The nation-wide rallies last Saturday against the Prime Minister’s prorogation of Parliament were the most intense grassroots movement in Canada since the nail-biting final week of the 1995 Quebec Referendum. Though no protest numerically rivalled the Unity Rally that invaded Place du Canada on October 27, 1995, Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament has proven that social networking tools rival, and even exceed, party apparatuses in their ability to marshal grassroots action. While the rallies greatly exceeded expectations, there remains a lot of work to be done if the momentum has any chance of holding.
Predictably, the government has stuck to its conventional rhetoric, which grows more strained with each passing day. When asked about the rallies on Saturday morning, Stephen Harper said with his characteristic glibness, “The government has a lot of work to do to get ourselves prepared for the upcoming agenda of Parliament […] I would obviously simply urge our opposition to spend their time making constructive proposals.” Fortunately, the opposition has been doing just that. Both the Liberals and the New Democrats have proposed measures to curb the power of the Prime Minister and make prorogation a matter that requires debate and consensus.
Harper’s statement is part of a broader dismissive attitude he and his party have adopted when answering questions about democratic accountability and governance. In an interview with Peter Mansbridge several days into the new year, he claimed that the Afghan detainee issue was “not on the radar for most Canadians,” and was flippant towards popular concern about prorogation. Several days later, Minister of Industry Tony Clement told reporters that only a small group of “elites” and “the chattering classes” were involved in the organization of rallies to protest the government’s move. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told a group of reporters from the CBC that he “often gets more done when the House is not in session.”
These kinds of offhand statements have a twofold effect. First, they characterize opposition to the government (either formal or grassroots) as meddlesome, partisan, and insignificant. Anti-prorogation protestors become members of a privileged, “elite” group that spends its time “chattering” about such trivialities as how the country’s the central democratic institution is being shut down for partisan reasons.
Second, these statements affirm the mantra that the government is working fast, hard, and effectively, without the tyranny of a majority opposition breathing down its necks. The crisis in Haiti fits this message. The government’s response was, indeed, fast, hard, and effective, and for a very good reason. Disaster response requires a high degree of central control to be efficient. It requires a coordinated effort on part of cabinet ministers, and extensive collaboration between different government departments that all report directly to the Prime Minister’s Office. National politics, on the other hand, requires extensive debate, maximum discussion, and above all, a series of democratic votes by the people’s representatives at different stages of the legislative process. The Conservatives hope to blur the distinction between these two processes with their casual dismissals. Expect these to be the standard talking points right through until March.
Though Canadians who disapprove of the prorogation really got the ball rolling on Saturday, the rallies must only be the first stage in a movement for renewal and reform. Some six weeks lie ahead before Parliament is set to resume, and the government will use every means at its disposal to push serious discussions about democracy and accountability out of the national debate. The elites and the chattering classes will have their hands full.
