Canada: What Does Our Democracy Look Like?

I am voting this election. And I hope that if you’re eligible to vote that you will too.

But I know that my vote is relatively benign because I am voting in a safe Liberal riding. Don’t get me wrong: I’m very grateful that I’m not in a safe Conservative riding. But still, it is mildly disheartening to know that my vote doesn’t really count. I know that voting is only one way to participate in a democracy. In fact, it is really a small part of it and takes place much less frequently in some other nations. I have increasingly put effort into other actions over the past few years, like calling and writing to my Member of Parliament (MP), party leaders, ministers, and the Prime Minister (PM) himself, to tell them what matters to me.

Some Canadians live in ridings in which there is a close race between the candidates and can make a big difference by casting their vote this election. Sites like 17votes and Project Democracy demonstrate how as few as 17 votes can decide who wins a riding. So, you should all go VOTE! But ultimately, my vote won’t change anything in my riding. My vote can help one of the political parties receive funding in the future (unless Harper scraps that law in his quest for autarchy). I’ve considered some strategic voting initiatives such as Vote Pair and Vote Swap, but since I need to mail in my special ballot, I am running out of time to find a match. In sum, I've realized that simply casting a vote on election day is not enough and I've been considering others ways to be democratically engaged.

I’ve been thinking about what our democracy looks like and have decided that we need to change. One change that is desperately needed in order to ensure more votes count: electoral reform! There are organizations working towards this goal, such as Fair Vote Canada. We should all learn more about the issue, then get involved and support them in order to make more of our votes count. Electoral reform would also help combat so-called “voter apathy”. Here’s a new approach to the idea of apathy:

In this TEDTalk, Meslin presents a compelling explanation for “apathy”, claiming that inaction is often due to multiple obstacles and barriers in society.

While electoral reform is important, we need to rethink what is happening between election campaigns. Canadians need to see voting as only a part of democracy and need to take action in other ways. We need to call our MPs, email our party leaders and contact relevant ministers. We need to protest, sign petitions and write to our newspapers regarding issues that matter to us and our neighbours. There are numerous other ways to get involved on a local level, such as joining neighbourhood associations, participating in community events and your municipal government, and engaging in your community. While these are all great ways to get involved, for the purpose of this post, I'm focusing specifically on federal politics.

Social media is the tool that youth (among other Canadians) are currently using to express themselves. We are using the internet to to spark change, spread information, support organizations and encourage each other. Among other initiatives: vote mobs, songs, tweets, emails, blogs, YouTube, websites, and comics. It’s all pretty awesome.

Leadnow’s Declaration of Change showed that Canadians are interested in getting involved. Participants indicated a desire for more direct avenues to participate in our democracy:

• Create an open government plan to increase transparency and accountability

• Initiate a citizen-led process for a referendum on electoral reform

• Make it easier for people to participate directly in government decision-making

So yes, the movement to get out the vote on May 2 is important. But what if Canadians also called and wrote to their MPs? What if we did this not just before, but also AFTER the election. What if we wrote to our local newspapers as a way to share our opinions with others in our communities? It’s probably much easier for politicians like Stephen Harper when the electorate doesn’t offer many loud and/or united voices. So, let’s make it difficult. Social media is only the first step (albeit a significant one). 
We need to engage with people outside of our relatively progressive and informed youth/student community. We need to make this mainstream.

Intellectual Noam Chomsky has been critical of the expression “speak truth to power” and I think his reasoning should inform the movement to improve our democracy in Canada.

Chomsky elaborated in a 2010 interview in response to the questions: "Finally, why have you criticised the formula 'to speak truth to power,' which was used by the late Edward Said to describe the role of intellectuals?"

That's actually a Quaker slogan, and I like the Quakers and I do a lot of things with them, but I don't agree with the slogan. First of all, you don't have to speak truth to power, because they know it already. And secondly, you don't speak truth to anybody, that's too arrogant. What you do is join with people and try to find the truth, so you listen to them and tell them what you think and so on, and you try to encourage people to think for themselves.

