I haven’t blogged about this whole affair simply because so much was happening, and changing, each and every single day. It seems, now that Parliament is prorogued, that the whole conversation will now shift and reorganize - to what I don’t know, and that will depend on whether the opposition parties decide to forge forward in an election-like campaign for a coalition government.
Public opinion doesn’t seem to be in their favour however. Harper’s lies and divisiveness in the past few days has done nothing less than completely disgust hundreds of thousands of Canadians - actions that are quite literally fanning the flames of national unity for the sake of short term personal and political gain. However, in doing so, he’s been extremely successful in rallying his base and many other Canadians with lies and incendiary language such as “traitors”, “separatists”, and “coup d’état”. Typical Republican crap that pits us versus them.
The silent majority finally stood up and said enough was enough. You may question progressive policies, you may play politics in the House of Commons, you may slowly remove the rights and institutions that make Canada what it is, but when you begin questioning our patriotism for this country, then god dammit you asshole, you’ve stepped way too far. It’s utterly repulsive and it’s unlikely that such division can be repaired anytime soon.
Rumour is that the Libs want to pull out of the coalition. We will see if that is true in the days ahead. I truly hope not, simply out of the fact that if the coalition falls apart, Harper will gain a majority next election - if things continue the way they are going.
If the coalition continues however, and my fingers are crossed that it does, here’s what coalition supporters need to do.
1. Organize
The Conservative machine is in full swing and boy, their base is like sheep! They are easy to range up, and regurgitate the talking points like programmed robots. The Conservatives have the money and the energy to put out the nastiest PR campaign ever.
We need to get our things together! Right now, there’s three organizations, not including the three opposition parties, that are trying to rally supporters - Make Parliament Work, 62% Majority, and Canadians for a Progressive Coalition. They need to coordinate and work together to make sure that there’s no crossover and that people can get the required info from either one single source, or the same info from all three sources.
2. Rally the base
We are all human and all emit strong response when emotions are in play. The Tories play this way, and so should we, but only with our base - which is quite broad all things considered!
I am disturbed when I hear Stephen Harper calling Quebeckers separatists. I am provoked when he claims “Western Canada” will not stand for a coalition. I am royally pissed when I think of the all the years he’s been in our government with the sole purpose of gaining power and destroying the Liberals. It’s all a game to him.
The base needs to be reminded of this and reminded directly by Stephen Harper himself. Rallies should be playing interviews or quotes from our PM. We need to get riled up. This in an extremely exciting, and dangerous, time in our country’s history. Stephen Harper must go - that’s the message the base needs in their head 24/7.
3. Give ‘em Hope
And for all the hundreds of thousands who don’t care about politics, who are completely turned off by what’s going on in Ottawa, we gotta give ‘em hope.
People don’t know what’s been offered by the coalition. They haven’t head of the economic stimulus package, with support for the auto, manufacturing, and forestry sector. They haven’t heard of the billion dollars in infrastructure for transit, gateways, water and clean energy. They haven’t heard of the restoration of funding cuts from the arts and culture, nor of the pension, EI, and RIFF changes to support workers and seniors during this economic crisis. They haven’t heard about the introduction of a housing retrofit program, nor the North American cap and trade emissions trading system, not to mention the restoration of the national child care and early learning program, and the Kelowna Accord.
If I learned anything during my run for city council, it’s that people want to know you are offering them a better tomorrow, that your plans are realistic, and that your actions are bold and swift. The coalition’s policy accord is all three of theses things, and when compared to what the Conservatives have accomplished in government for the past two years, it really makes you question how the hell Stephen Harper’s made your own life better.
There’s action for workers, seniors, families, children, and the First Nations. There’s action on climate change, the energy crisis, arts & culture cuts, social security, and immigration.
Hearing their plans is enough to spoil the average Canadian who, in the past two years, got a couple cents off their purchases everyday, while housing and gas prices skyrocketed, nothing was done about climate change, nothing was done to address the current economic crisis, nothing was done to solve homelessness or gang warfare or our First Nations or the child care gap or our crumbling infrastructure.
If we communicate this message of hope for a better tomorrow, then I truly believe Canadians will come together behind this coalition and, like our counterparts down south, start chanting, in non-partisan unison, Yes We Can.
4. Get’er done!
There’s seven weeks till the House resumes. If the opposition parties stand behind this coalition, here’s what I propose.
Each and every weekend, we need to hold a rally, in cities across Canada, and these need to grow in size each time. We need to take over public squares, parks, City Hall steps, MPs’ offices, and even the streets.
We need to ensure that we pull support from each and every corner - students, seniors, families, unions, workers, transit riders, religious groups, immigrants, glbt, aboriginals, etc. We need to ensure the speeches are inspirational. We need to ensure programming gets better and better with each rally. We need catchy chants that we can shout out at the top of our lungs.
It needs to be a movement. There needs to be momentum.
Continue to push the message throughout the week on talk radio, facebook, polls, and by flooding the papers with letters to the editor. Mobilize the troops. Give supporters a reason and a means.
Show the Conservatives and their base that the progressives in this country will not stand idly by while Canada burns from coast to coast to coast because of the greed of Stephen Harper.
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