I enthusiastically support Stephen Harper’s decision to prorogue parliament…
Here’s why.
Proponents of more open, participatory, and directly accountable government have just been handed the best opportunity we could ask for.
It’s a turning point in the narrative of centralized power that began with Jean Chrétien’s run in the 90s and has built up ever since.
Ironically this is a story that conservatives started [complaining about] in the first place. The Conservative Party was first elected on policies that were supposed to counteract the trend (like senate reform and fixed election dates).
Instead, Harper took it even further.
Maybe it’s for the short term. Maybe he’s just doing this until he’s able to push through those difficult reforms that will ultimately make government more open and accountable.
I wouldn’t bet on it — nor vote on it, for that matter.
It’s an increasingly long leap of faith, trying to believe Stephen Harper. You have to really really want to believe him. He hasn’t given us much chance to trust him.
I’ll give him this though: he has been mostly right that Canadians don’t care — until now.
Canadians haven’t cared until now because people weren’t quite sure what to care about. The key issues have been nerdy and complex, with not enough ways to substantively distinguish the candidates.
Well, we have our reason now.
But it wasn’t like people hadn’t noticed Harper is a control freak.
The story line started with media snubs and short leashes on minsters. It gained momentum last year with the election and the last prorogation, and it’s been growing ever since — inching towards a symbolic moment like this to define it and really give it it’s own legs.
Now Harper has finally cemented his image and established himself as a perfect foil for the open movement.
The parliamentary opposition is still weak — and as far as I can tell, not any more deserving of power (or even respect attention) — but there’s a new voice in town.
Ours.
Welcome to 2010.
The now-famous Facebook group passed 100,000 members as I’ve been writing this. That’s relatively modest in proportion to the general population but it’s enough to get almost as high a profile in the mainstream as the prorogation itself got the day it was announced.
Today it might look like mere slacktivism but change doesn’t happen all at once. That’s barely a taste of things to come.
It’s cascading: the Facebook group gets headlines, the headlines get people’s attention, people’s attention affects polls which get more headlines, more people signal their opposition, which gets more headlines, etc.
Even if it peters out after a couple of weeks, we’ve still taken an important step towards a massive change in attitude that will help define Canadian politics for the 21st century.
Don’t expect the other parties to be able to capitalize on it. They’re all caught up in the same arms race.
The conflict doesn’t fold along conventional lines — which is why Harper and everyone else in Ottawa is badly misplaying this. This isn’t the game they’re used to. Social media is like someone tilting the board sideways on them all at once — on an axis they didn’t even know existed.
The biggest gainers will be citizen-run open government initiatives like ChangeCamp, whose founder Mark Kuznicki seized the opportunity to declare war on complacency:
The change we seek is two-fold:
- To make government more open, transparent, innovative, participatory, accountable, effective and efficient
- To reinvigorate the public sphere, re-engaging ourselves, our neighbours, our colleagues and our loved ones with each other around our civic passions
This is what we mean by “Reimagining government and citizenship in the age of participation”.
It’s a topic I’ve written a lot on and this has given me cause to turn talk into action.
It doesn’t take much to get someone to click a button on Facebook to join a group, but it’s a gesture that makes people more likely to show up to an event, which makes people a little more likely to collaborate via something like ChangeCamp, etc, and it keeps feeding back and cascading through the networks.
For me it isn’t about these near-term issues or any of the partisan stuff. It’s about building a better system and nurturing a better culture for democracy in Canada.
Kuznicki lamented complacency, but it isn’t citizens who’ve been the most complacent; as David Eaves argued in the summer, it’s a generation of leaders who’ve been lazily taking the old institutional frameworks for granted while everything’s changing around them.
This is the opportunity we’ve needed to, ahem, recalibrate the direction of dialog and the levers of power.
We owe Harper a debt of gratitude. He just pulled off the Pearl Harbour of citizen engagement in Canada.