The ones you are concerned with are the victims, not the powerful, so the slogan ought to be to engage with the powerless and help them and help yourself to find the truth. It's not an easy slogan to formulate in five words, but I think it's the right one.

So while we can call out corporations and politicians, we need to speak to people. We should definitely tell politicians what to do since they work for the electorate. But we need to speak to, and learn from, each other. We especially need to engage with those Canadians who aren’t likely to read posts about #cndpoli or be tweeting about the #elxn41.

As I finish writing this post, I’ve found a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Predictably this event appeared in my Facebook News Feed: I Pledge to Talk ShitHarperDid.com. (For those who are unfamiliar with this site, check out this post from last week or go straight to the source). The event calls for participants to not only tweet and post about politics (specifically Harper’s transgressions), but to actually TALK about it in real life. Below is text directly from the event:

We've already gone viral on the internet, now it's time to go viral on the original internet, IE. real life.

✔STEP.1

Pledge that every day between now and May.2nd you will tell a friend, family member or stranger one thing Stephen Harper has done, which you consider to be unacceptable.

✔STEP.2

Tell us about conversations you've had by sharing your experience on the event wall.

✔STEP.3

Invite your friends to this event!

✔STEP.4*

VOTE! Fri. Apr.22 / Sat.Apr.23 / Mon.Apr.25 / Mon.May.2

We should all do this all the time! Let’s talk about Harper. Let’s also talk about Ignatieff, Layton, May and Duceppe. Let’s talk about our local MPs, electoral reform, climate change and war. Let’s be part of more than a voter movement: let’s take part in some extra-ordinary direct democracy!

And for your viewing enjoyment, the latest video from ShitHarperDid.com:

"Stephen Harper is an Evil Astronaut" reminds us why we’re currently holding an election.

* There is still time to vote by special ballot (inside or outside Canada).

Everybody's Suddenly Talking about the Youth Vote

In the same way you can tell that Conservatives don't think they can win in my riding, it seems clear to me that political parties in general don't expect youth voters to turn out.

On one hand, we get accused of being apathetic (in fact I accuse myself). But on the other hand, I hope that politicians will find that youth voters are going to vote this year. I really have a good feeling about it. I know that's no Nanos poll accurate within 1.9 percentage points and I'm not advocating myself as a political forecaster. And I may be biased by being slightly older this time around. But it seems as though the people around me who are in my age group are more politically interested than in the last few elections.

I've been talking politics a LOT with a lot of different people. I've been seeing other people around me - mainly in the form of distant Facebook acquaintances - do the same. Yesterday I had an intense political conversation while drinking beer in a park on the way to a bar. I had another completely different conversation about politics IN the bar, with some guy I didn't really know! Both conversations were heated and intense and totally awesome. On top of that, the girl I was with took an Olivia Chow sign from a lawn (wow I'm really incriminating myself in this post aren't I?) and we got tons of hollers! The bouncer seemed to be concerned about whether he should let us reprobates into the bar given the legal implications of sign poaching. But eventually he said "As long as you're not voting Conservative" and waved us on. 

Not to mention we've got these vote mob thingys happening.

Even media outlets have started taking notice.

It gives me hope.

2011 has been a crazy year so far. People all over the world are creating political change. In a way, Canadians are deeply entrenched in a dysfunctional political system as well. Don't get me wrong, I seriously respect that I am extremely fortunate to live in a democracy - it's the best we've got. But we could still be doing a lot better.

Two years ago we saw our neighbours to the south elect Obama. I continue to be an insane Obama fangirl, although the U.S. are definitely still struggling in a rough patch. And okay, we don't have an Obama figure of our own but what we do have is choice! We don't just have to pick the lesser of two evils - it's more likely that there is a party with at least some policies we like (even if we're seeing a lot more politics than policy in this election). 

Further, youth tend to be less set in their ways – and therefore more open-minded to the choices that a multiple party system provides. At this point in the campaign, I’m still open to voting Liberal, Green, or NDP. Any of those parties could woo me. I would like to talk more about the campaign promises that are geared towards us and whether they hold weight or not (it would be a good educational opportunity for me), but to me it's clear that we are an afterthought. And hey, maybe this election we'll have an abysmal 30% turnout again, and politicians and politicos will continue to ignore young voters.

