Liberals will be back to work on January 25 as opposition mounts across Canada to Harper's proroguing of Parliament

The Canadian Press news agency is reporting tonight that Liberal MPs and Senators will return to Parliament Hill on January 25, the date they were  to resume work until Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament.

Apparently Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff told his caucus Tuesday that he expects them to be back to work on January 25 even though Parliament is not to resume now until March, according to the Canadian Press.

Ignatieff may well be reacting to a grassroots movement sweeping the country on facebook where more than 75000 people have joined groups attacking the Harper government.

Facebook groups opposing Stephen Harper decision to prorogue Parliament gaining numbers

UPDATE AT 11:50 p.m. ET: The total numbers now on five facebook groups has reached 81,152 with 53,484 of the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament group.


UPDATE AT 8 p.m ET: The total members now on five facebook groups has reached 73,177, with 45,747 on the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament group alone, an increase of 19,287 since 9:45 a.m. ET today.

UPDATE AT 2:30 p.m. ET: The total members now on five facebook groups has reached 62,695.

Facebook groups opposing Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to prorogue the Parliament of Canada until March  are growing in numbers calling  for protest rallies across the country on January 23, two days before the parliamentary session was to resume, and sending letters to MPs urging them to return to Ottawa for a "mock: session starting January 25.

As of 9:45 a.m. Eastern Time today, I counted a total of 53,718 members on five groups. Here is the breakdown: Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, 26,460; Canadians United Against Stephen Harper, 21,616; Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament - Rally for the Cause, 3.223; Tell the Governor General No to Proroguing Parliament, 1,994 and Canada is a democracy not a dictatorship, 425.  The numbers change minute by minute so I will provide an update later today.

On December 30th, 2009, for the second time in as many years, Stephen Harper asked the Governor General to prorogue parliament. About a year ago, faced with the distinct possibility of a defeat on a non-confidence motion in the House of Commons, Harper asked the Governor General to prorogue Parliament, which Michaelle Jean granted.

Now he has done it again for different reasons, and it appears that Canadians are starting to express their anger with the decision using the popular social networking site to get the message out.

For me as person who established a graduate college program in new media communications at College of the Rockies fifteen years ago, and fearlessly predicted at an annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Journalists that the internet would play a huge role in politics, this is one I will follow with great interest.

U.S. President Barack Obama is the best example so far of a politician using the internet effectively to get elected.  It will be interesting to see if the grassroots faecbook groups in Canada can effect political change.

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Making a difference in Cranbrook, grassroots democracy group most significant local news story of 21st Century

The Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook Society (CLCS), a grassroots democracy group which took on Scott Manjak, a first term mayor, and a majority of councillors, over their attempt to expand the city's boundaries, and defeated the council, not once but twice has to be the most significant news story here in the past decade.

The success of the CLCS made a huge difference in the way local politics has been practised in this city of about 18000 in the southeastern corner of  British Columbia, and the local mayor and council should take heed in the final two years of its term, but that remains to be seen. The council of the day did not get its way.

Led by Sharon Cross, the president, the group gave Manjak and the council majority its first defeat when  council tried an alternative approval process which if approved would have doubled the geographic size of the city. The group needed 1475 voters (10 per cent) to sign a form objecting to the plan--- more than 3000 signed on. After this defeat I wrote here that Manjak and council majority had received a lesson in grassroots democracy.

http://michaeljmorrisreports.blogspot.com/2009/08/cranbrook-mayor-scott-manjak-and-his.html

Council met and passed a motion to proceed with a referendum on November 14, the next step in the process permitted to a council  by provincial legislation.

Although facing a huge advertising campaign by a Yes to boundary expansion group estimated at more than $100,000, advertising by the city and the very vocal support of Manjak and councillors Denise Pallesen, Angus Davis, Liz Schatschneider, Jim Wavrecan and Diana Scott, the open support of three former mayors and several councillors and the local chamber of commerce, the referendum was lost.  The CLCS spent less than $5000 on advertising.

Councillor Bob Whetham opposed the alternative approval process and the referendum.

I have been a political junkie for about 50 years now and never have I seen a muncipal council - the mayor and majority of the councillors who have so actively supported a project - go down to defeat because the people rose up from the grassroots and rejected the plan -- not once but twice, all in the first year of  a three-year term on the same issue.

The success of the CLCS sent a clear warning to the mayor and council that it is not necessarily local politics as usual in this city. To paraphrase Robert Frost, the CLCS chose to take a road less travelled by in opposing the council majority, and that has made all the difference. It was the biggest local political happening of the 21st century.

And it sends a signal to citizens everywhere that it is possible to bring about change when our elected politicians introduce projects with which we the people do not agree. Grassroots democracy is alive and well in Cranbrook!

Here is link to article I did after the referendum and the real challenge now facing Manjak and council.
http://michaeljmorrisreports.blogspot.com/2009/11/real-challenge-begins-now-for-cranbrook.html


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