By Pablo Vivanco
Prorogue:
1 : defer, postpone
2 : to terminate a session of (as a British parliament) by royal prerogative
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
They say history has a habit of repeating itself. As with the previous year, Canada closed off 2009 with a request from the elected Head of State – the Prime Minister – to the unelected Head of State – the Governor General to prorogue parliament. As with the previous year, the Governor General granted the request and Canadians started the year with a parliament on extended vacation.
Of course, there are differences. In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked for time to prevent the short-lived Liberal-NDP-Bloc Quebecois from forming a coalition government. One year later, Harper was looking to avoid another threat to his government. In the fall, Canada’s second-ranked diplomat in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007 Richard Colvin went public with information that the Canadian government had knowledge that Afghan detainee’s being handed over to Afghan authorities were being tortured. Colvin’s shocking allegations prompted the formation of a special parliamentary committee that posed a significant threat the Harper’s embattled government.
Curiously, Harper’s main opposition for this measure didn’t come from opposition leaders or political parties. Rather, spontaneous organizing through social networking websites, especially Facebook became the dominant forum for anti-prorogue sentiments.
Through facebook and websites, a Canada-wide day of action was planned for January 23. By even conservative media reports, participation nation wide was calculated at some 27 000 people including some 10 000 in Toronto.
Prior to the march Alternavox spoke with one of the Toronto organizers, Walied Kogali over the expectations of the rally and some of the themes that have emerged regarding the method being utilized to coalesce the discontent.
ALT: what do you hope will result from these protests?
WK: We hope to raise awareness of Stephan’s Harper’s undemocratic decision to prorogue parliament and silence the elected representatives of the people. We hope to pressure politicians, especially future Prime Minister’s to think twice before using proroguing parliament for political gain, in fact we would like an end to partisan politics.
ALT: While the mainstream media has been covering the anti-prorogue e-organizing extensively, the Conservatives and other have criticized the Facebook groups as being a form of ‘slack-tivism’. How would you respond to this?
WK: I think that’s a fair criticism, but my experiences have reinforced the notion that new forms of media such as facebook, in this case a facebook group, could help the people set the agenda in the corporate controlled press. I think on January 23rd we will find out how many people really care about the issue of prorogation, whether they believe that parliament is meant to serve the people not an MP from Alberta, specifically Stephen Harper.
ALT: Are the demonstrations going to have politicians speaking? If so, which ones?
WK: We will have no politicians speaking in the Toronto tally, because the organizing committee of more than 200 people decided so, but in other parts of the country their organizing committee will decide on the speakers.
ALT: Previous government, particularly the Liberals have also prorogued governments. Trudeau prorogued government 11 times, and Chretien 4 times. Do you feel that the entire concept of proroguing should be scrapped?
WK: I believe that the idea of proroguing parliament should be eliminated, and we should have further democratic reform.
Following the success of the January 23rd demonstrations, anti-prorogue demonstrators are continuing their efforts. Readers can access more information at noprorogue.ca