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’s Shoebox Parliament

I just thought I’d share my own take on prorogation, with a little puppeteering and satire in a shoebox

You can search for it on YouTube under “Canada’s Shoebox Parliament” or just follow this link:

Hope you enjoy it!
Liam

A great day for democracy

It was magnificent. After three weeks of online and off line organizing, tens of thousands of people across generations and political persuasions took to the streets in 65 cities and towns across the country and around the world to stop the erosion of democracy in Canada.

Organized mostly by activists in their 20′s, using the tools of social media to reach each other across the vast distances of land and political discourse. they found that tens of thousands of Canadians really do want their voices to be heard in the democratic process. Prime Minister Harper made the mistake of pride and arrogance so often the downfall of autocratic leaders by saying that Canadians wouldn’t care that he shut down Parliament. That’s what really pissed them off.

The protests had enough of an impact that you have no doubt seen the TV news and reports from mainstream media, as well as on Facebook, Twitter and rabble.ca. But I am enough of an old leftie to think an analysis of its significance is useful.

As I said in my speech to the Toronto rally below, the method of organizing this rally was completely unprecendented in Canada. Activists in Europe have been using networking through social media and text messaging for a few years now. Some of the most important protests we have seen in Europe over the past years have been organized this way. What the networking does is allow for individuals without organizational or institutional support to organize in a new way.

The Facebook group started by an indivdual student at the University of Alberta grew exponentially and allowed a space not only for 210,000 people to indicate their anger at Harper’s proroguing Parliament but also a for activists to begin organizing protests. In all my years of organizing, I have never seen a truly spontaneous protest like this.

Moreover, in a country like Canada, organizing a national demonstration without resources has been almost impossible. Even in the pro-choice movement in the 1980′s, the most powerful movement of my life in Canada, we would not have been able to organize simultaneous protests in so many cities. It is the decentralization, the low level of entry, and the ability of anyone to call themselves part of the CAPP (Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament) as long as they oppose the Prorogue that makes it possible. So there were protests in dozens of small towns, a few cities around the world and even a single protester in Oman. The protests were organized differently in each city. In Toronto, there were no politicians permitted to speak, in Ottawa, the leaders of the Opposition parties were featured but the message was similar developed through online media. Social networking, this time through live reports on Twitter, also allowed the organizers to control the message including how many protested, 25,000.

Secondly, a new generation of leadership emerged through CAPP. Christopher White who started it all is an Anthropology grad student from University of Alberta. In Toronto it was three student activists, all three people of colour. In most places, it was individuals rather than organizations who organized events. The political parties came to support it late in the game with the exception of Elizabeth May from the Green Party who is the only leader who seems to understand social movement politics, followed by the Liberals and finally the NDP. The issue of proroguing did not cross the Quebec border and protests in Quebec were small and mostly anglophone. The leadership was young but the participants were all ages.

For more http:www.transformingpower.ca

There is a Point to all of This

People in general already know *who* Harper really is underneath it all and they are not happy with being repeatedly manipulated. Facebook is uniting a formidable force.  Sitting bull Canadians usually a docile and easygoing group, now no longer exists! 

This translates into votes down the road… as this will not be forgotten.  Neither will the income trust scam- elderly people take note of your statements this year!

Harper Is What Happens When You Don’t Vote

With Harper finally poised to go down in flames, I keep thinking about how stunned I was when this guy got elected. Nobody will admit to having voted for him, except for one lone in-law.

There are plenty of folks out there who will tell you that it makes no difference who gets elected because they are all the same. SO WRONG!

I can testify that my life was very hard under the Mulroney government and when Chretien got elected, it didn’t take long before things became a little easier and I could buy my first house.

I’m not saying that I worked less or that some miracle occurred. I am also not some elite member of Canadian society. I’m just an ordinary wife and mom from the prairies.

In a nutshell, the mystical things that happen in Ottawa eventually trickle down to you and me. That’s all. It took me years to be able to see it, but there it is. So, yes it DOES matter who gets elected.

When Harper got re-elected I was amazed, until I found out that particular election had the lowest voter turnout in Canadian history.

Oh my.

Here’s our chance to make that right. With a large enough turnout on January 23rd, right across the country, not even the conservatives will be able to bury this story.

