Photo courtesy: Shaughn Butts/Edmonton Journal
I guess it was appropriate that a touch of Murphy’s Law would be in order last night. In choosing to fraternize (infiltrate?) with the enemy, I should have known that any comfort would be non-existent. It was bloody cold!
I stayed at the back of the crowd during last night’s pro-coalition rally held in front of City Hall in Edmonton. I wanted to see what kind of support the New Libs on the Bloc had, especially in the heart of Canadian conservatism.
After hearing of an anti-coalition rally earlier in the day, I thought I’d swing by and see how the other side was doing.
Speeches commenced, with each one taking another round out of Prime Minister Harper. The crowd cheered and booed at the assigned places, their signs and placards a mix of the professionally made (political parties) and the amateur created (union lackeys).
The cool temperature numbed the body, while the propaganda being spewed from the front did the same to the mind. How could these people be so wrong?
After the soiree broke up, I had a chance to speak to a few of the attendees. Interestingly, I couldn’t find one who wasn’t a member of a trade union, in spite of my efforts.
I had to be careful – I didn’t want to start an all-out argument on the sidewalk, so I kept my focus on just asking questions.
The big sticking point was ‘democracy’. Their side sees the coalition as valid because ‘the majority of the House supports it’, thus, democracy. When I suggested that the assumption was the majority of Canadian voters did not support the actions taken by the Liberals, New Democrats, and separatist Bloc, and that is why the coalition isn’t following the principles of democracy, the responses flew like the driven snow.
In fact, the responses were downright scary. As a number of attendees told me (the media suggested there were about 300 in attendance, but that was most definitely an inflated number), ‘getting rid of Harper’ was worth turning our backs on democracy ‘for a while’.
So, there you have it, folks. The question ‘How can people support this coalition?’ is easily and disturbingly answered: ‘they support democracy only when it suits them.’
As I made my way back home, my thoughts were of the very people I stood with - Trades people. Didn’t they understand that under an NDP/Lib economic agenda, the Alberta economy (read: oilsands) would be crushed and with it their jobs?
Sadly, the truth is this: some aren’t knowledgeable enough to understand that, while the rest of them comprehend fully – they just don’t care, as long as a Conservative government is out of office. Democracy be damned.
I stayed at the back of the crowd during last night’s pro-coalition rally held in front of City Hall in Edmonton. I wanted to see what kind of support the New Libs on the Bloc had, especially in the heart of Canadian conservatism.
After hearing of an anti-coalition rally earlier in the day, I thought I’d swing by and see how the other side was doing.
Speeches commenced, with each one taking another round out of Prime Minister Harper. The crowd cheered and booed at the assigned places, their signs and placards a mix of the professionally made (political parties) and the amateur created (union lackeys).
The cool temperature numbed the body, while the propaganda being spewed from the front did the same to the mind. How could these people be so wrong?
After the soiree broke up, I had a chance to speak to a few of the attendees. Interestingly, I couldn’t find one who wasn’t a member of a trade union, in spite of my efforts.
I had to be careful – I didn’t want to start an all-out argument on the sidewalk, so I kept my focus on just asking questions.
The big sticking point was ‘democracy’. Their side sees the coalition as valid because ‘the majority of the House supports it’, thus, democracy. When I suggested that the assumption was the majority of Canadian voters did not support the actions taken by the Liberals, New Democrats, and separatist Bloc, and that is why the coalition isn’t following the principles of democracy, the responses flew like the driven snow.
In fact, the responses were downright scary. As a number of attendees told me (the media suggested there were about 300 in attendance, but that was most definitely an inflated number), ‘getting rid of Harper’ was worth turning our backs on democracy ‘for a while’.
So, there you have it, folks. The question ‘How can people support this coalition?’ is easily and disturbingly answered: ‘they support democracy only when it suits them.’
As I made my way back home, my thoughts were of the very people I stood with - Trades people. Didn’t they understand that under an NDP/Lib economic agenda, the Alberta economy (read: oilsands) would be crushed and with it their jobs?
Sadly, the truth is this: some aren’t knowledgeable enough to understand that, while the rest of them comprehend fully – they just don’t care, as long as a Conservative government is out of office. Democracy be damned.
Talk about a hidden agenda.
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