Give it Time to Fade? No

A talking point I see taking shape, (and pushed today by Rex Murphy on Cross Country Check-Up), is that by the time parliament comes back, this whole bothersome 'prorogation' thing will have died down.

I disagree. To be clear, I disagree because they are missing the main issue. It's not the fact that Harper prorogued like others before him. It's of course how and why he prorogued and what that action confirmed about the man.

Harper proroguing parliament played into a narrative that was growing. The prorogation simply gave it shape. The narrative was difficult to distill into a simple concept because Harper has acted inappropriately in a number of ways and venues.

He's gone after civil servants, he's played with House committees and their work. He's skirted election financing rules and reneged on his promise to implement the Accountability Act in full. He's stacked the Senate, made no serious move for reform and even made a Senator a cabinet minister in the early days. He's lied, often. ie, Environmental plan, the Coalition and it's meaning, markets disliking minority parliaments, the deficit, in fact the worldwide financial situation was brushed off as nonsense by this (cough) economist.

There's more, but seriously, how do you articulate all that in a sound bite? You can't. The prorogation issue brought all and more of these disparate facts together and boiled it down to the character of the man.

The issue is his style and method of governance and if people really think that is going to go away when parliament reconvenes, well I want what they are smoking.

Oh, and to all who believe that Harper and co. will reinvent themselves by using the Olympics, I'd think again if I were you. You see, politicizing our games will further feed the cynicism that has been awakened in this country. He'll simply reinforce the now more widespread notion as to how manipulative he is.

So, will this all fade away? No, me thinks not.

The Day After

I took some time today to reflect on the rallies held across the country yesterday.

Though there was some media coverage today, overall it was light. Fair enough. It is Sunday and news is generally sparse on a Sunday. What coverage was out there, was mostly favourable and in some cases amusing. Some media basically telling we, who cared, passed the imaginary test they had set for us. Yes, you read that correctly. They alone decided what would validate the Facebook reaction and then deigned to proclaim on that fictitious high water mark.

Yeah, I laughed out loud too reading the proclamation.

The reports that claimed there were only 3,000 at the Toronto rally were also laughable. Anyone who was there knows the truth. My guess is 10,000, but there are estimates everywhere. What we know for sure is that the square can hold 7,000 and it was overflowing. Go from there.

The energy was disconcerting at times, you really can feel that many people, but it was overwhelmingly positive.

So, the day after, it seems as though the 'news cycle' has moved on...but I think not.

Tomorrow all the regular talking heads come back to work. Also, accentuating what the rallies were all about, (Harper shutting out scrutiny) the Liberals and now the NDP, will be in Ottawa. I'm not certain what the NDP agenda is, but I do know the Liberals have planned to meet on a issues that, were parliament in session, would have been addressed.

That in itself should keep the prorogation issue on the front burner. If it doesn't, then I think we can ask some serious questions as to the news we are getting.

I don't think this issue is going away any time soon. Too many people care and have made it a point to pay attention and understand. That's powerful stuff in this country.

Which begs the question, why has Harper been allowed to get away with so much for so long? Why weren't Canadians more involved before now?

I think a few things were at play. In spite of himself, (Harper), and his disdain for Canadian institutions including the media, few have taken it upon themselves to call him out. Some in fear of losing their jobs and others, somehow believing that if they keep playing nice he'll come around.

I'll let the playing nice people to answer for themselves, but the others, groups like Kairos, professors, climate spokespeople, Rights advocates and more, have all spoken out recently. In my opinion, all of those voices started to raise the consciousness of the masses. It felt slow to me, but if that is the time it takes...here we are.

Harper is in a bad place now. We know that he will pull out all the stops. I read tonight that the government has bought a new set of expensive ads. Yea, that's our government hard at work trying to save you money, by spending your money.

Historic turning points are few and far between in this country. I think we hit one yesterday, but now it must be built upon. This is no time to rest on yesterday's news.

Keep creating tomorrow's news. That, thankfully, is now the direction in which I think we are headed.

A Few Pic's from Toronto Rally

These are a few quick downloads. Having some trouble editing photo's, (ie brightness, etc) but you should get a bit of a feel from this.

Raging Grannies

Gerard Kennedy

Martha Hall-Findlay

See you There!

Find a rally near you.

Plunging in the Polls

h/t - Far and Wide

Also:

An open letter to the members of Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament

To the members of CAPP,

This Saturday, January 23, thousands of Canadians will attend anti-prorogation rallies organized by the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament (CAPP) Facebook group. They won’t be going as Liberals or New Democrats, as Bloc Québécois, Conservatives or Greens. They’ll be going as Canadian citizens, united in their opposition of Stephen Harper’s shut down of Parliament. That will happen because one of you had the courage to stand up in protest – and then another, and another, and another.

I want you know to know how heartened I am by the mere existence of this group – the largest spontaneous online political movement we’ve seen yet in this new digital age of politics in Canada. I am heartened because the vitality of our democracy depends on the participation of its citizens, regardless of their political stripes. And your efforts and your numbers – over 200,000 of you so far – proves that Canadians truly are standing guard over our democratic traditions and institutions.

Some dismiss your efforts as nothing more than a click of a button. They are wrong. I know that your organizers have been volunteering their own time for several weeks to prepare Saturday’s rallies. And I know that thousands of you will be taking time off school and work, or away from your families to attend them. Anyone who pretends that those sacrifices don’t count is highly mistaken.

When this group first formed, your rallying cry was “Get back to work.” Well, on January 25, the day Parliament was set to resume, my entire caucus will be back on Parliament Hill for several weeks of roundtables and working sessions on job creation, veterans affairs, the environment, health – issues you care about. Issues that can’t wait.

And this Thursday, January 21, from 3 - 4pm, I will be holding an online town hall on my Facebook page. It’s part of a national conversation about this country’s future that includes all Canadians and recognizes the importance of open and honest debate. I encourage all members of CAPP to join us on http://www.facebook.com/michaelignatieff. I will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

When Stephen Harper shut down Parliament on December 30, he was counting on Canadians’ reacting with cynicism and indifference. You showed him that’s not who we are. You showed him that Canadians believe in their institutions and have clear, common sense expectations of their politicians: Get to work, work together and get the job done. It’s what’s expected of every Canadian all day long, and politicians should not live by a different set of rules.

I hope your important work these past few weeks means Stephen Harper gets that message loud and clear this Saturday.

Sincerely,

Michael Ignatieff