capp = 200,000 and rising

ding ding ding ding ding (That's a bell ringing, donchaknow.)

The Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group has now passed 200,000 members. I am confident that all those and more will be in the streets on January 23.

I hope many other towns and cities will do what Toronto is doing: no politicians will speak. Let one elected official speak, and there'll be a whole line waiting to respond, and guess who the media will focus on. Toronto will be a people's rally.

But every organizing committee in every one of the dozens of towns will discuss and debate and talk and wrangle, and they'll come to a consensus, and decide for themselves what shape and form their action will take. What's that called again? Wait, wait, don't tell me...

If you know someone who's unimpressed or undecided, NoProrogue.ca has a wonderfully concise explanation of Why You Should Care About Prorogation.
On December 30th Stephen Harper announced that he will be Proroguing Parliament and suspending democracy until March 3. This is the second time he has done this in under two years.

Proroguing means:

1. All 37 bills being debated in Parliament are thrown in the trash. Discussion on bills starts from scratch in March, wasting months of hard work by all parties. These bills included new crime legislation, limits on credit card insurance rates, etc.

2. Committees investigating accusations of torture of Afghan detainees stop working

3. Discussions and decisions about the pension crisis affecting Canada’s seniors stops

4. Questions about Canada’s inaction at the Copenhagen climate-change summit are silenced. Opportunities to move forward with Canada’s plan for sustainable development are stalled for over a month.

5. Your MPs cannot raise your concerns in Ottawa

If they're still unsure, tell them the illustrious Prime Minister himself must agree with us.
When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid dissent is frankly when it's rapidly losing its moral authority to govern.

Stephen Harper, April 18, 2005

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