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

Canada 2.0

Today’s protests around Canada against the Conservative’s reckless abuse of power were a great success, look here, even the Globe and Mail is impressed.

So, how did a little ‘internet protest’ turn into over 25,000 feet on the ground in over 60 locations across the country today? Two reasons. First,  Canadians are awesome!  Second, Facebook is not some silly little internet toy in Canada. Di you know that around 45% of Canadians are on Facebook.  That’s not 45% of Canadians on the Internet…its 45% of all Canadians!  Think about that.  That mean half of Canadians can go look up this strange “Facebook group” thing the media talk about, in fact, they don’t even think its that strange or inconsequential because they’re on Facebook.  Twitter is another matter, apparently only about 1% of Canadians are on Twitter. But Facebook is a particularly effective way to reach out to a large number of Canadians.  Consider that if half the country is on Facebook, then every Canadian is either on Facebook or probably has a spouse, sibling, child  or parent on Facebook.

Look at the graph, its not just young people either. Half the Canadians on Facebook list their age as over 25. And its probably more than that because there are more Canadian 18-24 year-olds on Facebook than there are actual Canadian 18-24 year-olds, so someone is lying about their age, and they’re probably low-balling.  Regardless, statistically, if you are a child and have parents under 45, one of them is on Facebook.  You of course are also on Facebook.  And at least one of your grandparents is on Facebook.  So the reach of this tool in Canada is unparalleled.  There is no other way to reach so many Canadians so easily.

Maybe today, after the largest, decentralized national protests our nation has ever seen, people will wake up to that fact. Hopefully they’ll realize that its not actually that easy to create a Canadian Facebook group that has hundreds of thousands of members.  You have to really appeal to them, people think about what it will look like to their friends when they join a group.

Today we saw the impact of that. 200,000 motivated people, having discussions and sharing their support publicy online can have.  Each city spawned off a separate group and event. A call went out to get organizers. Only motivated people with experience and determination showed up and still many of these meetings had hundreds of people!  Each group independently organized events, sent messages to their followers with advice on clothing, how to behave and where to meet. Maps went up on Google to show the real, stunning extent of the protests. And it all went off without a hitch, no violence, no trouble and minimal partisanship.  It was a wonder to behold and it makes me so proud to be a Canadian.  It gives me hope that reasonableness is not dead in this country and that people are willing to take action to defend it.

Now it is up to us to continue putting the pressure on our ‘leaders’ to listen to us all.   The governing party thinks they only need to represent those who voted for them, a fundamental misunderstanding of representative democracy. One for which they will be punished. The opposition parties have been reluctant to commit too strongly to the cause of fixing what ails our democracy.  They each (sorry Green’s, I know you’re on side) make tame proposals and argue the real solution is that they should govern and they would never do this.  But they are missing the big picture.

At today’s rally in Vancouver there was chanting and applause and jeering for all kinds of reasons.  Anti-Harper, pretty loud jeeers.  Pro NDP? The NDP section of the crowd cheered loudly.  Pro Liberal?  The little official Liberal corner cheered loudly.  We failed the world in Copenhagen?  Good general applause and loud cheering from the Green and environmental section.  But I think the most widespread, consistent applause, where everyone was clapping and cheering and going “Yah!” was reserved for the following kinds of statements:

• “we need to fix our democracy”
• “our MPs got to get back to work”
• “we need proportional representation so the people who go to Ottawa have a real mandate”
• “we need to reform democracy so that the government actually represents the majority of Canadians”

Stuff like that, you know, crazy stuff. Crazy, democracy stuff.

Not at all the kind of thing a largely regional minority governing party with no possible allies wants to hear.  Not something a non-regional party with delusions of being the ‘natural governing party’ want to hear either.  Apparently not even something a pro-labour, pro-social justice party who’s leader thinks he’s “running for Prime Minister” wants to hear.  The NDP want to talk about specific solutions to the specific problem of prorogation.  Fine.  The Liberals want to talk about increasing voter turnout by improving the tone in Ottawa, which of course only they can do. Fine.

But those are not the real issues.

The real issue is that our democracy is broken and none you are listening to the people who hired you because they didn’t really hire you.  You know you only need a solid 40% of the country, spread around the right way to win an all powerful majority, and you just can’t turn down the possibility of absolute power.

Well, the time is past where the only people who can organize a crowd in this country are the political parties and labour unions.  We don’t have to stand for it anymore.

In Canada 2.0 around 45% of Canadians have a very convenient tool for organizing whenever they want to, and now they know it actually works for real world stuff.

So, national opposition parties, you’ve got a little time to work out a real solution that gets to the root of the democratic deficit in this country, before people start organizing new parties and coordinated voting to bring you all down.  A little time.  But remember, Canada 2.0 measures progress in internet time.

So, I figure, you’ve got about 2 months, or until the next election. Which, if you’re smart, will be the same thing.

Today, we stand for democracy.

Throughout our land today,
we raise our voices for democracy.

We march in peaceful protest to send a message to you who claim to lead us, be you blue, red or orange.
The message: This shall not stand.

We raise our voices today to remind you that you serve at our leisure, not your own, nor the Queen’s.
You have been sent forth to uphold our values, the build a just society, to build a vibrant economy and to stand for peace and honour.
You’re power flows from us alone, so listen well to our voices, all of you.
Put aside your petty squabbles.  You have been told to work together, and so you must.

You discard our votes, you ignore our wishes, you play your games with the checks and balances of power.
But you will not discard the traditions of centuries, traditions for which endless blood has been split.
We march today as defenders of the traditions you cast aside, of reason and debate, of parliament, the foundations upon which democracy, Canadian democracy, is built.

Our small but great northern nation has achieved so much through being guided by reason and tradition.
Reason and tradition led us, like almost no other nation, to freedom without war or bloodshed. Let us have these concepts restored to rule our democracy once more.

For be warned, though we grow weary of your games, do not bread apathy amongst us. Do not dare to use our cycniscm and weariness against us or we will cast you aside and wash the slate clean!

vive le Canda!
vive la Démocratie!

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

Thank you, Mr. Harper

The last week has seen a sudden and bizarre growth in political engagement. Tens of thousands of Canadians have become interested in the intricacies of Parliament, namely the difference between “adjournment” and “prorogation.” Mr. Harper has chosen to cancel all of the Parliamentary committees and the kill all of the unpassed bills, and that has Canadians angry.

Canadians were quiet when Richard Colvin alleged that our government committed war crimes. Canadians were quiet when Mr. Harper sacked the head of the nuclear regulatory commission for doing her job. Canadians were quiet when the Conservative Party was hauled in front of Elections Canada for their in-and-out financing scheme. But Harper’s recent move to prorogue Parliament may be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The Facebook group protesting the Harper Holiday has grown from a little under twenty thousand members on January 5 to almost 139 thousand as I write this. We’re even planning a rally in Ottawa.

One hundred and forty thousand Canadians who care about the state of their democracy might not seem like a lot, but it’s a good start. Over the past few decades, we’ve allowed the power of the Prime Minister’s Office grow. We’ve watched passively as our prime ministers have hidden from the media, avoiding difficult questions. Any reversal in that pattern is good for our democracy.

Happy New Year, Mr. Harper. Here’s hoping you’ve started something big.

Originally posted elsewhere.