Canada's Pro-Democracy Movement

McJ's picture

As I mentioned in an earlier comment I attended my first rally ever last weekend. A pro democracy rally smiling . Here is a small run down on what has been going on in Canada.

It's been estimated that on Saturday, Jan 23, 2010 more than 25,000 Canadians demonstrated in over 60 cites in Canada and around the world. They were protesting Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Proroguing (closing) of parliament for the second January in a row. What's notable is that it was a spontaneous protest having it's roots on a Face Book group started by University of Alberta student, Christopher White. Within 2-3 weeks it's membership rose to almost a quarter million (the largest and fastest growing FB Group in Canada). Canadians across the country finally began to wake up to the fact that their democracy was under attack.

Last year Stephen Harper prorogued the Canadian parliament to avoid a vote of non confidence in the house that would have brought his government down. This year it was to avoid having to answer the questions of a parliamentary committee. The committee was looking into the abuse and torture of Afghan detainees who were transferred to Afghan authorities by the Canadian Military. The proroguing of parliament means that over 30 bills that were making their way through the house have been dropped and have to be reintroduced, parliamentary committees are ended and must be restarted from scratch and government accountability offices (watchdogs) are closed for business. Making matters worse, Stephen Harper and his ministers then took to the airwaves to tell Canadians that the suspension of parliament was a routine procedure and that we really weren't concerned about what was happening to Afghan detainees. It was a big mistake on his part. It turns out Canadians actually do care. His Conservative government has dropped 10 points in the polls since then, putting them in a dead heat with the Liberal opposition.

This news clip from the Real News Network is a fairly decent rundown of events.

Stephen Harper's official excuse for shutting down parliament (there are a whole list of secondary excuses) is that his government needs to recalibrate their economic plan. No one seems to know for sure what exactly that means but apparently they can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

On a humerous note lots of Canadians have had fun with this piece of history.
Off with his head:
King Charles I dissolved the Parliament of England in 1628, after the Petition of Right, he gave a prorogation speech that effectively canceled all future meetings of the legislature, at least until he could get his finances in order.
King Charles I was subsequently captured, tried and convicted of high treason. He was beheaded Jan 30, 1649. The monarchy was then abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England was declared.

Comments

History repeats

"King Charles I dissolved the Parliament of England in 1628, after the Petition of Right, he gave a prorogation speech that effectively canceled all future meetings of the legislature, at least until he could get his finances in order.
King Charles I was subsequently captured, tried and convicted of high treason. He was beheaded Jan 30, 1649. The monarchy was then abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England was declared."

The admonition of "History repeats itself" is usually seen as a negative comment. Hopefully, in the future, it will be seen as a positive one, too. Here's hoping!

McJ's picture

We can have hope

Yes, we can have hope!
A good thought for the day.

"The most unpleasant truth in the long run is a far safer traveling companion than the most agreeable falsehood." Emerson

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy.