There's a groundswell of anger rolling across this country. Canadians aren't taking Prime Minister Harper's prorogation of parliament lying down. They're contacting our Governor General (who approved the temporary suspension over the telephone this time!) and their local MPs to voice their disapproval and they're planning protests—nation wide. When I joined the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group last night at around nine o'clock it had already soared to 48,000 members and now stands at 67,000 strong and growing fast.
It's been one short year since our last proroguement (Stephen has a nasty habit of running scared when times get tough for his Conservative government) but Canucks have run out of patience with the tactic. In an interview Harper told CBC-TV correspondent Peter Mansbridge that Canadians aren't concerned “about allegations that the government engaged in a cover-up over the abuse of Afghan detainees.” Nope, he's confident that we're fixating solely on the recession. The same recession he tried to deny was in progress for as long as humanly possible. It's pretty clear that Stephen Harper would prefer if the citizens of this country didn't concern themselves with much of anything and just let him throw his weight around. Democracy! Such an inconvenient thorn in Stephen's side!
Read comedian Rick Mercer's incisive thoughts on the matter:
* Proroguing is for children (and Stephen Harper)
and then, if you want to show our Prime Minister he's wrong, and that we are indeed concerned about the torture of Aghan detainees and Harper's obvious contempt for democracy, join the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group and prepare to protest in a city near you on January 23rd. In the meanime, if you want to tell the Governor General you're pissed with her decision email her at:
* info@gg.ca
* and then fire an email off to your local MP. If you're not sure who your representative is you can find the info here.
Last week, to work out some of my prorogation frustration, I did my habitual anti-Harper blogging and took the Billy Bragg message “The revolution is just a T-shirt away” to heart and designed, along with Paddy, a suitable Emperor Harper T-shirt for myself and a few other folks. If you happen to want one I've made the profit margin on these a big fat zero so the only folks making any $ on this will be the ones at CafePress. Here's the front image:
It's been one short year since our last proroguement (Stephen has a nasty habit of running scared when times get tough for his Conservative government) but Canucks have run out of patience with the tactic. In an interview Harper told CBC-TV correspondent Peter Mansbridge that Canadians aren't concerned “about allegations that the government engaged in a cover-up over the abuse of Afghan detainees.” Nope, he's confident that we're fixating solely on the recession. The same recession he tried to deny was in progress for as long as humanly possible. It's pretty clear that Stephen Harper would prefer if the citizens of this country didn't concern themselves with much of anything and just let him throw his weight around. Democracy! Such an inconvenient thorn in Stephen's side!
Read comedian Rick Mercer's incisive thoughts on the matter:
* Proroguing is for children (and Stephen Harper)
and then, if you want to show our Prime Minister he's wrong, and that we are indeed concerned about the torture of Aghan detainees and Harper's obvious contempt for democracy, join the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group and prepare to protest in a city near you on January 23rd. In the meanime, if you want to tell the Governor General you're pissed with her decision email her at:
* info@gg.ca
* and then fire an email off to your local MP. If you're not sure who your representative is you can find the info here.
Last week, to work out some of my prorogation frustration, I did my habitual anti-Harper blogging and took the Billy Bragg message “The revolution is just a T-shirt away” to heart and designed, along with Paddy, a suitable Emperor Harper T-shirt for myself and a few other folks. If you happen to want one I've made the profit margin on these a big fat zero so the only folks making any $ on this will be the ones at CafePress. Here's the front image:
And the back:
I've made it available in a few different styles and will leave the design up on CafePress for the duration of the proroguement, which, if the people reclaim power in this country, hopefully won't be long!
A little ditty for our power-hungry PM, from the citizens he purports to represent:
