The Victoria chapter of a national group that sprang up to oppose prime minister Stephen Harper’s proroguing parliament is morphing into an ongoing pro-democracy movement.
“Ironically, the extreme cynicism of Harper’s original action created the opposite result, bringing people who had been disengaged back into the discussion,” said Craig Ashbourne, one of the Victoria organizers of Canadians Advocating Political Participation, which has grown out of the group Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament.
The Victoria group gets between 20 and 30 people at its weekly organizing meetings and is planning a monthly NightCAPP get-together at a local bar starting on March 22.
“Democracies only work as long as the people in them are engaged and involved,” said Ashbourne. “It is that piece about showing people that democracy is a hell of a lot more than voting. It's conversations you have in a grocery store. It's conversations you have in a bar.”
Democracy also includes joining groups, writing to politicians, joining political parties, working to develop party policies and marching in protests like the one CAPP organized in January, he said. People want to be involved, but sometimes aren’t sure how to go about it, he added. “We’re not apathetic, we’re just rusty.”
Group member Wendy Bergerud, who previously served on the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform that recommended the BC-STV, said she hopes CAPP will help educate people about how our political system works. People need to understand that coalition governments are a healthy part of our system and not treasonous, she said.
Ashbourne has worked with the New Democratic Party, but said CAPP involves a diverse group of individuals including people from all the major parties. CAPP groups across the country continue to meet, he said, and are planning a national day of dialogue for May.
“What we’re trying to encourage here is a discussion of how we can begin to address the very real problems that prorogation has exposed,” he said.
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.
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IranianDude
1 year ago
There's no such thing as democracy in this country
Corporatocracy is our status quo. This will eventually lead to full blown corporate fascism as demonstrated by corporate games, nefarious provincial and federal lobbies, etc.
Let's not fool ourselves by pretending something that we don't have, democracy that is.
It's done. Corporations have us by the neck.
Ramona777
1 year ago
Meeting in a bar?
Given the near-mythological treatment that hockey gets in this country, why don't CAPP meet in hockey arenas and get hockey moms and dad involved then they'd have much more to worry about than lead in the paint of hockey sticks.
As for a national day of dialogue, why not a national day of action?
Sask Resident
1 year ago
Civics in School
Too bad the education system doesn't teach our children about Canada's democratic system, including how it works and why.
Interested_Party
1 year ago
There's democracy if you want it / make it
Sure, corporations have a lot of power, and I'm not going to try to whitewash that. But it seems like sitting back and just saying that is less than productive.
If these guys are getting together and trying to educate/engage people, that's great. If even a handful of people are convinced that their voices matter, and become re-involved, I'd say they've been successful.
I'll be out there on Monday, to see what's happening.
realisticman
1 year ago
NightCAPP
"...Wendy Bergerud, who previously served on the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform that recommended the BC-STV, said she hopes CAPP will help educate people about how our political system works. People need to understand that coalition governments are a healthy part of our system and not treasonous, "
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Michael Ignatieff:
“Canadians want a country. They don't want a community of communities. I'm committed to the national unity of the country.”"
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Sunday, March 21, 2010
Bloc Québecois leader Gilles Duceppe said:
"We’re on the right side, the rising side, of history. For the moment, we are resistants. But yesterday’s resistants are tomorrow’s winners….Quebec has no future in Canada…the only worthy future for Québec is full and complete political liberty. And that’s called sovereignty. "
***********************
Tell us more, Wendy, about this coalition idea and how a revived one would work. Is the Bloc still in? Will Iggy and Gilles just learn to get along? Is a coalition with Blocquists at the Cabinet table acceptable to enough Canadians to win a democratic majority?
Interested_Party
1 year ago
Coalitions
realistman - I don't think Wendy is saying that there has to be a coalition, or even that there would be one with BQ and Liberals.
What she's referring to is the fact that many Canadians were tricked by the current government last year into believing that somehow a coalition was a coup. Coalition governments are the norm in many parts of the world, and have occurred in Canada in the past - it's hardly outrageous to believe that Canadians should be educated on that.
realisticman
1 year ago
Who tricked who?
Many commentators around the world suggested and used the word coup when it was proposed by the 2008 coalition. Ian MacDonald of Policy Options magazine wrote: "A coup. A very Canadian coup. A perfectly constitutional coup, endorsed by the Westminster tradition. A leader rejected by the voters and repudiated by his own party is about to strike a governance bargain with the socialists with whom he said he would never seek a coalition, aided and abetted by the separatists he went to Ottawa to fight. All that for the pleasure of spending one Christmas at 24 Sussex. "
Read more: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/12/02/l-ian-macdonald-a-very-canadian-coup.aspx#ixzz0iy8ONGXU
Even NDP strategist Brian Topp wrote in his recently published book, How We Almost Gave the Tories the Boot: The inside story behind the coalition freely admits that the overthrow was premeditated and had nothing to do with policy, although that's how they tried to sell to Canadians.
The question is this; should a coalition just appear or should Canadians be aware of what they are voting for if indeed a coalition is in the cards?
Incidentally, a coalition without the Bloc with the polls pretty well static would not garner sufficient numbers, the Liberals combined with the NDP would be about 40 less than the Conservatives and the two coalition members would be seriously compromised. The conservative leaning Liberals would be outraged as would the left leaning NDPers.