Canadians Against Prorogation Rally in San Francisco
On Saturday, January 23, 2010, I attended a rally at the Canadian consulate in San Francisco to protest the Canadian government decision to prorogue Parliament until March 3. Going prorogue-what’s that, you may ask? No, it’s not the name of Sarah Palin’s book-or the name of a favourite food in Canada-though I hear that pirogues were served at some of the rallies. To prorogue is to discontinue a session of Parliament without dissolving it-and can be accomplished very easily in the Canadian system of government, as it happens.Canada’s Governor General of Canada, Michaelle Jean, agreed on December 30, 2009 to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s request to prorogue Parliament-for the second time in one year. The impact on Canadians? Instead of Parliament starting up again on January 25, 2010 after adjourning for the holidays, the opening of the next session of Parliament has been postponed until March 3, 2010. Parliamentary working time is reduced by 22 days, and 36 government bills introduced in since January 2009 died-and will need to be reintroduced, debated, and passed by both houses of Parliament in order to become law. Prorogation also means that existing parliamentary committees have stopped meeting.
The main reason given by Mr. Harper for prorogation was the need for his government to recalibrate. Once the news sank in, the reaction from ordinary Canadians was swift-and perhaps unexpected, for a nation sometimes known more for its interest in hockey than in politics.
A major source of protest is one that would not have been conceivable just a few years ago: social media. The Facebook group Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, started by Christopher White, a Master’s student in Anthropology at the University of Alberta, quickly grew from a few hundred members to a group now numbering over 225,000. Canadians unhappy with prorogation were urged to write letters to the PM, their MPs, the Governor General, their local media-and to sign petitions protesting the proroguing of Parliament. Rallies took place across Canada on January 23, two days before Parliament should have resumed. Expatriate Canadians also started protest groups, and rallies were held in London, England, Amsterdam, New York City, Dallas, Texas-and in San Francisco. One Canadian even staged her own one-woman protest in Oman.
At first dismissing the movement as a social media non-event, even the mainstream Canadian and international media started to pay attention. The Globe and Mail set up a prorogation heading on their website, and has posted prorogation rally photos; CTV asked protesters to send videos and pictures of the events; the CBC and other Canadian media covered the rallies. (I have looked in vain for much American press coverage of the prorogation story since the announcement was made: Canada rarely gets much press here, though the Winter Olympics currently taking place in Vancouver are an exception.)
I joined the Facebook group soon after I read online about Mr. Harper’s decision to prorogue Parliament-and then I got active in writing letters to the Prime Minister and the Governor General, to the Globe and Mail and the New York Times to express my dismay at this course of action.
As I wrote to Mr. Harper soon after his appearance on CBC to justify prorogation: “Canadians do care about their country, and about how it is being governed. They care about Canada’s international reputation and domestic policies. They care about the environment, about Afghanistan, about health care and public education, about poverty, about the treatment of the elderly and those who are most vulnerable in society, and about the economy. Historically, Canadians have much to be proud of on many fronts, but your actions show that you have little respect for or understanding of the views of the citizens of your own country….Ordinary Canadians do their jobs each day, and yet you betray the public trust and tarnish Canada’s reputation in the world with your arrogant actions. Do what Canadians are paying you to do. Convene Parliament and make decisions instead of avoiding them.”
The San Francisco protest was organized by Ian Griffiths, an expatriate Canadian living in San Francisco, who created a Facebook event page for the local rally. As soon as I found out about the local protest, I made plans to attend, braving the rains and the crazy traffic to get into San Francisco from the East Bay-and joined the protest in front of the Canadian consulate on California Street, a quiet spot on a Saturday afternoon. We were a small, friendly group, and each of us felt that it was important to do something as Canadians to show our concern-we even had a couple of interested Americans join in our rally. Several cable cars stopped right outside the Canadian Consulate, and when they saw our signs, people asked what prorogation meant and why we were there, so we had some great conversations.
The anti-prorogation Facebook group continues to grow, as there are ongoing concerns about the
wisdom (or necessity) of proroguing parliament at a time when there are serious issues to be debated and legislation to be passed. And more rallies are planned, including on March 3, when Parliament is set to resume. So perhaps ordinary Canadians are not quite as apathetic as those in government might believe.
That a Canadian Prime Minister in a minority government can suspend Parliament so easily and without debate shows a flaw in the Canadian system of government, and once the house of commons resumes sitting, I look forward to the introduction of legislation to prevent Parliament being suspended again in this way. Meanwhile, as a concerned Canadian, I will do what I can to keep this issue alive, and urge expat Canadians to remain informed about what is happening in Canada even while they are living outside the country.
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