[Update: Jesse Hirsh's earlier post framing this as an opportunity is amazing. He stresses a lesson I've recently learned about making things, and protesting largely reinforces the same pernicious cycle.]
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Brian, thanks for your post and the kind words. I think it remains to be seen if this is a turning point for the citizen-led open government movement. Right now, many partisans are trying to turn this into a turning point for the opposition. This isn't the change we seek. At least, it's not where the change ends.
But how can the movement come together and say, as you rightly point out, a pox on both your houses. The Chretien Liberals started us down this road, the Martin Liberals used their knives to grab that power and then they screwed it up and handed it over to the Harper Conservatives. The Ignatieff Liberals have been unable to engage the imaginations of Canadians, even those who want to support them. The NDP-Lib-Bloc coalition was seen by Canadians as an undeserving inheritor of this highly centralized power that's been concentrated in the Prime Minister.
We need a new centre of power. We need, as you describe, a new axis to tilt. But the challenge is that this is a movement with no centre, no clearly articulated over-arching ideology and no single TV-friendly leader. So how, exactly, will this movement take advantage of this moment?
I'm not sure. But this dialogue is a start. Thank you.
I'm going to echo your comments Mark. If democracy is to succeed in Canada (and the larger global context) citizens need to focus on creating governments that are a representation of what they want and the issues that are important to the country, not a few people in government. And this is not going to be possible if we focus on individual people or parties.
While I can understand the oppositions desire to take this turn of events and run with it for their own benefit, I hope the broader citizenry, can look past that and start to clamor for real representation.
Thanks Mark, I'm approaching it as a kind of self-fulfilling thing. It won't come true unless we tell it this way.
But you make a very good point that a lack of focus, polish and articulation is a challenge at this point. Makes me think of recent events in Iran, where despite all of the passion swelling up they haven't been able to capitalize.
I think the first step is simply awareness — turning around the apathy you addressed in your post. Then educate people about the tools and practices available, and the groups like yours who are already advanced at using them to genuinely engage people beyond pushing a button on Facebook [not that people haven't been doing that, but our efforts still haven't resonated with the general public as well as it can now].
I think for it to get to that next level, we needed this episode and story to tell — though I'm not sure it needs to be a coherent and centralized movement to really work.
We're fortunate that our system is actually pretty good — and so are a lot of the people in it. Not all of them… but most have the potential to do a lot better.
If everyone feels responsible enough to move up one notch on the scale of informedness & engagement by the next election I think that's pretty good progress — as long as it keeps going from there.
So I guess you’re inferring with this article Brian that the “United Tales of Canada” have received our indirect marching orders from the sitting minority Conservative Government to “storm” (tread water) Parliament and do away with this draconian, Victorian style of government (which, to anyone with half a brain and no institutionalized pedigree/reputation to protect, is a banana republic) and replace it with the system of our choosing?
Richard Colvin just volunteered for a full body scan, and the CEO of “Acme Universal Full Body Scan Equipment & Supplies Ltd” just padded his and his cronies wallets for a little while longer.
I’d like to believe you, and damn it all if it isn’t wishful thinking, but I think you’re giving this Harper character a little too much credit. Recall if you will the events that led up to the last prorogation. It was merely a card to be played to avoid a vote of confidence which had us on the precipice of an overthrow by a coalition who can rarely agree on how many sugars to put in the collective opposition coffee cup every morning, let alone gain power in a country on the verge of political collapse. Prorogation is unprecedented in modern parliamentary democratic history before Steve-O, and is an absolute kick in the teeth to the civilian populace from a leader who is clearly egoicially enamoured with his own position and power, and willing to abuse it at the cost of our own free institutions.
