Saturday, January 16, 2010

Vancouver protest against Conservative government proroguing Parliament until March - rally on Saturday January 23


If you think the federal government should be hard at work instead of Parliament being suspended till March, a protest is being held in Vancouver on Saturday January 23 at 1 p.m. at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

It’s sponsored by Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament – the Facebook group with nearly 200,000 members.

You can also check the Vancouver chapter for more information.
.

18 comments:

Ron said...

The Victoria Rally commences at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 23rd.

It will be held at Centennial Square (Douglas at Pandora) - just behind the City Hall.

Let's turn out and also celebrate our Flower Count!

SharingIsGood said...

Thanks for keeping this alive, Bill. Here's and excellent article from the Montreal Gazette that shows the depth of disdain that Harper's proroguing shows for his electorate .

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Only+Canada+Harper+prorogation+Canadian+thing/2448571/story.html

DPL said...

When things started to pile up on Steve Boy he " Cut and run". It worked the first time. Will he try it again before the next election? Sure,he doesn't figure the opposition has any business in asking nasty questions. and he figures the other parties arn't ready for an election. WE hope he figures wrong

Henri Paul said...

Bill, what your byline says, It’s sponsored by Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament – the Facebook group with nearly 200,000 members.
-------------------------------
This what it should say,It’s sponsored by Liberals with nearly 200,000 Facebook members.

Unknown said...

I don't know why you're so upset that parliament has been prorogued as it's the best thing that could happen to Canadians. We have too much government in this country & this is a great way to reduce it. Besides, who's going to miss Question Period?

Anonymous said...

[url=http://vioperdosas.net/][img]http://vioperdosas.net/img-add/euro2.jpg[/img][/url]
[b]Pro 8, [url=http://vioperdosas.net/]financial software canada[/url]
[url=http://vioperdosas.net/]z software shop[/url] office 2007 enterprise blue edition buy cheap software reviews
design software macromedia [url=http://sapresodas.net/]adobe imaging software[/url] software discount game software
[url=http://sapresodas.net/]oem software mean[/url] shop software to
[url=http://vioperdosas.net/]discount software canada[/url] student discount for software
microsoft office 2003 cd key generator [url=http://sapresodas.net/]adobe acrobat 9 standard[/url][/b]

Anonymous said...

If the Conservatives really want to reduce the "size" of our government, they wouldn't have passed the largest deficit budget in history.

It's just like GW Bush passing the largest corporate bailout in history, before handing over the reins (and blame) to Obama.

Personally, I think prorogation just shows the unbridled self-interest of Harper, and his delusional belief in the gullibility of the public.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc0A

Anonymous said...

quite interesting post. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did any one know that some chinese hacker had hacked twitter yesterday again.

Angela said...

So who is it exactly that's against this new proroguing tradition? Liberals, NDP or Conservatives? Green or Bloc Quebecois?

Is it evenly split among all the parties or are Conservative supporters less likely to be opposed to the idea? My guess is the latter.

This is merely a tactic used by a minority government when it is in trouble. Are the Conservatives the only party that are cowards, choosing this tactic or can we expect the same from the Liberals or another party in the not too distant future?

Again, I expect the latter and though Liberal supporters will cry "Never, would they stoop so low", let's wait and see.

It won't be long now until the next election. June will be the end of this government. How long before (probably) the Liberals get themselves in trouble and consider this lowly tactic?

I'm against this proroguing but these rallies and facebook pages and any petitions that may pop up soon will do nothing to solve the problem. It's a shame these protests will be populated mostly by hypocrites who are looking for a change in government instead of a real solution.

SharingIsGood said...

Henri Paul said:

"This what it should say,It’s sponsored by Liberals with nearly 200,000 Facebook members."

Henry Paul, your statement pushes in a direction that conceals truth. The person who started the group has never belonged to a political party. I am also not a member of any political party, and I belong to that group. There are Liberal, NDP, Greens, Conservatives and non-partisan members of that group. Personally, I don't know if there now is any Liberal sponsorship of the group, but I can tell you that 200,000 members is greater than the daily readership of the National Post.