This brings me back to my original point, and yes I know it took a while to get here. I'm sure you could list a variety of reasons why parties don't appeal to young voters as much as say, all of this insane hoopla ha about immigrant votes and middle-class votes. I mean, Harper's just being realistic, for one. But they're wrong to ignore us because I'm undecided in this election, and I don't think I'm alone. 

The way I see it is that we can create change by proving that we are an engaged and intelligent electorate. Maybe not this election round, because the platforms have been released. But if we get out there and vote this year, politicians will be more likely to take our views more seriously the next time around! 

Then again, if we turn out and vote, who knows what our influence could be! Who knows, maybe we could still turn the tide in this election.

People our age are literally dying worldwide to gain the rights we take for granted. So people. Specifically young people. I'm serious here. Get out there, get informed, and vote!

We can make our voices be heard. We can, and we should, VOTE!

---

Spring or Summer?

Actually, I think I'm going to wait until summer rolls around. How about you?

comic by Natalie Dee

ShitHarperDid.com: "There are better options this election"

This website is going viral and we're going to do out part to spread the word. 

You may have already seen some videos that are not of celebrities promoting the website on YouTube. I appreciated the Canadian celebrity name-dropping (yeah, Rita MacNeil!). Also, there's a cute dog in the Ryan Gosling one.

Shit Harper Did offers quotes and tidbits of information about Harper's policy decisions. It also links to a news source for each piece of info, offering a form of internet citation and an opportunity to read up on anything that catches your eye.

Something that caught our attention, but wasn't necessarily surprising, was this quote:

We also have no history of colonialism. So we have all of the things that many people admire about the great powers but none of the things that threaten or bother them.
(Harper at the 2009 G20)

Well, actually Mr. Harper, there were people living on "Canadian" soil when the Europeans got here. And, white Canadians benefited from British colonialism throughout our history. Just thought you should know.

Either way, at the bottom of the site, they remind Canadians that: 

"There are better options this election."

Agreed.

P.S. www.shitharperdid.com has this amazing sketch of Harper with a kitten.

Adorable? Creepy? You tell me.

Why I Dislike Harper: A Walk Down Memory Lane with Stephen Harper’s Conservatives

I don’t like Stephen Harper. But why, you ask?

Ever since the 2006 federal election, I have been creeped out by Stephen Harper’s attempts to smile and I know I’m not the only one. Aside from suspicions about his diet of babies and/or kittens, or the rumour that he is a robot (both literally AND figuratively) with a thirst for oil, I really don’t think that Harper is a good representative for Canada.

I hope that Canadians won’t forget the things Harper and his minority governments have said and done. I also hope that the youth will show up to vote on May 2nd and elect Members of Parliament (MPs) from parties that represent our values. In my opinion, Harper has been systemically attacking and/or ignoring things that many Canadians value (such as equality for women and same-sex couples, and climate change). Regardless of his creepy smile and robotic demeanor, I don’t like Harper’s policies or approaches to pretty much anything. Here’s a reminder of what Harper represents:

Harper is anti-same sex marriage

Harper proposed re-opening the debate on same sex marriage after being elected in 2006. The legislation legalizing same-sex marriage passed in 2006 and the debate was not re-opened. Score one for equality.

Here is a short clip of Stephen Harper speaking at a heteropatriarchal rally:

Harper shows disregard for democracy

Harper and his party have not only shown contempt for parliament. Over the past five years, and even in the current election campaign, the anti-democratic sentiment has been prevalent. Harper has prorogued parliament twice, and more recently has further limited the media’s access to him, allowing only a handful of questions from journalists. And in 1984 fashion, people have been denied access/removed from Harper’s campaign events because they were on lists related to their private activities. Additionally, the conservative smear campaign of coalitions is just ridiculous; he just doesn’t want to cooperate. Although no coalition exists between Canadian political parties, coalitions are totally legitimate forms of government.  Ever heard of Europe?

from Impolitical

Harper is not green

The Conservatives have been systematic in their avoidance of committing to environmental action. This is not very surprising considering their ties to the oil-producing province of Alberta. By not purchasing carbon off-sets for their campaign travel, they are not even pretending to care. Still, the fact is they barely acknowledge anything related to the environment in their platform, just as they barely acknowledge Copenhagen (except when Obama was involved). Finally, in 2007, Harper claimed that the “Kyoto [Accord] is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations."

