Sister Sage's Musings

Posts Tagged ‘Democracy’

Both EKOS and the usually Harpercon friendly Ipsos-Reid polls have Harpercon numbers slipping and those of the Liberals rising somewhat bringing them to a near tie with, of course, the Harpercons  hanging on to a slight advantage.  If Steve was really planning to get an election off the ground this fall, his plans for that backfired and now is backing off this idea. In fact, even his rabid pit-bull, John Baird, Steve’s newly minted Government house leader called for more cooperation with the opposition parties on TV last week. Well, logically, every opposition party should come out and say too little too late for that, except their polling numbers don’t permit them to do so.

Frank Graves of EKOS is of the opinion, that in spite of the Liberals’ low numbers, they may well attempt to trigger an election, while John Wright of Ipsos Reid disagrees:

Mr. Wright does not believe there will be an election any time soon because no one can win a majority government at this time. “The reality is that if everybody knows that all you’re going to get is a minority you can take your time.”

The Bloc is just too strong in Quebec to free up seats necessary for either the Conservatives or Liberals to form a majority government, Mr. Wright added.

But Mr. Graves has a different take: “Wow! To be blunt, I was concerned about our poll, as it came in the summer, and it was a pretty abrupt shift,” he told The Globe on Tuesday morning.

“The Ipsos poll suggests that our poll did catch a major shift in voter sentiments. What is remarkable about this shift is that it comes in the midst of the summer, a period when the public are typically blissfully unconcerned with politics. This might suggest that the negative effects of the census decision on the government may be muted to this point.”

If this is true, he said, the chances of a fall election “have now shifted to more likely than not.”

And that is because the opposition could sense that this “new shift for the PM” could represent a “critical mass of frustration within the electorate and in particular a growing fatigue amongst the more educated portion.”

Tricky; very tricky indeed and one where the opposition, particularly the Liberals must tread carefully, given their poll numbers and what happened last year when Iggy attempted to drop the gauntlet and act, well, oppositional. Remember when Iggy said that he was no longer going to be supporting the Harpercons last September? All the Timmy Hortons’ Crowd crying and screaming “I don’t wanna go to the polling stations again!”   Steve launched a poison pill in a ways and means motion that Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe ended up swallowing and Canada was saved from a Harpercon majority.  And remember, Stevie spiteful’s numbers shot up well within majority territory and Iggy’s plummeted.

In fact, since then, there would be a number of times Stevie spiteful’s polling numbers from any given polling firm would hover around majority territory, thus, those who blame the strong presence of the Bloc Quebecois in Quebec for preventing a majority government for either party; their argument falls right there. Majorities are still possible, in spite of the heavy Bloc presence in Quebec. It just simply means that they have to fight harder in Ontario and British Columbia.

What is scary is that some polls in the past year has shown that Canadians want a majority government and more than likely, if they believe one is not possible, good ol’ Canadian trademark apathy will take hold yet again and stay away from the polls, which does contribute to a Harpercon majority as well. It worked for Jean Charest and his Liberals in the Quebec election in 2008. Low turn out largely contributed to his majority.

Iggy could well still be gun shy from last September’s reaction to his dropping the gauntlet.  A few ridings still need candidates. A friend, Pascal Zamprelli is running for the nomination in Jeanne Le Ber in the south west of Montreal, currently held by the Bloc. Of course, Peter Milliken’s will also need to be filled amongst others. They’re going to need to hurry up to fill those nominations.

I believe Steve will also put out a budget this fall. What will he do? Will he attempt to pull the per vote subsidy for political parties again? Will he play Santa Clause? Or will he attempt another hard shift to the right yet again? Perhaps a combination of all of the above, which I find most likely, given his precedent (hello Bill c-9); those poison pills Steve is so well known to serve up.  A frightening thought.

Also, there is the NDP, who more often than not, will do just the opposite of whatever the Liberals do.  If the Liberals support the Harpercons, the NDP go against it and vice-versa.  And of course, the Bloc continue doing their own thing if it plays to the agenda of Quebec’s good according to the vision of Gilles Duceppe or to Quebec sovereignty which is now back on the front burner these days.