Trust me, history shows that when people who are widely known as peaceful and content take to the streets in large numbers the world pays attention and wonders why.

Maybe this will mean that me and the rest of my country will not have to suffer much longer under a whack-job Prime Minister that I voted against in the first place.

read more on my blog here

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

Video: 3 tunes for democracy

Check out the Ottawa Raging Grannies’ video against prorogation:

You can get the words to the songs at http://www.ottawagrans.net/songs/Politics

Canadians Deserve Parliamentary Reform

(Originally posted on http://ColinLeFevre.ca/ )

The Problem

Ok so we’re all frustrated with Stephen Harper.

We’re going to protest what he did.

His actions are blatantly degrading our Parliamentary system and rendering our House of Commons more and more redundant with his every move.

We all agree?  Alright, so what’s next?

Being completely honest here we need to realize that at this point Parliament is not going to be called back until March.  It is great the Liberals are going back, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see the NDP and Bloc follow suit, but lets be honest, Parliament will not formally resume until March.  This is not going to change.  We are all angry about it obviously, but lets focus on legitimate goals moving forward.

So when Parliament resumes in March what will be on the agenda?  Obviously the economy and some of the scrapped bills will be reintroduced… but what else?

Well, this whole debacle (and last year’s painfully similar debacle) has shown us that we need serious democratic reform in Canada.  People from all party’s seem to agree these days, with the exception of the Conbots who are stuck on their baseless talking points, but even a good number of Conservatives I have spoken to agree with me here.

This article in the Globe and Mail was the one that really got me thinking about this.  It’s a very smart article, and I hope all Canadians take a read though it.  I think it is very important.

But to actually be successful at democratic reform our party’s need to drop the partisan talking points and do what is best for Canada, not what’s best for their party’s electoral chances. This needs to include the Liberals taking accountability for their part in the degradation of our Parliament, because this was not solely a Conservative problem.  Canadians need a democratic, responsive, and effective government but there needs to be significant change in order for this to happen, and this change will take multi-partisan cooperation.

There have been many times Canada has taken on Constitutional reform – 1982, Meech Lake, Charlottetown – but I can’t, at least off the top of my head, think of a time that Canada’s government focused directly on overall democratic reform, but this is what we need right now.

Most of the reform ideas I have heard of recently have been focused in certain areas – Senate reform and Electoral reform the most popular of these – but recently there have been no high level talks about a legitimate overhaul of our democracy as a whole.  Admittedly this will be a lot of work, but for the integrity of our country’s government it will be completely worth it.

We need a legislative system that cannot be called to a halt on a whim.  We need a legislative system where our MP’s have the power and ability to actually represent their constituencies, without the fear of the party whip.  We need an electoral system that allows for the number of votes cast to actually be represented in the House of Commons.  We need an Upper House that has a purpose and some semblance of democratic legitimacy. Canadians are becoming very disillusioned with our system and it can be seen in both the grassroots Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament movement and can be seen even clearer in our abysmal voter turnout in recent elections. Our system has many problems, and we need to look towards a solution to restore our Parliament’s legitimacy both domestically and on the world stage, because our current system is a massive embarrassment.

The Solution

It is time to restore Canadian democracy, and this will be through how we legislate.

We need to look at everything we do and look at the best practices of other countries.  We need to assemble a multi-partisan group of leaders to lead this charge along with top political academics.

I am not going to claim being an expert on the subject, but I do know that we need significant change in this country.  Just off the top of my head I can think of a good number of areas that we need to look at:

Ties to British Monarchy. Honestly, why are we still a part of the monarchy?  To me this makes no sense.  The Governor General herself has proven the position redundant over the past year or so.  She gives in to every request by the Prime Minister, costs taxpayers a fortune, and runs “ceremonial” events.  We have other people who can do these things.  And by getting rid of the Governor General we can then vest ultimate power in Parliament.  What a novel concept…

Our electoral system. Our current system consistently elects false majority governments, the last few aside.  Often majority governments are elected with significantly less than a majority of the legitimate votes cast, making many Canadian votes mean essentially nothing.  Groups like Fair Vote Canada have been working on this for years, as well as referendums have taken place in multiple provinces.  It is time that our Federal government starts to look at a more fair electoral system.

