CampusIntel

Hopefully by now you have all heard about the ever popular discussion on the prorogation of Parliament (if you haven’t there are some really great posts on this very website you should definitely look into *hint, hint*). Yesterday was the day that individuals all across Canada came together in protest of the decision to prorogue parliament.

Now, I’ve never been a very political person for a good reason…I think politics is sleazy and corrupt. This being said however, I also once read a quote from Plato saying: “the punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men”. I think these words really hold true for those who find themselves discontent with the way our country is run. It’s important to take action and be heard when our government is not representing us, and I think that’s why I finally chose to take part in my first protest yesterday on Parliament hill.

As a first time participant in a protest I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I soon became familiar with a few customs I believe are often found at most, these things also quickly became some of the reasons I loved the experience!

My first observation was that of the creativity that was expressed during the whole thing. By creativity I mean the signs, songs, and even puppets…yeah, that’s right a PUPPET! How cool is that?? I admit I was distracted off and on by reading signs as they passed by me with various sayings such as: “Prorogue is so not Vogue”, “get back to work”, “It’s not about the economy, it’s about democracy”, pictures of Stephen Harper saying “I want YOU to not care!”, etc. There were a lot of other really witty ones I’ve unfortunately forgotten…or that might be a bit heated for this blog… There were also drawings on signs and one puppet someone had made of the prime minister (like I said, it seemed to really draw out the creativeness in people)! Then there were the songs. They had a group called the “Raging Grannies” (no, this isn’t some sort of modern rock band, they were actually older women with a keen sense of style) singing songs for the event, with verses such as these:

“We’ve got Stephen Harper
Thinks he’s here to stay
When there’s opposition he won’t want to play”

 And…

“He calls all the shots
Don’t say climate’s warming,
Banish all those thoughts.”

See what I mean? These little ladies had some strong and passionate words, and come on, I think even Stephen Harper can admit, those are some pretty clever lyrics.

Of course, this brings me to my next observation, the chanting! This brought me back to frosh week in university when anything with the correct amount of syllables would be made into a chant…seriously…we ended up chanting “Any three words!” when we finally ran out of things to chant about! These memories also made me think of the unity I felt during frosh and I realized it was brought out in this rally as well. All the chants they had prepared were ways to be heard, not just literally (although it IS hard to ignore a chanting crowd), I mean that the chants were a way for people to say “I’m here, and I want my opinions to be heard”, they were a way of embedding in each other their disagreement with the decisions that had been made and a way to reinforce what they were fighting for.

Along with these posters, puppets, creative works of art, songs and various chants there were speeches. If I thought before that all these other things were ways to bring people together, I may have been right on some level, but the real glue to it all are the speeches. I soon found out that rallies and protests bring out some really passionate people, I mean, honestly, even people who might not support the cause could appreciate the level of enthusiasm and devotion that these people put into what they were saying. It was apparent that those who spoke were really speaking from their gut and that this rally was their way to beseech others to hear them out and to understand and take into account what they had to say.

This all being said, I came away from the experience with a really great sense of unity and pride. I felt really happy that even if the message conveyed at this rally didn’t get through to the government at least we had the ability to be heard, if not by those we wanted to reach at least by each other. This is something that not all people have the freedom to do, and it is for this reason we should be thankful every day.

I’m not one to jump on bandwagons, mainly because I think there are multiple sides to every argument, and many angles to consider. Assigning myself a category to fit into on hot topics like global warming, partisan politics, and other unmentionables is somewhat hypocritical. Recently, I was on face book and noticed that my friend joined the group Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, and I felt a bone-crippling need to play devil’s advocate, and possibly educate people about the whole prorogue scandal.

The news of Canada’s Conservative government proroguing parliament for the second time in 2 years is all over the news. The decision, anticipated to be announced early this week, has raised a roaring response from the Canadian media, which largely portrays Prime Minister Stephen Harper as cheating us out of our civil liberties. Prime Minister Harper wants a prorogue in order to reassess Canada’s federal budget for 2010, but this is ignored in lieu of the thought that Harper is playing God and calling a “re-do” whenever he sees fit.

Harper’s decision to prorogue parliament raises a number of thoughts within me, but I don’t think it’s the end of the world. Why? Because proroguing parliament simply means that our elected officials in the House of Commons will, basically, start fresh. All documents being passed through the legislature before the Holiday break (an annual prorogue of sorts, if you will) will be scrapped, and the government gets a clean slate to work with.

What the headlines tell us is that a prorogue is completely undemocratic; that it undercuts Canada’s essence of fair representation; and that Harper is messing around with our government without our direct permission. That sounds good enough to protest about, but I think another side is being downplayed.

When we vote, we vote for a representative based on their political platform. Then, we are powerless. We send our hometown heroes to settle into their seats in the shark tank of politicians that is our House of Commons. By saying that proroguing parliament is undemocratic is technically true, nothing in our constitution defends us against them. But the amount of political back-scratching that plays a huge role in forming legislature is also ironically missing. None of us vote for game playing, but it‘s what we get. If things were truly democratic, we would hold a referendum for everything. By Harper using his lawful right to prorogue parliament, he is only acting on the power that democracy itself gave him.

Positively speaking, proroguing parliament could be beneficial for many Canadians. Not only will the federal economic budget be brought through the courts again, but many other bills that were defeated in 2009 will have a chance to pass. This means that us, united democratic citizens, must petition our representatives for a harder stance on issues that affect our communities, lives, and families. If Harper says the budget gets a re-do with his prorogue, than every other bill that was left dangling in 2009 gets a fresh beginning as well.

If you really want to get extreme, proroguing government could potentially result in a complete reorganization of parliamentary politics. New deals will now have to be struck in order to get things back to the way they were in the race for new legislature, meaning our elected representatives will have to find out again where their friends lie. Maybe the HST tax will suffer due to different agendas, and bills politicians failed with previously will now stand in its way for success. Who knows, maybe by the next election the Conservatives will have even fewer supporters because the budget, and other high priority issues, will look worse than they did before. Anything can happen.

As for flag-waving facebook groups, I’m gonna stay away from them. I don’t want to be wrongly represented by something that I may have some belief in. It might sound a bit anti-democratic, but sometimes the majority is wrong.