Iggy would most certainly want to wait until he thinks Canadians would be willing to vote out the Harpercons; to wait for his numbers to go up further.  His bus tour helped, I think.  Yes, there were critics who felt he was not being himself. But I think those are the same people who may have the ridiculous notion that Iggy won’t even open his front door to pick up the newspaper without putting on a suit and tie first. Whether or not he was himself (let’s face it; on some level, every politician plays a role; uses some form of method acting); he did something every politician should do and that is, going out in the country he wishes to govern and meet the people; real people and to hear their concerns and questions. I’m sure it must have helped him, his party and his confidence on some level, but I don’t think it’s enough for him to want to trigger an election by voting against whatever Stevie spiteful is cooking up next.

Then, there is Stevie spiteful, himself.  If there is no election, he and his flunkies have more time to sell his little utopia with no StatsCan; no census.  Stevie is down right now, but he has a propensity for bouncing back as he has demonstrated in the past.   This makes holding off a federal election a crap shoot. One Stevie could probably win given his numbers are still, however slightly, in his favor.

Progressives out there, whether you’re NDP or Liberal supporters, it’s time for us to take action. Write your MPs (provided of course, you’re not living in Harpercon riding; if so, then try to write the NDP and Liberal candidates if you know who they are; if there are candidates at this time; or write both Iggy and Jack Layton).     Now is the time to vote Steve out of office, or at the very least, reduce his minority significantly.  If Steve needs two or even all three parties to get anything through instead of just one party right now, not only is Steve’s power significantly reduced, but the games of  one opposition party doing something simply because another one isn’t would perhaps cease; it’s not helpful.

Many bitch and moan when the Liberals have propped up the Harpercons, but no one supported them neither, their polling numbers had reflected that. Iggy says that Canadians don’t want an election. When we hear the Timmy’s crowd screaming and whining about going to the polls, it’s hard to ignore.  They are loud, particularly about protecting their own apathy as that whole demonstration against prorogation last winter proved.

So, the only way for us to prove to both Iggy and Jack that we do indeed want an election sooner than later is to write them and their MPs and if we can find their candidate’s emails or find them on Facebook, Twitter or another social networking site to let them know this; to urge them to cooperate with one another (I did say cooperate not coalition); not that usual game where Jack goes and does the opposite of what the Liberals do; but working together toward a common good and vote to bring down whatever bill, motion or budget (most likely this Fall) Steve brings to the table, regardless of how much good there will be in it, because as we all know, there will be poison pills packed into them.  It is time for us to take action.

The group, Canadians Rallying to Unseat Harper is still coming up with ads and raising funds to put these ads in the newspapers.  Keep up the good work!

Catch 22 is also working at unseating Harpercon MPs.

Apathy doesn’t cut it. Waiting for Iggy to go or waiting for better candidates isn’t going to cut it.  Time is a luxury we don’t have and now is our window of opportunity.   Let your MPs know you want an election, NOW!

It seems that a new Facebook group created by Harpercon blogger, Derek Fildebrandt no less, is once again getting Canadians together from all political stripes, it would seem, for now, anyway.  We all want to see the MPs expenses made public and as well they should be made public. After hearing about how Porky Puffy Duffy spent more of taxpayers’ dollars in less than 3 months than most earn inside a year, working at real jobs, I for one want to know how they’re spending the public purse. It’s a given that there would be many, oh so many frivolities, I think many Canadians are prepared for this.  Paul Szabo, the Liberal Fetus fetishist comes out with the feeble excuse that  there are too many law suits against MPs , thus the public should not be allowed to see them.

“If they were opened to the auditor general and open to the public, all of a sudden people would jump to conclusions without having all the facts,” Szabo said.

“If you identify the member, or the law firm or all this other stuff, all of a sudden people could say … what’s wrong with this member, this member is getting sued all the time,” he said.

Oh boy! Between his fetus festivities and now protecting MPs from Inquiring minds wanting to know about law suits, I think it’s high time for the Liberals to cut him loose. Too bad they can not afford to lose seats at this time. Got a newsflash for ya Paul, we kinda figured there were lawsuits and to us, many MPs reputations are already tarnished, including your’s for showing up at that bloody fetus festival last Thursday.

