Hello Everyone,
Rally’s will be taking place across Canada as Canadians stand up for democracy. Our Green Party candidate for Barrie has been invited to speak at the Barrie rally. Please come out to support him and democracy. Event details are listed below, any questions please e-mail us. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you THIS Saturday.
Host: Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament (Simcoe – Barrie Chapter)
Type: Causes – Protest
Network: Global
Date: Saturday, January 23, 2010
Time: 1:00pm – 3:00 pm
Location: Fred Grant Memorial Square
PLEASE INVITE WIDELY
On December 30th, Stephen Harper announced his intention to prorogue the current session of parliament, putting the House of Commons out of session until March. While the Prime Minister has tried to pass the prorogue as routine, it comes at a critical time — shutting down the Afghan Detainee Inquiry, leaving Canada without a government while the country is bearing the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression, and diverting the attention while he prepares to stack the Senate with a majority of Conservative senators.
While Harper has dismissed dissent as a fringe opinion not representing the majority of Canadians, concern about proroguing parliament has been raised from all directions: Canadians of all stripes have time and again over the last two weeks expressed sincere concern about the state of our parliamentary system, with many citizens who have never stood up and protested before now standing up to protect Canadian democracy.
Group details here: http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=237914414270
So come, bundle up your kids, call everyone you know and tell them you’re coming and that they can stand with you and it’s ok to be upset and mad and feeling betrayed about this, and join us to demand, along with concerned citizens in every city across Canada, that our MPs go back to work!
Speakers:
Don MacNeil, B101 personality, will be MC.
Vicki Monague, Site 41 activist and representative of First Nations, keynote speaker, about the importance of activism.
James Wallace, of Fair Vote, on electoral reform and senate issues.
Erich Jacoby-Hawkins, of Barrie’s Green Party, on the Afghan detainee issue and the RCMP report.
Patty Coates, president of the Labour Council, on what proroguing means and how it bothers people.
Andrea Matrosovs, of Simcoe Grey Liberals, on bills dying on the order paper.
Patrick Doyle, local small business owner/CAPP administrator, on senate stacking and the reality of senate reform.
Katy Austin, of Simcoe Grey New Democrats, on grassroots movements and the government’s need to work together on issues.
Stephanie Wolfe, of Make Poverty History, on poverty and proroguing.
Peter Bursztyn, college professor, on how proroguing has affected environmental issues, and the recent Copenhagen talks.
Christine Nugent, of the Barrie Marxist/Leninist party /Georgian College staff, on the need for democratic renewal.
Chris Rutherford,
Laurentian/Georgian political science student, on civic minded-ness, with a focus on new voters.
James Morton, law professor and former president of the Ontario Bar Association — on how prorogation affects our democracy.
Terri Elvald, CAPP co-ordinator, a short thank you to everyone.
