Local rallies among 60 that took place nation wide
Jan 23, 2010 - 04:26 PM
By Jillian Follert
DURHAM -- Amid chants of "Whose house? Our house!" more than 100 people gathered outside the office of Oshawa MP Colin Carrie Saturday afternoon, to speak out against Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to prorogue parliament.
Some, like 60-year-old Carol Bassett, were there because they're upset about the 36 bills that died before they had the chance to become law. She's angry that potential legislation relating to crime and terrorism will now have to start from scratch.
"They're throwing away all this work that was done, it's a waste of our money, because we're the ones who pay them," she said.
Doug Woods was recently laid off and said the idea of paying MPs who aren't in Parliament doesn't sit well with him.
"These guys are on a holiday and I'm paying their salaries when I don't have a job myself," he said. "This is an insult to our democracy. It makes me sick."â?¨ As protesters chanted and cheered in downtown Oshawa, a similar scene was unfolding in Whitby, where about 100 people rallied outside the office of Whitby-Oshawa MP Jim Flaherty, who is also the federal finance minister.
The local events were among more than 60 anti-proroguation rallies that took place across Canada on Jan. 23.
The protests were largely organized through localized Facebook groups that sprang up in response to the main Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament group, which topped 211,000 members by the time the rallies got underway.
Organizers at the Oshawa protest told the crowd thousands had gathered in Ottawa on Parliament Hill for what was expected to be the largest event of the day. Media reports estimated the turnout there at 3,500 just after 1 p.m.
Blaine Leal, organizer of the Oshawa rally, said the response proves Canadians are not apathetic.
"There are people here of all ages, there are people here from all different parties, Conservative, Liberal, NDP and Green Party," he said. "There are people who maybe aren't that interested in politics, who don't vote but this issue got their attention."
The crowd gathered in downtown Oshawa waved homemade signs with slogans like "Democracy Now" and "Colin Carrie - Harper's Puppet" scrawled in black marker, while organizers provided large "pink slips," bearing the names of local Conservative MPs, for participants to sign.
Over the course of the afternoon, the floor was open to anyone who wanted to speak out on proroguing and more than a dozen people took a turn at the mic. Among them were Oshawa Councillor April Cullen, who demanded to know why there weren't other local politicians in attendance, and Durham Labour Council President Jim Freeman, who chastised the prime minister for his "disregard for democracy."
Sid Ryan -- president of the Ontario Federation of Labour and three-time NDP candidate in Oshawa -- got the biggest reaction out of the crowd as he lambasted Mr. Harper and Mr. Carrie.
"Come on, Colin, there's lot of work to be done. How dare you tell these citizens you support Harper shutting down Parliament," he bellowed, to thunderous applause from the crowd.
Neither Mr. Carrie nor Mr. Flaherty made an appearance at the rallies.
Recommend :