The crowd of about 250 Peterborough residents, students and university faculty marched this past Saturday in opposition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to prorogue Parliament until March 3.
The Peterborough rally was held simultaneously with rallies in more than 60 towns and cities across the country and internationally, including rallies in England, the Netherlands, and the United States.
This massive organizational effort was helped by the incredible success of the “Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament” Facebook group – 213,208 members strong at the time of publication – which spurred a tremendous grassroots upheaval.
“The day they prorogued Parliament I was angry and I went on Facebook to go do some discussing and I came across Christopher White’s Facebook group and Shilo Davis’ rally group and got involved,” Victoria Gare, one of the Peterborough rally’s primary organizers, told Arthur. “It’s an important cause for all Canadians because it transcends all barriers between Canadians. If we all get together on one issue, we can show in numbers and in voices that we are unhappy with the way they’ve decided to run Parliament.”
Gare’s sentiments were echoed by many participants. “I’m very concerned about the proroguing of Parliament when there is so much at stake,” said one protester. “I was born in the country 68 years ago and, for me, it’s really important that the MPs that we hire to represent us in Ottawa are there to do their work.”
Not everyone who marched against prorogation was eager to see every politician take their seats in the House of Commons again, however. “I’m not sure why I’m here,” one Trent student quipped. “We’re chanting to tell Harper to ‘get back to work’ and I’m not too happy about that.”
Despite a number of marchers who felt that Parliament would be better off without its current leader, organizers were clear that the rally was meant to express dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister’s actions, not to draw party lines. “I can see people from all ages, all social groups,” said Gare. “It’s definitely also non-partisan. We have asked all parties to join us as well, so it’s an all-partisan rally.”
After winding its way from Confederation Park and through the city’s core, the march carried protesters to the Peterborough Public Library. Though the energy remained high enough that some joked of taking the march to Memorial Centre where Conservative Minister of Parliament Dean Del Mastro was in the middle of a hockey game, marchers packed themselves into the basement auditorium to listen to speakers and sample fresh ‘prorogies’ provided by Food Not Bombs.
Many of the speakers implored Opposition MPs to assert themselves against the Prime Minister’s arbitrary abuse of power. “We’re here to challenge this government and its horrible style of governing,” said Roy Brady of the Council of Canadians. “We call on the Opposition parties to do the governing.”
“The Prime Minister’s authority must flow through Parliament,” said another speaker. “If the Prime Minister ignores its members or tries to govern without its consent, his power evaporates.”
Others were concerned not only by the attack on Canada’s democratic principles, but also by the political consequences of such partisan action. “A great deal of work done during this session [of Parliament] is nullified,” one speaker lamented, while others expressed concern that Harper was ducking any criticism over Canada’s shameful derailing of the Copenhagen talks.
Additionally, rally organizer Matt Davidson of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) called the prorogation “an attempt to avoid serious implications that our government is complicit in torture.”
“Not only are they stomping on our institutions,” Davidson told protestors, “they are saying that human rights do not matter.”
“We demand Parliament be recalled immediately,” Brady added. “Harper can ‘recalibrate’ while Parliament is in session if he is at all competent.”
Though the event exceeded many participants’ expectations, organizers stressed that actions must be ongoing if any headway is to be made, encouraging marchers to keep the pressure on MPs through petitions, letter writing campaigns and by any other means they can think of.
“This is a movement we would like to continue,” said Gare. “I’m glad to see so many people who care about democracy.”
In what was possibly the greatest highlight of the event, the Peterborough chapter of the Raging Grannies led participants in several rousing, original songs – including a prorogation version of the national anthem – with such memorable lyrics as:
“Jiggery pokery that man Steve,
Undercuts democracy with practised ease.
Slinks away from embarrassing facts,
Dodging transparency. Quite an act.
Jiggery pokery that man Steve,
Side-steps legality with practised ease.”