The Senate. Ah the Senate.  Honestly, what do you do?  Yes you read through and pass bills from the House of Commons.  Often you send Bills back for review as your position of “sober second thought.”  There are generally three options I hear on this one.  First, keep our current system.  Second, elect our Senators, and realign where Senators come from in the country (equal representation).  Third, simply abolish it.  There are arguments for all three, but this is something that needs to be seriously looked at from a Constitutional level.  This body is incredibly expensive for Canadian taxpayers, so it certainly better serve a purpose, and in my opinion, right now it barely does.

MP’s job description. MP’s need to be more independent.  They need to be able to do investigative research – not just depend on what the PMO will agree to release.  They should actually be responsible to their constituencies because lets be honest, right now they are far more responsible to their party brass than to the constituents who they theoretically represent.  Also, MP’s who show discontent and disagreement within a party should be allowed to do so.  Someone shouldn’t be turfed from the party or blocked from running for reelection for having a different opinion.  Obviously, from a party’s standpoint, there is always hope that unity holds up, but if there is enough disagreement between backbench MP’s and the Cabinet (for example) it is likely that they could change the course of the party.  Right now we have a Parliamentary system where the individual MP’s opinion doesn’t matter.  They must submit to the will of the leader, and that is the end of the story.  In this system there is little or no way for an MP to effectively represent their constituency.   This needs to change

Number of MP’s. This I feel should be seriously looked at.  How many people can one person effectively represent?  Is it more, less or the same as our MP’s currently are representing?  Especially if their job is recalibrated to be more legitimately representative to their constituents this number may be significantly different.  We need to do studies and figure the proper number out.

Size, purpose, and power of cabinet. We have a very powerful executive in Canada.  Now it would be completely idiotic in my opinion to suggest getting rid of this function because then nothing would ever get done, but to look at its size, purpose, and specifically power would be a very good use of time.  The cabinet needs to remember that it is indeed responsible to the legislature, but historically has not always done this.

House of Commons procedure. As it is the topic of the day, lets use prorogation of Parliament as an example here.  We need to look at who holds decision-making power over procedures like proroguing Parliament, and why.  Should there be a majority vote of the House of Commons needed?  In any case, there needs to be serious discussion into placing limits and rules surrounding these procedures.

Coalition governments. Is this term almost a curse word in Canada these days?  I have no idea why coalition governments are such a scary concept to Canadians.  They actually allow a minority government to function because you can have a majority of MP’s on the same page.  We could actually have stable and long lasting minority governments if a coalition was an option to Canadian political parties.  We as Canadians need to accept that this is a legitimate option.

Set election dates. Ontario has implemented this quite effectively, but federally Harper’s attempt was killed by… umm who again?  Oh, by himself.  This is an initiative I do agree with though, because it allows all party’s, not just the sitting government, to know when an election is coming up in order to properly prepare.  This of course comes with challenges when it comes to minority governments, but if we effectively move forward with democratic reform minority governments should be much more stable, like in most of the world, thus making set election dates possible.

________________________________

If all of the sitting party’s were to get to work on the task of democratic reform it would also be a great opportunity to practice being a minority government.  No one party’s single agenda should or will be the one passed.  There need to be negotiations, party’s giving up things in order to get others.  It’s a give and take people.  You run a minority government (Harper, listen up here) and everyone should get a say at some point, proper negotiations need to take place.

Lets restore confidence in our government by creating a system that actually works – because clearly our current system does not.  We have a Prime Minister running a minority government, but acting like a majority because when an opposition party threatens an election the Prime Minister’ polling numbers skyrocket because Canadians don’t want another election.  He can call off the legislative session whenever he wants and run away from controversy.

Canadians clearly want a Parliament that actually works, and the one we have does not.  You can look at the plummeting voter turnout rates simply to prove this.  Canadians have become apathetic because of a broken system (incredibly successful Facebook group aside) and it is time for the Canadian political party’s to step up, take responsibility, and fix it.

I realize this will take a lot of work, and both legislative and constitutional changes, but if it restores our Parliament to a high standard of governance it absolutely makes it worth our legislators investment of time and resources.

He Will Hear Us

One way or another Mr. Harper will acknowlege the Canadian people’s movement towards revolution. We are sick of him proroguing parliment everytime something doesn’t go his way. This is paralell to a child taking his toys and going home, and our Governer General allows this sick behaviour. It’s time we prorogue their careers!