Valentine’s Day Card campaign clarification

There was room for confusion in my last post.  The Valentine’s Day Cards mailing address is actually a CAPP Ottawa mailing address and CAPP Ottawa has lined up a horse and carriage and are working on a volunteer Cupid. We will make a spectacle of the delivery so that the press continues to cover the issue.

The FB Group is called Valentine’s Day Cards for Democracy but more important is getting the word out with the Event Invitation on that page. If you’re not on FB, our mailing address is P.O. Box 693, Osgoode, Ontario K0A 2W0.

Please help spread this initiative through the various regional sites and with reposts on the CAPP main site. Please collect cards from everyone you know and send them on. Together, we can make this a news worthy event.

Thanks for supporting the cause.

Valentine’s Day Cards for Democracy campaign

CAPP Ottawa wants to heap a pile of Valentine’s Day cards (“I love Democracy” and the like) on Mr. Harper but we need your help.

So far there are only 84 members at the Valentine’s Day Cards for Democracy FB Group. Out of 222,384!?!? Please join the FB Group “Valentine’s Day Cards for Democracy” and forward the Event Invitation to your contacts.

Collect cards from family, friends and co-workers to send on.

Please post the link to your regional CAPP sites. Please repost this request regularly on the CAPP sites since we only have a short window of opportunity for this initiative. Thanks for your help, and let’s get those cards rolling. Cheers.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=449845460461&ref=mf#!/event.php?eid=459823830166&index=1

The rallies were a success, even if the Tory’s won’t admit it.

Originally posted on http://ColinLeFevre.ca/

It was an amazing turnout in Toronto

Conservative spin drives me nuts. I absolutely hate it. But as much as I dislike what many Conservatives are saying about the “bad turn out” of the rallies this past weekend, I feel it is important to listen to their point. Why? Because on some level I can understand their arguments. Yes, compared to many historical rallies, compared to the number of people in the Facebook group, and moreover compared to the overall population of Canada, yes, the rallies were not attended by an insane number of people. It is certainly not unprecedented to get a few thousand people out to a rally. Period. What I disagree with was that these rallies were not a success, because they absolutely were.

Why were they a success? Just because this was not the largest rally known to Canada certainly does not mean it was not successful. We had an extremely large group on the streets showing our disappointment with Harper. We didn’t need hundreds of thousands of people in one place to prove that we have created a solid movement. We had a strong and concentrated effort across Canada to show our discontent with Stephen Harper. There were not just one or two rallies; there were more than 60 across the country. For the largest rallies, I have heard significantly different attendance numbers, but I can say from my own presence in Toronto there were definitely more than 3,000 people as many are claiming. I don’t know what the “official” numbers were, but if you were there I’m sure you agree with me. It was a huge and imposing crowd, and it was absolutely a success.

I really don’t care what the Conservatives who are spinning the rallies to be a failure are saying. To be honest, if they thought it was such a failure they would be simply ignoring that rallies even happened… instead they won’t stop telling us it was such a failure. That in of itself says something.

Lastly, this rally took place in January in Canada. We got thousands of people out on the streets. Canada is not warm in January. Enough said I think.

Also, we have a Facebook group with over 200,000 people across the country who are disappointed by the Prime Minister’s abuse of power. Yes, to the critics, it doesn’t take a lot of work to join a Facebook group – but here are the facts: there are now over 200,000 Canadians who are now informed about this anti-democratic situation, and are very likely passing off their discontent and knowledge to others. This was all done with little effort, and would have likely not happened without this Facebook group. Why? Because the younger generation often does not get their information from traditional forms of media such as news shows or newspapers, but they do from the internet, and specifically through forms of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. This is why the Facebook group has been a huge success. I will disagree with anyone who says otherwise.

This morning John Moore interviewed me on Newstalk 1010 about the protests and he did ask me one interesting question, which I will address once again on here. Essentially he asked me if Stephen Harper will care about these rallies. My honest answer to that is – no, he will not care. Not even one bit. This is not a Prime Minister who is willing to bend his agenda to the will of Canadians. His agenda is just that – his agenda, not that of the electorate. He will not change his plans because of a rally. On the other hand I do feel that these rallies have motivated the opposition and have started to change the electorate’s opinion on the Harper government – you can see it in the polling numbers. The Conservatives and the Liberals are in a dead heat now, which was not even close prior to Harper proroguing Parliament. We have a motivated opposition with significant momentum. This is very good for Canadian democracy.

In the end I feel Harper, the Conservatives, and their spin machine are running scared. These rallies were a huge success, and because of this they have to be out in full force ensuring people believe they were a failure when they clearly were not. Thousands of Canadians took to the streets in 60 different rallies across the country, and that made it a success. We have the Conservatives running scared… now is the time to capitalize.

Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Rally – Toronto Edition

Originally posted on http://ColinLeFevre.ca/

As Canadian as you can get. Tim Horton's and all.

First off, this was actually my first protest/rally experience in my almost 25 years on this earth… and this was certainly not by accident. For the most part I am against the concept of protests. I feel they often get out of hand, get off point, and are generally ineffective.

That said, why did I attend this one? Well, it was for a cause I truly believe in, but moreover, I knew that with the large numbers that were expected for this rally I felt it actually could make a difference. Now honestly speaking, I have absolutely zero expectation of these rallies changing Stephen Harper’s policies, but I definitely do think it will motivate the opposition parties knowing so many Canadian’s are behind them and moreover will motivate Canadian voters to vote against Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. This is why I attended this rally.