So, once again, Facebook is bringing Canadians from the left, center, right and far right all together in a common goal; to somehow get MPs to make their expenses public. Facebook users, click here to join.  Great, I hope to see at least as many, if not, more than Christopher White’s old Canadians Against Parliament group.  Needless to say, some action must be planned and agreed upon. Perhaps like CAPP, a cross country effort.  If I can offer one piece of advice from an error to be learned from the CAPP rallies last January, let’s not brand this effort as non-partisan; the media and pundits see right through that.  Let’s call it a by partisan or multi-partisan effort.

Someone by the name of Ed Gallois made this interesting comment on the group’s wall. I hope that’s not the only way to get MPs to loosen up on this.

In Britain, all of last year’s news was dominated by UK politicians claiming for ridiculous expenses – moats, porn, second homes within 10 miles of their constituency home, you name it, they did it – all at the British taxpayers’ expense. Our politicians at every step blocked the details coming out. It was only because… the Daily Telegraph surreptiously bought the database of MPs’ expenses that any of it ever came to light. I would suggest someone – or some body – in Canada tries to do the same because the MPs will never release the info. They are not going to commit political suicide willingly, after all. Cheers.

The problem with that is what is the likelihood someone or some company with enough civic mindedness and cash would make such a purchase?

How long will we remain all together on this. Given that Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc are not part of this secretive bunch, he will surely add this to the Quebec Sovereignty arsenal, saying that a Sovereign Quebec’s government will be open and transparent or something along those lines.

I also worry about further voter  apathy on this one as it could further Steve’s agenda for  his totalitarian regime as we would let him get away with it from inaction or any other government with goals just as insidious.

I’m curious as to how the  corporate media which is mostly right slanted handles this issue as time goes along. I’m curious as to how this will affect polls for all three parties since they’re equally guilty of this very same crime.

After reading some of the Blogging Tories this fine wintery morning, watching them all fall all over each other over how the evul opposition (especially the separatists) will endanger our national security and above all, how Speaker Milliken’s decision has just put the troops’ lives in danger overseas. I was going to write a simple rebuttal saying basically, wanna protect the troops, pull them out immediately, but POGGE beat me to it, for one additional  reason. Very special reason: apparently, the military apparently  suck at basic  filing and administrative tasks.

It was revealed today that Afghan detainee transfer documents are all stored in some shipping container in a haphazard manner so chaotic as it would take years to catalogue, file and inventory them properly. Funny, how this only comes out now after all of this.  I wonder why this wasn’t revealed in the first place?  Seems Brother Steve could have avoided things like prorogation and such; should have said, “the military dog ate the documents at some Kandahar airfield.”  In the words of Scott from Scott’s Diatribes: “How Conveeeeenient!”   Not that incompetence of  the most basic of skills from the government should surprise anybody.  Why should the care of supposedly sensitive documents be any different? Hello,  Ex-Lax Max?

The revelation by Maj. Denis Gagnon emerged when he was closely questioned by lawyer Paul Champ, who said the commission is on the verge of deciding whether it has to suspend public hearings, partly because of missing and delayed documents from the Defence Department. A senior military official admits to delaying the documents requested due to concerns (here we go again with that all to convenient excuse) about the safety of the troops.

“We know full well that Canada’s enemies are ready to use that kind of information against our troops that are deployed there,” Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette said. “That is why there have been certain delays in producing those documents.”

Well, now we know where the Harpercon cheerleaders get this liberally deranged parnaoia.  That old Georgie Bush ‘with us or against us’ schtick. It begs the question who in  Brig. Gen. Blanchette’s mind is the enemy? Is it the Afghans or Canada’s opposition parties?

It seems that Major Gagnon not cannot give straight answers as to how long it will take for them to produce the documents,  When acting commission chairman Glenn Stannard asked why the transfer orders weren’t included in the paperwork that has already been turned over to the inquiry. Major Gagnon pulls his best Sergeant Schultz act:

“I don’t have an answer for you, sir,” Gagnon said.

but also can’t find the personnel to to take care of them.

“The documents in theatre are far more difficult to find because of the constant rotation of our personnel,” he said.

“Plus . . . with the current tempo of our operation, they don’t have the ability to . . . dedicate the proper troops to task in order to properly identify all those documents that may be co-located with many other documents.”

