Scenes from a rally: anti-prorogation takes to the streets

After weeks of building online, the anti-prorogation movement in Canada converged on the streets as rallies were held across the country to protest Prime Minister Harper’s decision to postpone Parliament until early March. And with over 200,000 members in the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament (CAPP) Facebook group, it seemed as though the rallies had the potential to be impressive. The reality? Estimates put the total number of protesters nationwide somewhere between 10,000 and 14,500, a mere 0.08% of Canada’s population. What happened?

I arrived outside the Vancouver Art Gallery a few minutes before the scheduled 1pm meeting time. It was sparsely peppered with a few people who mingled around and took pictures. The Art Gallery’s front steps were covered with placards that had been produced by the rally’s organizers, and a man wearing a sign that asked, “Why believe lies?” smoked a marijuana pipe as he loudly chatted to a man with a dog. A few local reporters dotted the group, obviously searching for an interview subject – or any subject, for that matter, that might make for a good hook.

What was the story, anyway? Was it one of the triumph of social media, the web world’s ability to motivate people in the real world? Or was it the same story we always heard – that the famous Canadian apathy had once again won out? It was basically a little bit of both.

Early in December, weeks before the prorogation announcement in Canada, Tiffany O’Callaghan wrote at Time’s Wellness blog about a research project from the University of Texas at Austin that,

suggests that online profiles—which some 700 million people around the globe currently have—are relatively accurate depictions of personality, either because their owners intend for them to be, or because people are trying, but failing, to present an idealized version of themselves.

So if Facebook is a far more accurate representation of people’s personalities than most of us assume, it only stands to reason that the 200,000+ members of the CAPP group online were, for all intents and purposes, nowhere to be seen on Saturday. This is, after all, a country that saw fewer than 60% of eligible voters turn out for the last election. For most Canadians, it’s obvious that online politics are still politics, and thus not worth more effort than a nominal click of a mouse – an act that takes little time and requires even less thought.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that the rallies this weekend were a failure. Both the Liberals and NDP have decided to push for prorogation-limiting legislation, and no doubt the online movement and press coverage against Harper’s decision were a part of that. And, at the risk of sounding too altruistic, a protest is never really a failure. Speaking out is a fundamental part of a democracy; it’s just too bad more people don’t do it.

Whether this movement will fundamentally change anything still remains to be seen. We still have the uber-nationalistic Olympics to get through, which will no doubt distract Canadians from prorogation, the Afghan detainee abuse issue, and the failure of the Copenhagen conference – just the way the Conservatives planned it. As Darrell Bricker, head of polling group Ipsos-Reid told the Globe and Mail, the key issue of prorogation for many Canadians is not so much the act itself, but, “it’s about the PM playing politics.” That, he predicts, will dissipate when Parliament returns to session, and there is less focus on Harper’s personal tactics. Unfortunately, he’s probably right.