“The early decision to shut down Parliament was clearly to avoid the continuing scrutiny of a House of Commons committee over the mounting evidence of willful blindness by the Harper government over the transfer of Afghan detainees to a substantial risk of torture. This is potentially a war crime and one of the most serious allegations any government has faced in the history of Canada.” ( P. Mendes, professor of Constitutional Law, University Ottawa)
Hardly nerdy and complex. The microscope of the world will be on Vancouver and Canada in a short while here, and where will our elected officials be with their salaries, “gum under the table” benefits and fat bank accounts? Out of the hot seat scope with channel changer and latte firmly in grasp. Can you collect unemployment cheques during Prorogation? I wonder if Steve-O has put in the necessary hours required to start a claim…cause if he’s not going back to work as the head minister of the second largest country by area in the world, I’ve got a pretty complicated “logistics” position that I need filled.
Apart from sarcastic rants I simply can’t help myself with, this is some pretty piss poor timing if you ask me. Even though our political system isn’t perfect, it’s what we have to work with right now. The economy is a gigantic superfluous bubble waiting to burst, torture is occurring under Canadian positioned authorities both domestically within Corrections Canada and abroad within our contingent in Afghanistan, government as an infrastructural entity is yearning for accountability officers and pragmatic fiscal conservatism, while the people are being force fed the same old nepotistic, white collar criminal, “waste to maintain yearly budgets for next fiscal year”, broken down system that no one has the balls to seemingly tear asunder and rebuild. (Health Canada, Employment Insurance, Immigration, Corrections, to name a few at the top of the list.)
Wait though, you’re saying this is our chance? Right-o old boy let’s march! Because apart from all the talk and the politico-social babble that my senses are seemingly inundated with everyday, everywhere I go, this is what we’re all talking about isn’t it? This is where it gets serious and peoples lives are in hand. At what cost? Typing on a keyboard doesn’t change anything on the “Big, Nasty Hill of Industrial Revolution”. Is there a guarantor somewhere for a bloodless revolution? Cause if you know of one sign me up. And if you know how to oversee and conduct one please, by all means, lead the way. I’ll be right behind you.
The CHANGECAMP thing is great idea. Civilian roundtables have been at the heart of keeping Government’s and King’s in check for over 1000 years. Funny how I can seemingly connect to the vast majority of engaged citizen’s in the digital world relatively freely and instantaneously, yet I cannot get my Federal Member of Parliament to engage me on a human rights issue that ties in directly to the issue of torture at the hands of Canadians in positions of influence and power. (Bev Shipley’s office has still neglected to formally reply to me, and it has been almost eleven months.)
The difference is I am attempting to utilize the established and conventionally recognized form of civic engagement. My federal MP is supposed to be MY representative in Ottawa. That to me is the clearest sign that parliamentary democracy in Canada has become archaic, outdated and ineffective. The system simply, at it’s most basic levels, does not work in the best interest of the people, and arguably, as I get older and somewhat wiser (arguably hehe) it never really did. Not the way it should.
So I guess my point is in the disconnect. It’s fine and dandy to talk and write and convene and group and collectivise, but how do we actually get this done? We March. And what has history demonstrated to be what happens when one group wants to kick another group off the hill? Are we prepared to have that on our hands at our initiative? Isn’t that what some of the old boys want?
“…all Canadians must care about a minority government that undermines the fundamental democratic institutions of this country while also manipulating quasi-judicial tribunals and intimidating the public service from speaking truth to power. This abuse of executive power is tilting toward totalitarian government and away from the foundations of democracy and the rule of law on which this country was founded.” ( P. Mendes, professor of Constitutional Law, University Ottawa)
It is my belief right now that inaction is action. Defense before aggression. Dark will collapse on itself; if you lose yourself in the struggle what have you won? Nothing, and you’ve lost yourself in the process.
I can talk till I’m blue in the face, but can we gain the government and democracy the informed citizen’s of the 21st century deserve, and are electronically demanding, without moving our feet?
Thanks for responding Keni.
In the future I'm going to ask anyone commenting to keep things relevant to the specific post. Not all of this is entirely appropriate. I also enjoy helping people start their own blog, if that's something you're interested in.
I guess to demonstrate my main point, consider that I've been blogging about issues like this for a while now, and despite the fact I've known you almost my whole life this is the first time you've commented here. When I led a discussion on it in November I didn't see you out for that either.