 As I’ve mentioned,  the best way to keep these troops safe is not hiding behind the truth. It’s not scrambling about so we can continue endorsing an Afghan national sport of torturing detainees.  No, it’s to pull them out of Afghanistan immediately.  Would those Blogging tories feel assured by that idea? Probably not. 

I’ll be  waiting for Blathering Blatchford to defend this incompetence to Ricky P sometime soon.

A logical person would think that losing documents  lord only knows where,  or storing them in the haphazard way Major Gagnon describes would definitely be far riskier than in the hands of a parliamentary committee or the opposition parties.  At least, everyone would know where they are. If they’re really lost, no telling who’s hands these ‘sensitive’ documents would found in. I wonder if those Harpercon cheerleaders would see that? My guess is no;  funny how a bad case of Liberal Derangement Syndrome can severely hamper sound judgement.

Yes, no doubt there will be some firings, perhaps even Major Gagnon, as POGGE suggests, but I don’t think it will be over the loss of these documents floating around Gawd knows where: it would be because they weren’t put through the paper shredder.

I wonder if the British will have the same problem of missing documents as their torturegate case proceeds in the courts?

Update:  Dawg offered his prediction as how the Harpercons and the Liberals will handle this issue.

I think it highly likely that the parties will reach an agreement in the next few days. It is certainly in the interests of both the Liberals and the Conservatives to do so, given their current standings in the polls.

Dawg, I think you’re prediction is correct, at least, for now anyway. The Harpercons are eager to compromise.  They seem willing more than likely after good ol’ Vic Toews found an American precedent.

 He points out that other countries, including the United States, routinely swear politicians to secrecy when reviewing sensitive documents.

Oh, yeah! Did I forget to mention, the maintenance of secrecy disguised as protecting national security?

Iggy also seems willing to meet Brother Steve half way  provided Brother Steve change his “secretive ways”.

“I am willing to reach out,” the Liberal Leader told reporters today after the meeting of his national caucus, which dealt with yesterday’s historic ruling by the Speaker of the House of Commons. “What I’m saying once again is, let’s not make this more complicated than it need be. A government and an opposition that are both acting in good faith can find a solution in a couple of hours.”

Yes, I guess most Canadians would like to see compromise between Harpercons and opposition most of all.

Given the dismal polling numbers (below 30%) each party, I guess we can understand the hesitation of  triggering and election from either side.  Funny, Brother Steve, nor Iggy  can no longer use the old ‘Canadians don’t want an election’  schpiel. From what I’ve been reading so far, it seems many would welcome an election.

 

This is more than happy news.  This is relief! Many of us, including your’s truly, were starting to lose faith in Speaker Milliken for all the time he took. Not to mention, we believed that he would never risk his career to vote against the Harpercon regime.

Now,  Milliken has just reminded all of us that parliament must reign supreme and ordered Brother Steve  and the opposition to find a “workable solution” without “without compromising the security and confidentially contained.”

I caught the pessimistic musings of Canadian Cynic this morning where  he sees Speaker Milliken as a failure for not having handed down his decision regarding the Afghan Detainee documents to parliament. He is probably right, unfortunately. He is not alone. On yesterday’s Question Period, both Craig Oliver and Jane Taber both agreed that Speaker Milliken will more than likely rule in favor of the government.  So does Dan Gardner of the Ottawa Citizen where he compares Stephen Harper to such leaders as Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, Michael Corleone  and King Charles I. Gardner makes the case  of MPs staying in lockstep with their master or there would be hell to pay–with their careers.

I hear the jokes of lobbying for William Shatner as Governor General. Know what?  Since this GG will have to be as obedient to Master Steve as Michaelle Jean was, I’m starting to think it won’t matter who the GG is. It will probably end up being Preston Manning, a gool ol’  SOCON from the days of Reform. The GG too will want to keep their plush, expensive figurehead position, so if Steve wants to shut down parliament because the opposition gets too, well, oppositonal, he can. Funny how many say this opposition is ineffective.  I dare say it’s the other way around, Steve is too powerful. It sets a dangerous precedent indeed.

