The Department of Culture blog is currently running this strange advert for their EBC (Everyone But Conservatives) Party:
The EBC PARTY
Everyone But ConservativesDepartment of Culture and NOW Magazine invite you to come celebrate the
success of grassroots organizing. Come toast the new government that 63% of
Canadians actually voted for. This coalition government proves that Canadian democracy works and that the voice of the majority of Canadians really matters in Canada.
They seem happy with the whole coalition thing, and that’s fine. But c’mon now. The success of grassroots organizing? If anyone can make a coherent argument as to why the rise of a coalition government was a grassroots victory and not a backroom political deal, I will give that person a unicorn. An honest-to-god unicorn.
What if I’d like to toast the existing government that 100% of Canadians actually voted for, which was a minority Conservative government with responsible and strong opposition from the Liberal, NDP and Bloc Quebecois parties?
Would I still be welcome?
I suspect not!
100% of Canadians didn’t vote for this minority Conservative government.
I’m a Conservative supporter and I still say that’s nonsense.
One, not all Canadians can vote. Two, not all eligible voters voted. Three, 63% of them didn’t vote for the Conservative Party.
Linguistically your point made no sense. Perhaps it made sense in some other way, but you didn’t express it properly.
developing…
The candidates representing 55% of the votes in Jack Layton’s riding are forming a coalition to overturn the results of the last election. Voters are angry and stunned.
The two candidates representing the majority of voters in the riding surprised everyone today announcing, “Jack Layton has failed. We cannot support him any longer and are taking control immediately!”
Layton, meanwhile, reject their reasoning and suggested “this is nothing more than a naked grab for power by two losers and little to do with serving anyone but themselves.”.
Despite rumors of a coalition surfacing during the campaign, the losing candidates categorically rejected the idea of any kind of coalition, calling the idea “ridiculous” because their platforms were entirely different. However, a recorded telephone conversation released today by Jack Layton suggests these two people have been planning to remove Layton from office only days after the election was over.
Voters, meanwhile, are astonished to learn their votes had been erased overnight and may just be legal. One bewildered constituent commented, “we just had an election and we voted for Jack Layton. I don’t understand. I just moved here from Africa. This sounds like something Mugabe would do! I thought this was a democracy.”
The Coalition for Quebec dismissed the comments saying, “these people need to get out of the 21st Century! Citing obscure 19th century parliamentary traditions, the Coalition pontificated, “this is perfectly normal and legal in our tradition. Anyone who is anyone knows this. The majority of the people in this riding did not vote for Layton. We are seizing power. Layton is toast!”
Business leaders, and real estate developers from Calgary are applauding the move as democratic and good for the whole country.
But voters remain angry. “This is obscene! I don’t care who you supported in the election; none of us voted for this so-called coalition. This is just so wrong!”
Hi All,
In response to the request for a coherent argument connecting grassroots organizing and the Coalition Government in waiting, I direct you to this article by Naomi Klein:
http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2008/12/cant-lose-this-moment
Not only does she respond to your request, but she connects Department of Culture directly as a motivating factor in this regard.
Nice try, but you won’t get a unicorn out of me so easily.
Klein’s article states that ‘grassroots organizing’ was important (and unsuccessful, I might add) in the election, and that it can be important in drumming up support for a coalition government. But it was not a prime mover in developing the coalition accord…that was all party politics, conducted in the halls of power.
I think you’ve got to separate a grassroots desire for a coalition government from the factors that actually created it. So, no dice Michael.
Hi Graeme,
I disagree with your points above:
Grassroots organizing was enormously successful last election. In mid-August I was a theatre director uninvolved in politics. By early October I was part of an national organization with almost 5000 facebook members and over 1000 active members. This movement, along with voteforenvironment and other activist groups were focused on one goal:
Stop Harper from getting a majority.
We were successful. We can not even talk about a coalition government if we did not play a part in this effort.
B) As for “party politics conducted in the halls of power”, even a year ago Layton would not have been able to make this deal. Talk of coalition with the evil liberals who were “just as bad as the conservatives” was rampant.
It is only grassroots support from a base (and the idea hat the NDP was losing all sorts of energy and supporters to our types of movements in places like Toronto where they were hoping to do much better) that allowed/encouraged the party to make this decision.
These reasons lead me to believe that Grassroots movements played a significant role in encouraging and creating the coalition government.
Or maybe it was just 62% Canadian of voters…..
So I say: Dice!
Michael;
I think we’ll just have to disagree on this one. Your defense seems like one long tenuous causal argument, and I’m still sure this was all about short-term political advantage than the will of the people. And more to the point, it looks like it won’t even happen once Iggy takes over the reigns. So, if this was all because of the grassroots, then it starts to look a bit like an epic fail.
Okay Graeme,
I don’t call it a defense, as I am making an argument that presents a set of facts and you are responding with ” I don’t agree”, but we have come to the end of a conversation for sure. In any case even if Iggy does pull out of the coalition, he won’t do it without getting major concessions in the budget that represent the type of government we were all fighting for in the first place.
If you ever want to have an impact on the world, you are welcome to join us.
And by ‘us’, I assume you mean the smugly self-satisfied?
No dude.
The smugly self-satisfied keep non-partisan blogs and pass judgement on the world.
I was inviting you to join the ardently partisan, sleep deprived, politically engaged underclass.
Or perhaps you are too busy with “the war on idiocy” from the safe confines of your home office?
You fight your battles, mate, and let me fight mine. If you don’t like what I do here, you’re more than welcome to stop reading.