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VIDEO: Londoners send message to Harper; 'Get back to work'
The gates to Victoria Park at the corner of Richmond Street and Central Avenue was the scene of a rally protesting Harper's December of 09 decision to prorogue Parliament until March 3 of this year – and the London rally was one 50 held in communities across the country. While the gathered crowd shouted out words such as "Shame!" and "Coward!" hoping to reach the ears of Harper, several speakers ranging from political to labour to community activists, took to the podium and admonished Canada's Prime Minister for what they called a lack of accountability and contributing to a dysfunctional government process that no longer works for the people of Canada, but for the Conservative agenda and keeping their Tories in power at all costs. Many pointed to the issue of Afghanistan detainees and the country's dismal record at the recent Copenhagen Climate Change Summit – as the reasoning behind Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament for a full two months. "This is a democracy and he can not continue in this arrogant vein," said London-Fanshawe MP Irene Mathyssen following the rally. "He has ignored the wishes of Canadians. He has disrespected, not just Parliament, but every Canadian who went to the polls to elect a member for the House of Commons." Prorogue Protest, London Ontario, Jan. 23, 2010 She said the London rally, and all the others like it that took place across Canada Saturday, tells Harper that "he ignores that at his peril." Mathyssen said that come Monday, Jan. 25, the day when Parliament was previously scheduled to resume prior to Harper's proroguing of the government, she, along with other MPs from opposition parties, will be in Ottawa continuing to do the work the people of Canada had elected them to do. She said Harper can remedy the erroneous and misuse of proroguing the government if he recalls MPs back to Ottawa, and get back to doing the work they were elected to do. Approximately 37 Bills died on the House of Commons table when Harper decided to prorogue Parliament Dec. 30, and Mathyssen noted those bills translate into months and months of work and hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in taxpayer's money. Many of those bills dealt with vital and key issues that needed to be addressed. Tim Carrie, CAW Local 27 President, suggested legislating Harper back to work. "Oh wait a minute – we don't have Parliament. We can't do that!" He said he had never heard of proroguing until Harper first used it in 2008 to avoid a non-confidence vote and a coalition government. "'When a government starts trying to cancel dissent, or avoid dissent, is frankly when it's rapidly losing its moral authourity to govern.' Who said that? Stephen Harper, Canadian Press, April 18, 05." Carrie noted, adding, "I think Steve, maybe you should follow your own advice – stop governing." He noted job loss, pensions, and again, the issues of Afghanistan detainees as pressing issues the government should be dealing with as opposed to taking two months off. "They're running away from it, but they can't hide. Eventually they will be back and they will pay a price for this. And I guarantee that price will be paid at the polls," Carrie said. Former London politician Daniel O'Neil made an appearance and spoke not as a politician but as a Canadian. "Because that's what we are. We didn't come here as Liberals or NDP or Greens, or even Conservatives. We didn't come here as men or women. We came here as Canadians. Canadians with a message to those MPs that we elected to work for us, and that message is get back to work," he said. Harper, O'Neil noted, was granted a minority government for a reason. "The majority of Canadians are apprehensive about his policies and plans. We elected Parliament to question those policies. By proroguing yet again he is ignoring the will of the people, calling our elected members and Parliament bad for business. Democracy is bad for business." Doug Ferguson, federal Liberal candidate for London West echoed the sentiment of many when he said he wished that Parliament was meeting right now. "I wish this rally wasn't necessary. I wish we had a government and a Prime Minister that put the public interest first. Instead the Prime Minister of Canada decided to put his own interests ahead of the public interest and he suspended Parliament." Ferguson noted that Harper's "ploy to padlock Parliament is far from an isolated act. It's just the latest in a pattern. Whenever he gets into political trouble his first instinct is to steamroll over democratic institutions and shut down accountability to hide from public scrutiny." He said the Vancouver Olympics is just a vehicle behind which the Conservative caucus is hiding – an excuse to stifle public dissent. "Even though every other democratic country who held the Olympics kept their Parliaments in session during that time including Canada during 1988." He said Harper is counting on the Canadian public to think there is nothing that can be done in regards to his unaccountability and his decision to prorogue Parliament. "Mr. Harper has lost his gamble. I am so proud of Canadians that they are not so easily fooled," Ferguson said. VIDEO: The Prorogue Song - An Ode to Stephen Harper |
| To bad this message will fall on deaf ears. The fact that Harper is arrogant enough to prorogue the house in itself is a pretty good indication that he and his Tory sheep won't give a flying F@#$* what anybody has to say about it. All hail King Harper. Welcome to our Canadian dictatorship. |