As mentioned before by bloggers like Dr Dawg and myself, as well as John Ibbitson over at the Grope & Fail, speaker Milliken’s ruling no longer has to do with Afghan Detainee documents per se. It has more to do with how government is run; how much power the Prime minister has and should have.  If Milliken rules in favor of the government, as Dan Gardner points out, we might as well send the opposition packing. That ought to make Blogging Tory commenter Mary T and many others happy

Should Milliken rule in favor of Steve, and the blogging tories and conservative pundits and other Harpercon cheerleaders break out in celebration, I never ever want to hear about Iggy being a dictator or ADSCAM or corrupt, un transparent Liberals and their ‘entitlements’ ever again. If lyou think Steve should be allowed to keep secrets and act as a dictator, it cuts both ways. I also don’t want to hear about the Liberal-Packed senate.

I remember someone saying to me that if Steve got his majority, he would never implement all that he wants because he would lose an election four years later. Ha! You’re assuming he will allow elections!

I can never play that video enough. I don’t think anyone can see it enough in order to realize what is really happening.

After reading comments from fools too idiotic blog like Mary T and Wilson as of late, as well as many columnists, pundits and of course, Blogging Tories, one has to wonder if they really know what they’re lobbying for: What they are attempting to force-feed Canadians these days?  To me and I’m sure others, they seem to be  lobbying to not only be rid of  Responsible Government in  favor  a totalitarian regime.  We are already well on our way to this kind of thing, and that’s with a Harpercon minority! Before we go any further,  here is the definition of a totalitarian regime:

Totalitarianism is a political system where the state, usually under the control of a single political organization, faction, or class domination, recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.^[2] Totalitarianism is generally characterised by the coincidence of authoritarianism (i.e., where ordinary citizens have no significant share in state decision-making) and ideology (i.e., a pervasive scheme of values promulgated by institutional means to direct the most significant aspects of public and private life)^[3]. Totalitarian regimes or movements maintain themselves in political power by means of an official all-embracing ideology and propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, a single party that controls the state, personality cults, control over the economy, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, the use of mass surveillance, and widespread use of state terrorism.

That not only fits Brother Steve to a Tee, but also his cheerleaders it would seem.  That’s just one irony of this band. In their paranoid pleas and cries for their distorted views of freedom and smaller government, they are inadvertently, in effect wishing for more government control, with the exception of perhaps, libertarians, and even then sometimes.

The reason I bring up totalitarianism and how this fits with Brother Steve’s modus operendi is that the speaker of the House of Commons, Peter Milliken, is about to hand down a potentially historic decision and it can be handed down in one fell swoop as early as today.

We all remember when the opposition parties each asked a Question of Privilege? They had each appealed to the speaker to order Brother Steve to hand over unredacted documents regarding the Afghan detainee issue.   Whatever decision Milliken makes will  have consequences to varying degrees:

If Mr. Milliken finds in favour of the opposition parties that made the claim, then thousands of pages of heavily censored documents could be made public, showing whether the government and armed forces knew they were sending detainees to be tortured in Afghan jails.

If he rules in favour of the government, an already powerful executive will grow yet more powerful.

“It’s huge,” said Errol Mendes, a professor of law at University of Ottawa and constitutional expert. Centuries of precedent dictate that Parliament is supreme in holding the government to account, he observed.

“If the Speaker rules against the opposition motions, it would not be too hyperbolic to say we have changed our system of governance,” he maintained. “The executive would no longer be accountable to the House of Commons.”

But a ruling for the opposition could force an election.

I don’t need to tell you how frightening a scenario the former would be.

I did examine various biographies (here and here) of Peter Milliken in an attempt to predict which way he would rule.   Read them, perhaps you may get a better idea of a prediction than I did.

Yes, no doubt Brother Steve put on a good show about national security if unredacted documents are divulged.  There are the right winged pundits and yes, some blogging tories like Jojo Blue Like You  who have completely missed the mark and are all afraid that our national security will be threatened if Milliken rules in favour of the opposition parties. Here is somebody that is only too happy to swallow the Harpercon kool-aid without stopping to think about this. If there is nothing damning in those documents, then where is the threat to national security?   Or is it many, like Craig Smith and Blathering Blatchford who say you can’t have a proper war without torturing enemies, or something along those lines on the radio to an adoring Ricky P?

No folks, forget about torturegate.  If Milliken rules in favor of the government, torturegate is playing out at a somewhat faster pace through the British courts and I’m sure many, including the Harpercons are following it.  If Britain is found guilty, no doubt, this will come back to this side of the pond to bite Brother Steve. As well, there could be other Afghan Detainee transfer investigations throug other NATO countries and/or some international body that will somehow trigger an investigation that even Brother Steve’ s totalitarian dream team won’t be able to stop.