Harper dislikes socialism

Despite having led our notoriously socialist country for five years, Harper said in 2005 that he believed that “all taxes are bad.” So according to Harper, redistribution of wealth, which aims to ensure access to health care and other services for all Canadians, is bad? Well, Harper did say that “Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it.” Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff are both warning Canadians that Harper’s budget does NOT include funding for health care past 2014. Isn’t universal health care a source of pride for Canadians? When did socialism become a bad thing?

Harper doesn’t like women

There have been a number of anti-women policy changes and legislation introduced during Harper’s reign, including (but not limited to): cutting funding to the Status of Women and eliminating women’s right to pay equity. You can read more about the systematic attack on women in this great post from The F Word.

Harper doesn’t want marijuana legalized

Awkward performance of a Beatles song about getting high aside, Harper’s Conservatives are the only major party which “strongly agrees” that possession of marijuana should be a criminal offence. This is obviously not the most important issue, but it reflects the values of this party. Less people in jail for smoking a joint, taking power away from drug cartels, eventually being able to regulate and tax marijuana: these are possibilities with all of the other parties.

Militarizing Canada

Additionally, Harper seems to subscribe to the FOX News style fear mongering typically associated with the Right in the USA, such as the Tea Party. The Conservative platform clearly expressed their worldview and their vision for Canada. There are many more issues that trouble me about the Conservative party. According to them, Canadians should be more afraid of both terrorists and of each other. We should re-implement terrorism legislation and counter-terrorism legislation. Also, we need to build $10 billion worth of mega-prisons. We should further militarize Canada, at home (G20, anyone?) and abroad (billions on fighter jets).

Declaration for Change

Recently, Canadians have contributed their opinions to a people powered movement for political change in Canada. Lead Now compiled the top priorities of thousands of participants into a single Declaration for Change which is summarized on their website as a “call for political cooperation to build a stronger democracy that protects our environment, creates economic opportunity while increasing equality, and guarantees that everyone receives the care they need.”

Although Canadian society is certainly not perfect, I believe that many Canadians fundamentally desire to have an accepting, diverse, peaceful nation. I seriously doubt that Stephen Harper is going to lead Canada towards any of the goals stated in the Declaration of Change. I encourage all Canadians to read the non-partisan declaration and sign it if you think it represents what you want for Canada.

I’ll concede that the Conservative platform for the 2011 election includes “Invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency and home retrofits.” The only other objective that the Conservatives have seriously pursued in the past was to “Create an open government plan to increase transparency and accountability.” They’ve had several shots at openness. And they’ve consistently missed.

Harper and Bush

Is it me or does Stephen Harper increasingly resemble George W. Bush?

Photos sourced from The Tyee and The Gully.

Cowboy hat and kitten-eating rumours aside, Harper and his Conservatives seem to be following the same strategy as Bush, by implementing socially destructive policies that tend to benefit corporations and hurt citizens.

Cutting corporate taxes, misleading the government about spending, increased militarization of the country, secrecy around torture of Afghan detainees, deregulating the possession of guns, expanding the prison system, pursuit of wire-tapping and surveillance of citizens without warrants, and using terror, anti-communism and anti-socialism rhetoric to shape the political landscape.

OK Canada, let’s start moving back towards the Left where we belong.

For a slightly dated (2005) but nonetheless informative and disturbing article on Harper and Bush, and their political philosophies, check out this article I found with the help of The Almighty Google.

Kitten photos sourced from HarperBot and Bricolage.