| By: Izzy on 01/24/2010 |
| C ya Harper. Now you to can soon get in line at the unemployment office with the other 400,000 or so Canadians who have lost their jobs in the last 18 months and are still looking for work. What are you honestly doing about that? Nothing. Squat. You suck. Some leader. Great article and video Ross. I wanted to go to the protest but I couldnt make it. Made me feel like I was there. Way better coverage than the so called other media in this town. London Topic rules. |
| By: Penny Pincher on 01/24/2010 |
| It is too bad most of the people that decided to protest still do not understand Canadian Politics. Stephen Harper and the government have not shut down for vacation, they are getting critical work done without the negativeness that the puppets of the socialist parties keep thrusting upon him in parliment. During this so called "Down Time", Mr. Harper has been more visable and open to the press in a positive note more than any Representitive of Canada in close to 20 years. The only scandel that people could attribute to this man are fabricatated assumptions by other so called party leaders. Canada came out of this recession due to what the Conservative policies and guidance were and are. I shutter to think what Jean Cretien would have done to drag us down even further. Kudos to Stephen Harper for representing all Canadians on an international stage and for allowing us to grow our sence of national pride to levels unforseen in Canadian history. Great Job, do not let the negative of a few thousand stop us from moving forward. |
| By: Dave Williams on 01/24/2010 |
| Critical work??? Examples???? Dave speaks like a true Harper cronie. News flash Dave: Parliament gets critical work done for ALL Canadians and not just the Tory supporters who sit around get fatter and richer from that parties pro-corporate agenda. It's called democracy, not dictatorship, and it's about all the Canadian people, the majority of which did not vote for Stevie boy. Get your head out of your ass and tell your "respected leader" to answer the tough questions that Canadains have for him instead of running and hiding anytime somebody utters interrogatives in regards to the heavily slanted and fat-cat byest policies of the Harper government, and I use the word government loosely. |
| By: Terrance on 01/24/2010 |
| It would seem Dave that you are the one who does NOT understand our parliamentary system. Of course you rely on Conservative party talking points rather than original thought. The Prime Minister serves the parliament--not the other way around--an through the Parliament is held accountable to the people. However, Dave Williams is also a Conservative Board Troll, his "job" on behalf of the Cons is to troll internet comment boards and post his party's talking points. Take a look around LondonTopic at some of the other "comments" Dave has made and it will become pretty obvious. The Con Trolls have been all over the comment boards of practically every online story about these protests. The Conservatives are in desperate damage control mode over this prorogation London, they counted on people to be as ignorant of parliamentary process as they were a year ago when Harper first prorogued. There is a reason the Cons have plunged 10 points in support among Canadians. People won't be fooled again! So Londoner's, don't worry about Dave, express your own thoughts--don't feed the trolls! |
| By: S.Lewis on 01/25/2010 |
| The criticism for the prorogation of Parliament is rightly directed at the Prime Minister because he is the head of the government, however, the responsibility for this state of affairs lies squarely on the shoulders of the gutless conservative members of Parliament. It is they who made Harper dictator of Canada. Just like the Liberal embers of Parliament allowed Chretien to assume the same role. Members of Parliament could refuse to vote prorogation of Parliament by showing up and conducting business as usual, regardless of where Harper was or what he was doing. But of course this would relegate them to the rear ranks of the party and cut off their perks. Members of Parliament are no longer civil servants, they are self-servants. But then again, maybe it's just me. |
| By: LEGAL BEAGLE on 01/25/2010 |
| S.Lewis, apparently the right to prorogue government has been a part of OUR DEMOCRACY for generations. Trudeau and Pearson as well as Cretien have prorougued parliament several times. I do suppose you were the person downtown with the sign when these leaders chose to follow their democratic right? Stephen Harper is not trying to perform any damage control on this. He is representing us on a world stage in higher regard than any other leader in the free world today. The events in Copenhagen and Haiti are glowing examples. I challenge anyone here to dispute that. As well, if anyone here could even try to validate any positives that Premier "Dad" Dalton and Jean "I Need Proof"and Bob "take a day off" did for Canada or this province please speak. If not take the time to research the concerns. No other leader has held this country together for more than a few months with a minority government, until now. Mark your calendars people as we as Canadians are in the midst of leading the world in positive change. We finally have a PM that cares about Canada and not their own personal legacy. |
| By: Dave Williams on 01/27/2010 |