This impending decision is much bigger than torturegate. It’s about our democracy, our way of governance.  The question in the grand scheme of things is who should reign supreme? Parliament, which is elected by the people to represent the people, or government which has a cabinet appointed by the Prime minister? This is something everyone from both the right and the left should be thinking about.  Just remember a very recent Harpercon by election slogan, “de l’action: pas d’election” .

If Milliken does indeed vote with the opposition, there could well be a confidence motion and we go back to the polls very soon. And if the Liberals and the NDP were smart, they would not make this campaign about Afghan detainees, but rather, make it about the erosion of our democracy;   Canada’s New Government™: the Brother Steve Regime; is that something even Conservatives really  want? If it is, then they are advocating for a totalitarian regime.

Then, there is Milliken himself.  Seems to me that he could very well be damned no matter which side he rules in favor of.  Either the opposition or (especially) Brother Steve will surely make him pay for ruling against either.

Sidenote: Jojo, like so many of her paranoid friends who fear the big bad Bloc Quebecois ask this question, yet again:

The other difficulty for the Coalition would be trying to explain why members of a party dedicated to breaking up our country should have access to such highly sensitive information.

It’s really simple, dear Jojo,  this may come to you as a complete shock, but we Quebecers pay Federal taxes too. As such, crazy as that may seem to you, we too don’t want a Brother Steve Regime or any totalitarian regime of any kind led by anyone. 

The Bloc exist democratically with a mandate to represent Quebec’s interests in Ottawa. They may work toward sovereignty, but until then, we are still contributing to the federal coffers and thus, we likes a democracy too.

It is a day of Great Joy in the hearts of many progressives to-day. Representatives of all three Opposition Parties filed Questions of Priviledge, citing Conservative cabinet ministeras with contempt of Parliament to-day. (March 18th, hereby declared Canadian Democracy Day)

A homeless man  and his dog walk across Canada to bring awareness to the plight of the homeless.  A Video below from Sun Media. He braves the elements, fatigue and everything else that goes along with being homeless walking for so long.  But he continues the mission. He has places to be and people to see.

The City of Vancouver determined to keep its’ city spic n span;  attempting to sweep away its’  biggest problem; a very large homeless population. Vancouver passes laws that basically makes it illegal to be homeless with the hope that if  their Olympic guests from all over the world don’t find out this city’s deep dark secret; the fact that one of the richest countries in the world has people who are living off the streets and eating from garbage cans with all their soiled worldly possessions in a dingy shopping cart.  The city of Vancouver (with help of course) seems to think that if they clear away the homeless, they won’t exist and they and their fair city can still look pretty on the world stage.

The Pivot Legal Society will be beginning a red tent campaign where they will be handing out 500 tents to Vancouver’s homeless to set up camp in public places to draw attention to the need for affordable and secure housing.  A few have argued that this act exploits the homeless. Perhaps. However, it can’t be any worse than the exploitation the homeless face due to all the hardships life on city streets forces them to live.  At least, they will have some kind of make shift shelter.  More importantly, they are doing something to further their cause; to rally for  what everybody in society should have: affordable, secure housing.

Activities like the Poverty Olympics definitely meant for all to see that there definitely is a problem with poverty and homelessness:

Highlights of the one-day event include a celebration with “cockroach cake” and meeting poverty mascots Itchy the Bedbug, Creepy the Cockroach, and Chewy the Rat. It also includes events such as housing hurdles, hockey with the Vancouver Olympic Committee Predators, and the broken promise slalom.

While all this might sound somewhat tongue and cheek; organizers of the Poverty Olympics are sending a serious message:

“This is our opportunity to get the message out to the world that our government could end poverty and homelessness. It’s about housing supply, low incomes and low wages. There is no excuse for it and we hope the visitors to Vancouver will be appalled by Canada’s record on poverty,” said event organizer Wendy Pederson of the Raise the Rates Coalition, a coalition of community groups and organizations concerned with poverty and homelessness in B.C.

The efforts of Homeless activists, anti-poverty groups and the homeless themselves seem to have started gaining attention from international media.

