Well I see that Stephen Harper has nothing to worry about for shutting down Parliament.
46 per cent of Canadians just don't care whether Parliament starts sitting in January or takes a break and comes back after the Olympics in March.
"There's a high level of indifference," said pollster Doug Anderson with Harris Decima.
Just call it democracy...Canadian style.
Although that doesn't stop Kady from looking for the mouse in the manure.
Although a plurality of respondents greeted the possibility with indifference, those who did not were more likely to be disgruntled than delighted by the move, which was, I should point out again, at that point purely speculative. You have to wonder whether this isn't a potentially dangerous metric for the prime minister, at least in the short term, since it seems reasonable to assume that those who hold strong views -- or any view at all beyond benign apathy -- over whether the House should or shouldn't take a two month break are more likely to take their opinions to the ballot box.
Good for her. I mean somebody has to eh?
Because you can't count on our leaders to do ANYTHING.
“We are interested in working with the opposition parties in regards to the Afghan detainee file but we are not interested in mock Parliaments,” Michael O’Shaughnessy, a spokesman for Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, said Monday.
Oh boy. I'm with the Bionic Liberal.
Because if Jack won't do anything, and Iggy would rather prepare for his upcoming tour of university campuses than fight the Cons, and defend our parliamentary system...
We really are on our own.... in our own invisible democracy.
Golly. Who knew a young country could die of exhaustion?
Oh well... so much for my plans for a series of bonfire rallies, with music and songs. To try to put some passion into politics and get younger people involved. Now I see it's just going to be me and my drum, and those Facebook democrats.
Which is OK with me eh? Because 20,000 and counting shows we haven't given up yet.
As for our leaders and all the other indifferent Canadians I only hope they come to their senses before it's too late.
Before they forget what democracy means...and that indifference in the face of a government as evil as Stephen Harper's Cons is in itself a form of dementia.
Before they wake up in a country they don't recognize.
Wondering where their Canada went. Looking like idiots.
And shouting "Come on back baby !!!!"
OMG. That video really does SUCK.
But when you think how that Con tyrant gets away with EVERYTHING eh?
So does our democracy...
I wonder if Harper should have his majority so that we can know how bad Canada's so-called democracy is.
ReplyDeleteI have mo plans to vote in the next federal election. One reason is that we have the antiquated first-past-the-post voting system. The other reason is that our political parties do not place democracy high on their list of priorities. I don't know what the Liberals support under Michael Ignatieff. The NDP supports working people, the environment, health care, and Aboriginals. These are good. However, the NDP doesn't mention improving Canadian democracy. Or at least it is not a priority.
There are over 20,000 Canadians who signed up as members of Facebookers against Prorogation. Many of these people will protest on January 23 for three hours on the lawns and concrete slabs of Parliament, provincial legislatures, and city halls. If we are serious about improving Canadian democracy, we need to be on the streets. The former East Germans, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians understood the concept of wanting democracy. We Canadians need to do the same.
Why is it, more people can find reasons not to vote, than to vote? Being in the streets doesn't do much if it doesn't translate to ballot box changes. You could even physically toss the 'guilty' parties out into the street, but then what? The people that get out, need to vote their protest as well. And not just in the public votes.
ReplyDeleteThe 'conservatives' took over the PC party by a/having a bunch of people sign up as PCs and then make sure it all went their way.
If progressives want something done why aren't they taking over a party? Even the NDP are presently swimming for the mythical centre like it's a wise move, despite alleged discontent with centrist shifts away from the 'left'.
Is it true that progressives can't bloc up like rightwingers? That at the least word, they splinter off like a Monty Python film? Does that make them constitutionally unable to be effective in democracies unless progressive reforms are handed to them?
It's not the public ballot box that needs to be taken over to get rid of things like first past the post. It's education, riding associations and conventions. But that's far more frustrating and boring and involved than dumping a ballot every few years and it seems people have been sneered out of even putting pencil to paper as something gullible geeks do. The only ones thanking people for not getting out and voting are those whose loyal followers DO get out and vote in step.
Do I think the Liberals are great? No. Do I think they'd do a worse or better job than the Conservatives right now, even WITH a sucky leader and lack of prioritization? Better. Same for the NDP. Do I think they'd make a better governing bloc along with the Bloc than the Conservatives for the country? Yes. They'd at least negotiate. So I will vote my pebble for the best local NON-conservative, and I will likely be a member of a party and try to be involved at the local level. Even though I know it will be a tidal wave of conservative support where I am. I can at least go down fighting instead of pulling the trigger for them.
I have precedent that the other parties aren't great, but they're hella better on their worst day than what we've got NOW.
Once again, my knowledge of Canadian politics is limited, but it sounds like the issues you have to confront are of great importance--and if the experience of conservative rule in this country is any indication, rightists should not be at the reins of government.
ReplyDeleteThe GOP took a country that in the year 2000 had attained a peak of surging economic prosperity and unchallenged military might and turned it into a sharply-declining power that could be overtaken in as little as two decades by the rising force of China, a fascist would-be hegemon.
Bear in mind that conservative free-trade policies, which relaxed international regulation to that large corporations could exploit lower labor costs in the Third World, were more responsible in the long term for the current dilemma by inadvertently selling our industrial capacity to foreign countries.
hi Skinny Dipper...I share your disillusionment with all the parties. In my case it's practically despair. But I don't see how not voting is going to help anyone but the Cons. Because while it's true that our voting system is antiquated, it's the only system we got. And allowing Harper to get a majority is not....repeat NOT... an option.
ReplyDeleteIt might indeed shake some sense into Canadians, but the damage would take a generation to heal.
As for the streets I do agree with you. In other countries people routinely take their protests public, and we definitely need to do more of that here.
I'm just hoping that this Facebook protest can lead to even bigger protests later on...
hi Niles...so many good questions, so few answers. Because I like to dwell on the better angels of our nature, I console myself by thinking that we are victims of our own decency. Our country is so awesome, and life was so good for so long, we became lulled into complacency. And like a body that doesn't recognize a new bug, we didn't recognize the danger when it arrived.
ReplyDeleteOf course there are other days when Sebastien has to hold me back so I don't punch a hole in the wall. ;)
But seriously we do need to ask all those questions, we do need to get involved in the politics of our country.
Which is why, as I told Skinny Dipper, I'm hoping that this rebellion will encourage more Canadians to get off their asses and do something to change the situation.
We have so much work to do, and so little time...
hi BrightenedBoy...I can't tell you how happy we were in Canada to see our neighbours throw out those hideous Republicans. It was party time from coast to coast to coast.
ReplyDeleteBut unfortunately our RepublicCons took advantage of the fragmented left, and fooled enough Canadians to seize power.
It's depressing but I'm happy to report we do have a new slogan eh?
Yes we CAN. We HOPE... :)