Angela:
You should follow the link on my earlier 9:15 posting. If you had, I believe your posting would have been somewhat different. Sir John A. McDonald, when facing The Pacific Scandal, and Steven Harper, when facing being ousted by a coalition and the running over of the coals for the Afghan lies, are the only PMs who have ever prorogued parliament because they didn't want to face Parliamentary/public heat. This does not mean that I don't agree that rules for proroguing need to be changed.

Angela said...

Okay SharingIsGood, I've read the article. There was a correction, Jean Chretien also prorogued Parliament once. I didn't read anything to change my mind. Sure, the power of proroguing was not abused for over a century. But now that it has, it's becoming more frequent and our government is a mess. I think the article suggests exactly what I said in my original post. There's no reason to expect any different unless there are drastic changes in our society. Are we ready for the revolution? It could get ugly.

SharingIsGood said...

Check out this Globe and Mail article that discusses the makeup of the FB group:
Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament

Angela said...

Just returned from the vancouver rally. Maybe 800-1000 people in attendance. Probably 150 or so just there exchanging literature for their various causes.

I kept hearing the same theme, Harper thought he could get away with this because he thought we don't care. And by standing up and chanting our displeasure we have let him know how wrong he was.

Uh, no. Harper doesn't give a damn if we're upset or not, he DID get away with this stunt because he's arrogant and he knows we can't do anything about it.

Sure we are allowed to protest, but that's not a discussion about our concerns that will be listened to and dealt with. It's a complaint that is freely ignored because it's not coming from an important source.

Of course there's always the danger that someday ordinary people will be given the chance to have a real voice in government. Thank goodness we have Bill to stand up for the politicians and do his best to keep that from happening.

By the way, did anyone else find it amusing that NDP supporters were waving placards saying "Democracy Works"? I know the provincial NDP doesn't support democracy so I have trouble believing the federal branch of this gang is any different.

Anonymous said...

C;mon Bill. You were in there with the NDP. You know the drill when it comes to proroging the Legislature. The same thing happens with the House of Commons.

Suppose Harper decided to pass through legislation that would be largely un-noticed during a time when Parliament was in Session during the Olympics?

If all this effort in these silly protests were to turn into real tangible volunteer efforts for the NDP and the federal Liberals, then there would be something.

These protests are not much more than an excuse to make cheap signs
with felt pens and to yell with
other like minded people.

If people really want to make change, join a political party and actually work at it.

The part that the MPs are not working doesn't hold.

They are working, in their ridings attending to constituent work, just like your buds in the provincial NDP do when the Legislature isn't sitting.

No different, except for five weeks.

DPL said...

The one in Ottawa today drew a big crowd. and they all didn't seem to be Liberals. But they were of different age groups and they were upset with harpo.

Henri Paul said...

SharingIsGood said, The person who started the group has never belonged to a political party. I am also not a member of any political party
----------------------------------
So what,I don't belonged to a political party either,I do not grasp what your point is. Here is a little history lesson on Proroguing, read, learn, open your mind.

Proroguing of parliament has been implemented 105 times by liberal Prime ministers, according to the powers invested in Prime Ministers by Constitutional Convention.

Former prime minister Trudeau prorogued parliament a total of 11 times in 16 years, many parliamentary sessions were prorogued three or four times in the same session. Gov legislation died on the order paper.

Chretien prorogued 4 times, he used it to call elections very early in 5 year majority mandates, another to bring in a new budget that would be his legacy, another, a liberal leadership convention was being called to replace him, so that same day he prorogued Parliament for the only reason he no longer wanted to sit next to Martin in the House.

SharingIsGood said...

Henry Paul,

I didn't say I liked Cretien or Martin; but of the three, Harper has proven to be the worst in my books.

I stand by my previous statement. The CAPP group is a nonpartisan group: even Conservatives belong.

Henri PAUL said...

SharingIsGood said...
Henry Paul,
SharingIsGood said.9:39PM

I didn't say I liked Cretien or Martin; but of the three, Harper has proven to be the worst in my books.
---------------------------------
Yeah right, good old DA pepper is DA pepper I put on DA food, the same sperm cell who promised to eliminate the GST, then theres the other dolt, Mr dithers the sneak.
Harper looks like a choir boy compared to them.
Let me rephrase that, Harper is a choir boy compared to them.