A homeless man in Montreal saved up his pennies for a return bus ticket to Vancouver will be joining his homeless brothers and sisters over there to protest the pre-Olympic sanitizing of the city.

These are people who don’t have access to computers to be on Facebook, Twitter or other networking and blogging sites for the most part. Yet, they somehow manage each in their own way to make their way to Vancouver’s east side with the help of anti-poverty groups and other homeless advocates to keep the momentum going for their mission to make the world aware of the homeless problem and the solution is housing and jobs with adequate incomes; not sanitization or legislating their situations.

My question is, if the Homeless can protest, involve themselves in some form of activism or other measures to garner attention from the public at large and make their voices heard: why can’t the rest of Canadians? The rest of us who are fortunate enough to have such tools at our disposal to communicate with anyone in the country  as well as other means to continue what we started when Christopher White first formed CAPP on Facebook?

Yes, other groups and symbolic events have popped up.  There have been flash rallies in various cities whenever a Harpercon visits. We have been sending Valentines Cards to Ottawa. Many of us continue to write our MPs.  However, I can’t help but feel that we’re losing momentum here.

The Montreal Chapter representatives are keeping us up to date as to what is coming and when; however, they had expressed whether or not planning activities during the Olympics would be worth it given every Canadian’s attention would more than likely be deflected there. We had spoken of not doing anything Saturday, February 27 because that is the night of the Olympic Hockey finals. Hockey, being the religion that it is in Canada, particularly in Quebec would no doubt take precedence over everything else.  It would probably be more watched than the closing ceremonies the next day. Sadly, I get that.

However, we are taking a hit in the Corporate Harpercon media. They’re hitting us from everything to poor showings at rallies held cross country on January 23 to the groups claiming to be non-partisan but tainted that by having politicians with us to our movement fizzling out.

Even some progressive bloggers  have taken aim at the facebook groups and the rallies, showing divisiveness on our side, something Stevie, Harpercons and their media and pundits thrive on.

The latest posting  from Five on Five infuriated me when I first read it.  Montreal Simon shared my sentiment. However, after reading both their posts, I find myself somewhere in between their arguments. I’m sure many Facebookers who are members of CAPP and have taken a liking for onion rings to new heights are also getting weary of the other groups forming and join simply because they don’t want to be counted out. A symbolic gesture of solidarity if you will.  However, we mustn’ t lose site of the fact that if it weren’t for Christopher White getting the anti-prorogation ball rolling with CAPP on Facebook with other sites subsequently popping up like noprorogue.ca.  Social Media competing against the Corporate Harpercon media machine.  It got Canadians out there and the usual apathy was broken. Simon tells it best :

I do have to say this: The Facebook Army has done MORE to mobilize progressive Canadians, and put a big dent in the side of the Harper dictatorship, than anything or anybody has done in more than FOUR years.

That is exactly how this movement got started. However, it is now time to move this away from Facebook groups and onion rings somewhat, as Robert McBean suggests.

It is time to make noise and continue doing so throughout the Olympics and of course, beyond.  Let’s take this government to task and make sure they work for us (including the Homeless across Canada, naturally)  and not the other way around.

To be honest, I don’t know what the other groups across Canada are planning if anything; I haven’t heard. Montreal definitely wants to keep this going.  It is after all, more than just about proroging parliament. It is Stevie’s high handedness and lack of transparency that is at issue. We can’t allow this any longer. The Europeans would be up in arms over something like this.

I we’re (Montreal group) game; still planning activities to keep up the momentum. I only hope we can remain unified with the other Canadian groups.

Many Canadians are out of work with no prospects of new jobs, our troops are risking life and limb fighting a senseless and unwinnable war with no break in sight  and  in response, Stevie leaves us high and dry, so he can be secretive, stack his senate, run away from such nastiness like Torturegate and climate change to the point of making us unrecognizable on the world stage and make backroom deals basically selling out even more of Canada by incessantly begging President Obama  to lift his ‘Buy American’ programs.

Why can’t we attempt to make noise during the Olympics?  Stevie pretty much told Canadians to fuck ourselves  so he can watch the Olympics in peace. I say we shouldn’t grant it to him. Being without leadership, a government that is ‘working’ clandestinely against its’ own citizens, the jobless rate which leads so many to homelessness isn’t  a recipe for peaceful living.