| With regards to Mr. Solberg's editorial, in London's newspaper. His attempt to diminish the importance of the Facebook inspired rallies across Canada is just another attempt by a Radical Conservative to Marginalize the People of Canada. First off his Insinuation that the Facebook movement was some nefarious plot by the NDP is laughable. This was a Grassroots movement without ties to any party. As one of the original organizers and Previous Green Party Candidate I do not feel that the NDP inspired, cajoled, or even suggested the idea to me. As a matter of Fact it was the Conservative Government that gave me the inspiration. The utter contempt that this Government seems to hold the Canadian people in is shameful. A Prime Minister who admits to a dependency on Voter Apathy, an Elected Prime Minister who Claims that Democracy is bad for business. MPs who consider people educated by the Canadian universities , chittering elitist, and a Prime minister who when asked his feelings on the fact that the people of Canada were willing to come out in the cold across the nation to demand their democracy back, was too busy to consider the rights and needs of the people he supposedly represents. That is what enrages the Canadian public. Did Mr Harper have the legal right to Prorogue? Yes. Did his Party have the right to spend more money on their election campaign than the limit set by Elections Canada to keep the election fair? Apparently. Did Mr. Harper have the right to shut down investigations into his government's involvement in bribery (Cadman Affair), or human rights violations on the world stage (detainee issue)? Yes. The real question is did he have the moral right to do so? To that the answer is absolutely not. A Prime Minister is expected to take responsibility for his actions and the actions of his Government, to shut down Parliament not once but twice for no other purpose than to hold on to power is Machiavellian in the extreme. We as Canadian's expect more, We as Canadians elect our government with the expectation they will take the morally correct path regarding the running of this nation. So when they say they will not appoint Senators we are disappointed that they appoint more than any other Prime Minister in history. When they say a government that prorogues to hide from issues is morally wrong, we expect them to not follow that exact same path. When they say they are willing to form a coalition to maintain government stability, we do not expect them to then claim it's undemocratic if anyone else proposes it. When they promise to lead us, and avoid all responsibility for their actions, we rise up and protest. And when they ignore us, the Canadian People, we replace them with elected members who deserve the job. |
| By: Daniel O'Neail on 01/27/2010 |
| Job well done again Mr. Harper. Although, the proroguation of the government this year was requested in order for the government to put in place the strategies for the upcoming year to keep Canada strong in these tough economic times, it has opened the eyes of the "ME GENERATION" to possibly research and get to understand the Canadian political landscape. It is amazing that the Facebook site against the proroguation had a strong presence of people who "became a Fan" in order to support Stephen Harper. The traffic on the site has dwinddled and the comments are slowly becoming more and more neutral as it would seem that some these people have researched what the Conservative platform is and have made the conclusion that Stephen Harper is the Leader for Canada during these harsh economic times. |
| By: David Williams on 01/31/2010 |
| @Dave Williams - Actually, I must give Stephen Harper some cudos for shaking Canadians out of their apethetic sleep. Thanks to his self-righeous decision to prorogue parliament Harper has alerted Canadians to the fact that they do, in fact, have a voice, and they can institute change. By counting on Canadian apathy to not care if he prorogued, he has successfully sealed the deal on any upcoming federal election. He has awakened a sleeping giant and now we know we must institute change and that change will come at the polls. This prorogue is his own folly. Thanks Stephen. |
| By: Terrance Guest on 01/31/2010 |
| Terrance, if anything, the waking giant will be the people who take the time to research the issues. The people that showed up without an open mind only to complain without researching the issues will likely not show up to vote anyway. Mr. Harper is not a Prime Minister who follows polls, he is a PM that aims to improve Canada. Just by reading your rant, it is clear that you cannot or chose not to see the positive change that has happened in the past four years. If the PM were to have an electon called right now, every political party including the Liberal and NDP, know that the Conservatives would win a huge majority, that is why in early March, they will approve the budget with very little challenge. I hope this helped Terrance, please read a book prior to further rebuttals. |
| By: Dave Williams on 02/06/2010 |
| @Dave, wow, I thought Conservatives were against drug use? Obviously you must be on something pretty strong to convince yourself the Conservatives would win a huge majority in a spring election. Every political expert--and I'm not just talking Canada, but international observers as well--acknowledge that the Conservatives would at best retain a much weakened minority, if not outright loosing government in a spring election. I will give you this, there won't be a spring election, but that is because the Liberals are in serious financial trouble and pretty much leaderless and directionless under Iggy so they won't vote no confidence. |
| By: S.Lewis on 02/11/2010 |
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