It isn't just you. You're a lot more involved than most people I know. We could have had these conversations last year and been well along in the process of doing something more effective.
But this isn't a post about the past, it's a post about the future.
For the record I posted a message on your Facebook posting for the meeting that I couldn't attend your November discussion in London. Although I would have liked to, I was working in Toronto. Or didn't you get the message?
I remember that and I'm glad you're still interested in the topic. Check out some of my bookmarks if you want more background on the positive stuff happening.
Sorry for singling you out. I shouldn't have used you to make a point after you took the time to comment. Like I said, you're actually more involved than most people we know.
Thanks Mark, I'm approaching it as a kind of self-fulfilling thing. It won't come true unless we tell it this way.
But you make a very good point that a lack of a focal point and articulation is a challenge at this point. Makes me think of recent events in Iran, where despite all of the passion swelling up they haven't been able to capitalize.
I think the first step is simply awareness — turning around the apathy you addressed in your post. Then educate people about the tools and practices available, and the groups like yours who are already advanced at using them to genuinely engage people beyond pushing a button on Facebook [not that people haven't been doing that, but our efforts still haven't resonated with the general public as well as it can now].
I think for it to get to that next level, we needed this episode and story to tell — though I'm not sure it needs to be a coherent and centralized movement to really work.
We're fortunate that our system is actually pretty good — and so are a lot of the people in it. Not all of them… but most have the potential to do a lot better.
If everyone feels responsible enough to move up one notch on the scale of informedness & engagement by the next election I think that's pretty good progress — as long as it keeps going from there.
So I guess you’re inferring with this article Brian that the “United Tales of Canada” have received our indirect marching orders from the sitting minority Conservative Government to “storm” (tread water) Parliament and do away with this draconian, Victorian style of government (which, to anyone with half a brain and no institutionalized pedigree/reputation to protect, is a banana republic) and replace it with the system of our choosing?
Richard Colvin just volunteered for a full body scan, and the CEO of “Acme Universal Full Body Scan Equipment & Supplies Ltd” just padded his and his cronies wallets for a little while longer.
I’d like to believe you, and damn it all if it isn’t wishful thinking, but I think you’re giving this Harper character a little too much credit. Recall if you will the events that led up to the last prorogation. It was merely a card to be played to avoid a vote of confidence which had us on the precipice of an overthrow by a coalition who can rarely agree on how many sugars to put in the collective opposition coffee cup every morning, let alone gain power in a country on the verge of political collapse. Prorogation is unprecedented in modern parliamentary democratic history before Steve-O, and is an absolute kick in the teeth to the civilian populace from a leader who is clearly egoicially enamoured with his own position and power, and willing to abuse it at the cost of our own free institutions.
“The early decision to shut down Parliament was clearly to avoid the continuing scrutiny of a House of Commons committee over the mounting evidence of willful blindness by the Harper government over the transfer of Afghan detainees to a substantial risk of torture. This is potentially a war crime and one of the most serious allegations any government has faced in the history of Canada.” ( P. Mendes, professor of Constitutional Law, University Ottawa)
Hardly nerdy and complex. The microscope of the world will be on Vancouver and Canada in a short while here, and where will our elected officials be with their salaries, “gum under the table” benefits and fat bank accounts? Out of the hot seat scope with channel changer and latte firmly in grasp. Can you collect unemployment cheques during Prorogation? I wonder if Steve-O has put in the necessary hours required to start a claim…cause if he’s not going back to work as the head minister of the second largest country by area in the world, I’ve got a pretty complicated “logistics” position that I need filled.
