(Crossposted to Bow. James Bow)
As impressive as it is for a Facebook group to gather over 200,000 Canadians united in opposition to Stephen Harper’s decision to prorogue parliament (especially compared to the 127,000 Canadians who joined the Facebook group against last year’s coalition proposal), a question has to be asked: where do we go from here? Because, as impressive as that number is, it doesn’t take much effort to express one’s opinions on Facebook. Although you have heard some people signing up to Facebook specifically to join this group, for most participants the task was as simple as clicking a link. Democracy requires more than just that.
Which is why some people are paying attention to the rallies planned across Canada this Saturday (the Saturday before parliamentarians would have returned to work, if Stephen Harper hadn’t intervened). A grassroots effort has sprung up and a lot of people have worked very hard to get venues scheduled in dozens of cities across Canada, but how many bodies will show up? Blogger Shireen of Talk Talk Talk worries that there won’t be as many as organizers would like. Previous Facebook activism hasn’t been so successful in generating a large response in the physical world.
If the people who joined the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group want to keep the momentum of their efforts going, they need to make the effort. They have to show up on Saturday. If they don’t, and this protest fizzles, they will only have themselves to blame. There is little I can do about this, except to make the effort myself.
So, I have promised myself that I will be attending Waterloo Region’s rally this Saturday (at Waterloo Public Square at the corner of King Street and Willis Way at 11 a.m.), and not just because I care strongly about the issue of prorogation. I think it’s time that I stand up and march alongside my fellow Canadians because Canadians everywhere need to be reminded that this is how democracy is done. It isn’t enough to sit behind your desk and click on Facebook links. If you want change, you have to make change yourself, through campaigning, through writing letters to your MP, through voting the bastards out when feasible, and even getting up and marching along our public streets and making our voice heard.
There will be people out there, including Conservative supporters and government MPs, who will dismiss our activities as frippery, and our activists as frivolous, but they forget that this is how we’ve won most of our hard fought-for rights in this country, even the right to speak. As valuable as the right to speak is, simply speaking behind the walls of your home isn’t enough. Sometimes, to be heard, we have to speak loud, and in public.
So, I will be attending the local rally against prorogation this Saturday, and I’ll be taking Vivian with me. Will my presence there may a difference? Maybe. Maybe not. But that’s not the important reason why I’m going. I’m going because I think it’s important for Vivian to see what a peaceful demonstration looks like and what it sounds like. I’m going because I think it’s important for Vivian to learn the benefits and responsibilities of living in a democracy. I’m going because I think it’s important that she understand that she has a right to speak and, more importantly, she has a right to speak loudly, and sometimes that right is an obligation if she wants to make change.
I think it’s important to remember that all democracy is exercise, and without exercise, our democracy, like our muscles, will atrophy.
Time to shape up.
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Agreed James. It is my sincere hope, that even though I did not sign-up for the Facebook group, I will be there in person supporting our vision of democracy in Canada.
I must admit I am a bit confused by the fuss about this issue. If we assume that the Governments actions are in fact legal (and if it’s not the solution is a court case not a rally or a face book group). Why don’t the opposition parties just threaten a no-confidence vote? It seem that even if we disregard the prorogueing of parliament there are more then enough issues on the table to make a election worthwhile (our future in Afghanistan and the deficit being the two big ones). As an aside do you really think that the Liberals have any more respect for parliament then the Tory’s? My memory of the last few Liberal governments was that they were just as fond of centralizing power in the PMO as Harper is and also found the urge to manipulate the rules of parliament to partisan advantage irresistible.
Well, the opposition parties sort of proposed a vote of non-confidence last year, followed by a coalition. Harper prorogued parliament at that time as well. But I would argue that the vote of non-confidence is too much of a blunt instrument. It’s still theoretically possible for our minority parliament to function if the government would treat it with respect. Unfortunately, Harper is showing a pattern of trying to avoid legislative oversight, abusing the legal process of proroguation in order to shut down committees and avoid the business of parliament.
And I’m not a Liberal, here. Haven’t voted for them since 1993. I am well aware that the prime minister’s centralization of power predates Harper, and the abuse of proroguation has happened before. An example given is Chretien’s proroguation in 2003, which opposition leader Stephen Harper criticized, even though the excuse was stronger — Chretien was leaving and Paul Martin was taking over; prorogue parliament and get Martin to relaunch things with a throne speech and a clean slate. But it was still unnecessary. People criticized Chretien then, including Harper. So what treatment should Harper expect now that he’s done this with an even more flimsy excuse?
In the long term, I would like changes to come of this, making the prime minister more responsible to parliament. Proroguation should be something decided by majority vote of the House of Commons, not on the whim of the PM. But for now, for right now, the important thing is to communicate to Harper, the Conservatives, and to the Liberals who hope to replace them, that we lose our apathy about the process, once someone tries to use our apathy against us.