall, Justin’s contributions today were inspirational to Mississauga youth. They had a unique opportunity to hear first hand from someone who believes strongly in Canada. Mr. Trudeau’s confidence and passion will hopefully invite many youth to claim their rightful place in defining our priorities and needs as a nation.
Trudeau talks to students November 9, 2009
Justin Trudeau, the federal Liberal Party's youth and multiculturalism critic, made a whirlwind tour of Mississauga today to tell students about how the Liberal Party his father once led is striving to return to its grassroots.
Trudeau addressed about 400 students in an assembly at John Fraser Secondary School first thing this morning, then met in a small group session with the students who are in the leadership program at the Erin Mills high school.
The son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau then moved on the campus of the University of Toronto Mississauga, where students fired questions at him in a packed boardroom.
The 38-year-old MP for Papineau, Quebec, spoke about how the Liberals are being revitalized under the leadership of Michael Ignatieff and how they must convince Canadians that they remain the party that best expresses the opinion of the common man.
Trudeau was accompanied during his sweep of the city by Omar Alghabra, the former MP for Mississauga-Erindale. Alghabra has already been nominated to run for the Liberals again against incumbent Conservative MP Bob Dechert.
Trudeau won a seat in the House of Commons just over a year ago.
It is absolutely wrong for Canada, but since the Ref-Cons continue to make politics in Canada ugly, in order to bore us into giving them a majority; columnist Michael Byers has come up with a suggestion for the next election.
However, I would like to take this one step further. I think that the opposition parties, whose policies are not that different, should form a loose coalition now.
With no new confidence motions on the table, they could simply band together to make sure that none of the Ref-Con horrendous bills get passed. Now I know our government has resorted to blackmail, not that we should be surprised, but we can't let that stop us.
Negative ads have prejudiced voters against Michael Ignatieff, and brought Stephen Harper within reach of a majority government. The Conservatives now lead the Liberals by about 10 percentage points. The situation seems unlikely to improve. The Prime Minister's divisive partisan tactics have diminished the public's respect for politicians in general. In just four years, he has changed the tone of media coverage and public discourse, shifting the mood of the nation toward cynicism and selfishness.
Liberal infighting has not helped, while the NDP has missed two opportunities – on climate change and macroeconomic policy – to capture the national imagination with bold ideas. There is only one surefire way to prevent a Harper majority. The Liberals and NDP should agree to not run candidates against each other in the next campaign ...
A two state, democratic solution is the only one that should be acceptable. Too many people have died and too many lives destroyed, to want to prolong the carnage.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged Israel's new right-leaning governmentto stop building settlements in the West Bank and accept negotiations for a Palestinian state. Biden also asked Arab states to start moving toward ending Israel's isolation as President Barack Obama and his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres met for talks here. It was the first summit between the close allies since Benjamin Netanyahu was elected Israel's premier, and Obama took over in January as U.S. president.
"Israel's security is non-negotiable. Period," Biden told some 6,500 delegates to the annual conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, which calls itself the most influential foreign policy lobby in Washington.
"But Israel has to work toward a two-state solution," Biden said in the most forceful language the Obama administration has used so far to set out what it expects both from Israel and Arab nations.
"You're not going to like my saying this but (do) not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement," Biden told the audience, which nonetheless applauded him.
And he stressed at a Washington Convention Center decked out with giant photographs of U.S. and Israeli leaders greeting each other over the decades, that the Obama administration stood behind Israel's security.
Netanyahu, who has been invited for talks here in the coming weeks, has so far refused to publicly endorse the creation of a Palestinian state, and has insisted on focusing efforts on strengthening the West Bank economy before engaging in negotiations on a final status agreement.
Biden said the Obama administration looked forward to working with Netanyahu on how to strengthen the security apparatus of the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).
He urged the Arab states to support and fund Palestinian security and other institutions in the West Bank, which the PA still rules after a 2007 violent showdown with the militant movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
"Now is the time for Arab states to make meaningful gestures to show the Israeli leadership and the people the promise of ending Israel's isolation in the region is real and genuine," Biden said.
"They must take action now," he added.
Senator John Kerry, a fellow Democrat who replaced Biden as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made more specific pleas to the Arab states when he spoke to the conference moments earlier.
He urged Arab states to start "treating Israel like a normal country, ending the boycott, letting El Al (airline) fly over their countries and meeting Israel leaders."
He said "lack of support from Arab states" was a key reason that the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks failed in 2000 and degenerated into years of violence.
But he said there was a shift in the region in which Arabs now embrace the idea of land for peace and are also arrayed against a growing threat from Iran.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Hamas must recognize Israel, renounce terror and abide by past deals with Israel if Washington is to encourage the Jewish state to hold talks with the Palestinian Islamist movement.
"Those (requirements) haven't changed," Gibbs told a press briefing.
No details immediately emerged of Peres's separate talks with Obama, Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
But Peres told reporters Netanyahu had signed up to the commitments of the U.S.-backed "road-map" when asked by reporters about the new Israeli administration's failure to so far endorse a two-state solution.
"Mr Netanyahu said he will abide by the commitments of the previous government," Peres said after his closed-door meeting with Obama.
"The previous government accepted the road map — in the roadmap you will find the attitude to the two state solution."
Biden ended his speech by calling for Palestinian militants to release immediately and unconditionally Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held captive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip for nearly three years
So far there has been only one comment on the Calgary Herald article, but it shows just how disillusioned many Canadians have become over the issue. The ridiculous posturing of the Conservative government has made some believe that we are invincible. We will wear George Bush's mentality for some time. At least until we get the Tories out of power and bring intelligence back to Canadian politics and our foreign policy.
Unfortunately I think accepting two states would be the worst possible move here. If they do I am sure Hamas or whatever wingnut is in charge will say that this proves that they cannot be defeated and that they must continue along the current path. Its unfortunate but most likely true.