The homeless and their advocates in Vancouver certainly aren’t going to leave Stevie, Harpercons, or Campbell and his cronies or even the Municipal governments and Olympic organizers for that matter, in peace: they will be competing for the cameras and air time no doubt. We should do the same. After all, Stevie has gotten away with what he had because we allowed him to with our apathy and inactivity.

The homeless aim to bring attention to their plight from olympic visitors from all over the world. Perhaps we should let them know that Mr. Smiley Blue eyes in the matching sweater vests who he really is and what kind of government he really leads.

Well, at least someone with access to be able to compose emails from his account anyway.  It may even be (probably) a  mass mailing responding to those who wrote to him. But, it’s something; some semblance to make us feel better:

Here goes the email response:

Thank you for your comments regarding Stephen Harper’s unilateral
decision to prorogue Parliament. By locking out Members of Parliament,
Mr. Harper is shutting down democracy and preventing us from doing the
important work Canadians elected us to do.

I believe that Canadians value our democratic system. They are telling
the Prime Minister that he can’t simply shut down our democratic
institutions just because he doesn’t like what they’re asking or doing.

Here are some facts:

- This is the second time in 12 months that he has prorogued Parliament
- This is the fourth time in 3 years he has abruptly ended a session of
Parliament
- He consistently fails to comply with the Access to Information Act
- He is ignoring an order by Parliament to provide access to all
documents relating to the Afghan torture issue.

Canadians also expect their MPs to work together and find solutions for
the challenges facing our country. There is a pension’s crisis in
Canada. Many individuals are struggling to find work and need help to
recover from the economic recession. Yet, Stephen Harper chose to lock
the doors of Parliament rather than letting MPs work on these concerns.

Prime Minister Harper has adopted a blatant “run from accountability”
approach to governing. While he promised increased accountability, he
has done everything in his power to avoid the tough questions. At the
same time he is blocking elected MPs from Parliament, he is making plans
to stack the Senate with unelected Conservative Senators-something he
promised he would never do.

For more information on our position on this matter, please visit:
http://www.ndp.ca/press/statement-on-prorogation-by-libby-davies.

For our part, the New Democratic Caucus will be going ahead with our
scheduled January 18 strategy meeting and will discuss our plans for the
next few months. We will continue to advance our policies on issues such
as pension reform, jobs, the environment and health care while working
hard in our individual ridings.

Again, I appreciate having the benefit of your comments. Feel free to
pass along my message to anyone who may be interested. All the best.

Sincerely,

Jack Layton, MP (Toronto-Danforth)
Leader, Canada’s New Democrats

But But, just one thing Jack, about that MPs working together to find solutions form challenges facing Canadians today thingey:  A great start would be if you all showed up to work alongside the Liberals come January 25; ya know, strength in numbers? It is high time you & the Liberals (and the Bloc Quebecois for that matter) all  put your differences aside  to come up some collaborative effort.

Canada needs a leader, now. Why can’t it be all the opposition parties, together?

I will say this, though. Thanks Jack for taking the time to acknowledge your constituents.  Now, for some action!

From  A Creative Revolution. Go!

Just a thought, We weren’t hit as hard as the U.S. by Global recession that Stevie’s big buddy, Georgie caused largely in part anyway.  Why is Stevie hell bent in turning us into Bush era U.S.?

When will you buy a clue? President Obama already pretty much told you to fuck off in his own way, while you were trying to look for another American buddy. He doesn’t want to be your buddy.

Oh Stevie,  if torturegate wasn’t important to Canadians, why run away? Why not show the uncensored documents to Canadians? If as you say it’s no  big deal…then show Canadians how it’s no big deal.

Looks like your merry band of thieves are introducing underwear scans with choice between visual or physical legalized gov’t pornography disguised as security.  What a high opinion held for the good citizens!

Now off to further  buffer the senate with your porky, illiterate friends.  I never want to hear that whining again about the Liberal stacked senate. Think again if you think Stevie will introduce the notion of an elected senate. Something tells me that if let loose with the dastardly majority,  there will probably be no more elections again. Whatever the case, after killing the Court Challenges Program and stacking the senate, I never wanna hear that whining about left winged idealogues dominating the courts.