Apart from sarcastic rants I simply can’t help myself with, this is some pretty piss poor timing if you ask me. Even though our political system isn’t perfect, it’s what we have to work with right now. The economy is a gigantic superfluous bubble waiting to burst, torture is occurring under Canadian positioned authorities both domestically within Corrections Canada and abroad within our contingent in Afghanistan, government as an infrastructural entity is yearning for accountability officers and pragmatic fiscal conservatism, while the people are being force fed the same old nepotistic, white collar criminal, “waste to maintain yearly budgets for next fiscal year”, broken down system that no one has the balls to seemingly tear asunder and rebuild. (Health Canada, Employment Insurance, Immigration, Corrections, to name a few at the top of the list.)
Wait though, you’re saying this is our chance? Right-o old boy let’s march! Because apart from all the talk and the politico-social babble that my senses are seemingly inundated with everyday, everywhere I go, this is what we’re all talking about isn’t it? This is where it gets serious and peoples lives are in hand. At what cost? Typing on a keyboard doesn’t change anything on the “Big, Nasty Hill of Industrial Revolution”. Is there a guarantor somewhere for a bloodless revolution? Cause if you know of one sign me up. And if you know how to oversee and conduct one please, by all means, lead the way. I’ll be right behind you.
The CHANGECAMP thing is great idea. Civilian roundtables have been at the heart of keeping Government’s and King’s in check for over 1000 years. Funny how I can seemingly connect to the vast majority of engaged citizen’s in the digital world relatively freely and instantaneously, yet I cannot get my Federal Member of Parliament to engage me on a human rights issue that ties in directly to the issue of torture at the hands of Canadians in positions of influence and power. (Bev Shipley’s office has still neglected to formally reply to me, and it has been almost eleven months.)
The difference is I am attempting to utilize the established and conventionally recognized form of civic engagement. My federal MP is supposed to be MY representative in Ottawa. That to me is the clearest sign that parliamentary democracy in Canada has become archaic, outdated and ineffective. The system simply, at it’s most basic levels, does not work in the best interest of the people, and arguably, as I get older and somewhat wiser (arguably hehe) it never really did. Not the way it should.
So I guess my point is in the disconnect. It’s fine and dandy to talk and write and convene and group and collectivise, but how do we actually get this done? We March. And what has history demonstrated to be what happens when one group wants to kick another group off the hill? Are we prepared to have that on our hands at our initiative? Isn’t that what some of the old boys want?
“…all Canadians must care about a minority government that undermines the fundamental democratic institutions of this country while also manipulating quasi-judicial tribunals and intimidating the public service from speaking truth to power. This abuse of executive power is tilting toward totalitarian government and away from the foundations of democracy and the rule of law on which this country was founded.” ( P. Mendes, professor of Constitutional Law, University Ottawa)
It is my belief right now that inaction is action. Defense before aggression. Dark will collapse on itself; if you lose yourself in the struggle what have you won? Nothing, and you’ve lost yourself in the process.
I can talk till I’m blue in the face, but can we gain the government and democracy the informed citizen’s of the 21st century deserve, and are electronically demanding, without moving our feet?
Thanks for responding Keni.
In the future I'm going to ask anyone commenting to keep things relevant to the specific post. Not all of this is entirely appropriate. I also enjoy helping people start their own blog, if that's something you're interested in.
I guess to demonstrate my main point, consider that I've been blogging about issues like this for a while now, and despite the fact I've known you almost my whole life this is the first time you've commented here. When I led a discussion on it in November I didn't see you out for that either.
It isn't just you. You're a lot more involved than most people I know. We could have had these conversations last year and been well along in the process of doing something more effective [I'll add that people like Mark Kuznicki could say the same thing about me, from their point of view; we've all missed opportunities, we can all do a little better].
But this isn't a post about the past, it's a post about the future.
For the record I posted a message on your Facebook posting for the meeting that I couldn't attend your November discussion in London. Although I would have liked to, I was working in Toronto. Or didn't you get the message?
I remember that and I'm glad you're still interested in the topic. Check out some of my bookmarks if you want more background on the positive stuff happening.
Sorry for singling you out. I shouldn't have used you to make a point after you took the time to comment. Like I said, you're actually more involved than most people we know.
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