Now, was it successful? Well, in Toronto I definitely think it was. There were definitely thousands of people out at Yonge-Dundas Square, numbers I have heard ranging up to 7000 and that is a number I would absolutely believe. It was a gigantic crowd. I was impressed. Canadians are disappointed with Stephen Harper’s blatant sidestepping of the democratic process, and today we were heard loud and clear.

The crowd had many great/amusing signs, but there was one thing in particular that did bother me – the NDP’s overbearing presence (in terms of signs) at a rally that was specifically designed to be non-partisan. The Green’s and Communist Party (yes, the Communist Party) had signs there as well, but there was no party as obvious as the NDP. I actually only saw one Liberal sign all day, which I was impressed by. The NDP didn’t seem to understand the concept of a non-partisan rally, and this disappointed me as I feel their blatant partisanship hurt the message of the rally.

I thought this was non-partisan, Jack?

Beyond that I was certainly a little confused by strange songs at some points (Oh Canada to anti-Harper lyrics offended me a little) and some more radical speakers than I wouldn’t generally agree with, but for the most part the rally was a very positive experience. I would say, other than those few minor points I was very impressed with the rally today. We got a huge crowd, which was for the most part happy, peaceful, good spirited, sometimes amusing, and appropriate for kids. I always fear protests can get a little extreme and dangerous, but today’s protest stayed safe and good spirited.

In the end, and despite the minor gripes I did have, we held over 60 separate rallies across the country – and the reality is that today we got our message out. I hope the media coverage tonight is strong, because Canadians who were not out deserve to know what was going on today and why. Stephen Harper – I know you wanted Canadian’s to not care that you decided not to show up for work, but we do. You’re not doing your job, and we are not happy. Now Canadians need to stand up in the next election and show their frustration at the ballot box.

Hey Steve, look at the crowd. We do care. Too bad for your anti-democratic agenda.

French Quebecers Seem to be too Cynical to Care About Prorogation

Cross posted at Sister Sage’s Musings

Something that I had been concerned about since this all happened.  An article in today’s Grope & Fail with translated sources from French language newspapers.  Honestly,  had it not been for my observations of apathy amongst my French speaking  co-workers and Francophones in general as well as the low Francophone memberships Montreal and Quebec City Chapters of Canadians against prorogation rally planning groups on Facebook and, search as I may, not much reaction from Gilles Duceppe other than the following tweet on his Twitter account, I wouldn’t have believed the article in the Grope & Fail.

Sadly, they feel their voices aren’t heard enough in Ottawa; that their voices don’t count.

Gilles Duceppe’s reaction: prorogation has become “a tradition for Harper.”

“Instead of facing the music, he prorogues,” Duceppe wrote.

Other than the fact the Bloc announced its’ plans to work in their ridings, like the N.D.P., not much is happening from that corner. Perhaps if Gilles Duceppe announced it was going back to Ottawa alongside the Liberals on January 25 and he made that known to the mainstream media, perhaps Quebecers may have a different attitude toward prorogation.

A variety of reasons seem to contribute to French Quebec’s apathy: from lack of understanding of Canada’s Parliamentary system to lack of respect for parliament, according to the Grope & Fail.

Josee Legault of the Montreal French language weekly, Le Voir writes:

“There’s nothing like a populace ignorant of its own democratic institutions to allow a prime minister to go so far as to strip our elected representatives of their constitutional prerogatives,”

Now, that is frightening.  Education would be the logical answer, but one has to want to know.  One gets the feeling, they don’t want to know, so how do we engage them?

I work for a social services agency that serves the Anglophone population of Quebec; thus far, only one of my co-workers is interested in attending the Montreal rally up to date and asked me to keep him up to date. The rest don’t even know about or barely heard grumblings of it.

One of my French speaking co-workers came up to me yesterday and simply grimaced; ” it doesn’t matter what we think or do; Harper will get his majority.” She, of course, must have stopped following the polls awhile ago.  Stevie’s numbers started going down since prorogation and he is now down about 10 points since last Fall.  I told her his numbers dropped but she didn’t change her tune. She is of the belief Stevie will climb back up. She did, however, ask me to forward her any literature on the subject. Sadly, I think her views reflect most of those of French Quebec society today.

I also tend to wonder if the  now dormant separatist movement will make a comeback if there is an election coming soon and Stevie does get his majority? Are the separatists perhaps saving their energy for a potential separatist movement?

Perhaps the separatists just don’t feel that prorogation matters as they’re only interested in le Pays du Quebec?

I think there are only two ways we can perhaps get them out alongside Quebec’s Anglos in the Quebec City and Montreal Rallies come January 23. Our planning meeting spoke of the possibility of getting leaders of Quebec’s largest labor unions. French Quebecers; separatists or not tend to be very pro union.

Another way would be to hit the message home that whether or not you’re separatist; your democratic rights were stripped away just like the rest of us.

There is still time to get French speaking Quebecers to demonstrate alongside the rest of us, be they separatist or not.

To my French speaking readers, I hope you can get your friends, relatives and co workers out come Saturday afternoon, January 23.

Kelowna-Okanagan No-Prorogue Protest Planning Meeting

A rally logistical planning session and ideas meeting will take place in Kelowna on January 16, 2010, from 1:00-3:30 pm.

Please bring materials to make signage. Some poster templates will be provided.

Location is #1250 Glenmore Rd N, at the All Saints Lutheran Church (basement of house).

View Larger Map

For more information, contact Lisa: lisadahrouge@gmail.com

Thunder Bay Rally

Date: Saturday Jan. 23, 2010
Place:Lakehead Labour Centre
929 Fort William Rd
Time: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm