Canadian Senate page disrupts Parliament's opening with STOP HARPER sign

Cjp sez, "A young female page has lost her job following a very ballsy protest against the Harper regime. During the Speech from the Throne, which is read by the Queen's representative in Canada, the Governor General, the page held up a sign carrying the message 'Stop Harper'."

Young Ms. DePape also issued a statement calling for a Canadian Arab Spring: "a flowering of popular movements that demonstrate that real power to change things lies not with Harper but in the hands of the people, when we act together in our streets, neighbourhoods and workplaces."

Ms DePape is a playwright, and performed the above excerpt from "She Rules with Iron Stix" at TEDxYouthOttawa last year.

DePape went as far as to prepare a news release, which a friend distributed after she was removed from the Senate chamber by security. The release identified her as Brigette Marcelle, but the Senate website and her email address identify her as Brigette DePape.
"Harper's agenda is disastrous for this country and for my generation," DePape said in the release. "We have to stop him from wasting billions on fighter jets, military bases, and corporate tax cuts while cutting social programs and destroying the climate. Most people in this country know what we need are green jobs, better medicare, and a healthy environment for future generations."

Senate page fired for anti-Harper protest (Thanks, Cjp!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Anonymous

Props to her, I wish more people my age (approx the same as hers) were active in politics.

If anything she’s guilty of naive idealism, and she’s young, so what the hell is wrong with that.
- Tzctboin
  
  That is not being active in politics.
  
  Becoming active in politics means political commitment. Most people under 30 are busy partying and of the few that have some political consciense most don’t go beyond a few pointless demonstrations.
  
  Political commitment would meand that all young people are effectively organized and could influence, as a block, the political process.
  
  This posturing does nothing except ignite a few discussions boards, and make people that are actually commited to the normal political process roll their eyes in rightful irritation.
Anonymous

With a name like Brigette DePape she probably voted for the Bloc QuÃ©becois. Nothing ballsy about holding a sign up in Parliament, telling an MP to fuddle-duddle, or pirouette behind the Queen, or tell the Spanish to f-off (politely of course), or choke a guy protesting in front of you is ballsy. She’s a U of O arts student who’ll always be a civil servant in way, shape or form, suckling the teat of government grants. No wonder she’s protesting, she’s seeing her income disappear.

I didn’t like the outcome of the election, however, that doesn’t bother me as much as a pathetic number of people voting. Christ, if we’re required by law to fill out a silly census form, we can certainly be required by law to vote.
- Anonymous
  
  I did not know the Bloc QuÃ©bÃ©cois run candidates in Manitoba… or maybe you shouldn’t assume people with a French last name come from Quebec.
- Anonymous
  
  “Christ, if we’re required by law to fill out a silly census form, we can certainly be required by law to vote.”
  – - – -
  
  Your thinking on this is all wrong. Consider this:
  
  Democracies usually scrape by with less than half of qualified voters voting. Of that number, maybe twenty percent are hardcore political junkies who read papers, watch news, read blogs and (maybe) participate in electioneering. These people know exactly what’s going on and who’s really doing what to who. The votes they cast can generally be considered to be knowing and intelligent votes.
  
  Another twenty to thirty percent read newspapers almost daily, but that’s it – that constitutes the bulk of their exposure to current events. They usually drift, in political philosophy, along with their friends, neighbors, and relatives. They generally simply vote their same party’s full slate election after election.
  
  Maybe two to five percent of the voters participating in some specific election are there because some issue of the day has drastically affected them, and they want to affect that issue. Shrimp fishermen and oil rig workers, for example, will likely turn out in large numbers next election.
  
  Finally, there’s the fifty percent or so who just plain never vote. If you ask them a question about some important issue, you’ll get a blank look. If you ask them to name the Vice President, you’ll get a blank look. If you ask them to name their own governor, well, same blank look.
  
  THOSE are the people you’re trying to encourage to vote. Do YOU want the next winner of Dancing With The Stars structuring Medicare for the next decade?
ocschwar

Why did they even bother firing her? I mean, losing a job as a page is about as harsh as putting a reprimand in HER PERMANENT SCHOOL RECORD.
Anonymous

Anon #49, our military is a joke. We have ageing equipment that is quite literally falling apart. It is a disgrace and embarrassing. As a Canadian I want to see our military as Canada’s instrument of peace in the world. We’ve never invaded another country, we’ve never started a war, we have gone in to countries that are unstable and brought relief, aid, and stability. It’s humbling to walk through Amsterdam, or any city in Holland, with a Canadian flag on your backpack, our Canadian military liberated the Dutch from Nazi Germany, and even today young people there appreciate what we did.

The Canadian military is not a war machine. The Canadian military is our export of peace, justice and order. I’m proud of what they do. Do we need fighter jets? Yes.
hellomeow

Pfffftttt. Now Canada thinks it deserves to have a revolution? – Truly the end of times.
- Calvid Wilde
  
  We deserve a better democracy. Ideally it would come from within the electoral system.
j-os

Man, I’m tired of hearing the “majority of Canadians didn’t vote for Harper” objection. Who did you vote for then? NDP? well 70% of Canadians DIDN’T vote for your party. Libs? 81% of us didn’t find your platform particularly compelling either.

I’m no die-hard Harper fan, I just hate the post-election comments that try to impeach the legitimacy of a democratically elected leader.

I agree, the system could use some tweaking, but everyone played by the rules and this is how the marbles fell.
- Anonymous
  
  If the NDP had won the election instead of Harper, do you think the Conservatives would have STFU? Why, we would have been treated to a 24/7 news cycle that Canada had fallen under Communism and that the US would need to send in the Army to rescue us from ourselves. The NDP would have been blamed for everything from child poverty to the national debt as if they had been in power for centuries. No trivial matter would escape the notice of the news media to describe the vile incompetence of the Layton Government, who we would see burnt in effigy on a nightly basis.
  
  If all Conservatives ever have is a page who held up a homemade sign that read, â€œStop Harper,â€ then they should consider themselves lucky.
  - joeposts
    
    My favourite was the coverage of the Ruth Ellen Brosseau (non)scandal.
    
    The other parties ran such unappealing campaigns that the NDP won without campaigning. Media vultures flocked to her tiny rural riding and hovered around picking out the juicy bits (a Vegas vacation! Poor French skills! She’s young and blond!).
    
    After a few days, they actually started talking to her and she turned out to not be an airhead, so they left her alone and stirred up some other nonscandals involving the opposition party.
    
    Harper’s rush to implement ‘austerity measures’ (ie slashing an already ragged social safety net) alongside uselessly harsh anti-crime bills and ramped-up military hardware spending will almost certainly fuck over the next few generations. They’re constantly caught in lies over the state of the economy.
    
    But that’s not so newsworthy, and it might involve siding with those “hard-left” NDPers instead of those Serious Old Men from the Conservative Party.
  - Calvid Wilde
    
    “If all Conservatives ever have is a page who held up a homemade sign that read, â€œStop Harper,â€ then they should consider themselves lucky.”
    
    This was just the beginning.
- Anonymous
  
  The simple truth is that the Liberals and NDP are relatively similar in policy, splitting a vote that would have been OK with either, while Conservatives are fairly different. They understood this back when they were splitting with the Reform, now you’re talking like it’s some weird alien idea for parties to be similar.
  
  And of course, if the Liberals and NDP were to work together in a coalition, then nobody would have gotten what they wanted for a reason so obvious nobody has ever managed to state it out loud.
  - anders
    
    It’s not a simple fact that NDP and Liberal policies are that similar. And in Southern Ontario where most of the new Conservative seats came from, it was blue Liberals whose second choice after Liberal was Conservative who wrote the story.
    
    In the last federal election, Kitchener-Waterloo went Conservative by only 17 votes. This time it went by over 3000. Where did those votes come from in a riding where those like me, who prefer to vote NDP/Green, were pressured to vote Liberal to keep from splitting the vote?
    
    Saying that Liberals and NDP are the same is just simply not true.
    
    I’m happy to see Jack Layton get a shot at showing a REAL alternative to Harper.
    - Anonymous
      
      You are right, I am sorry for exaggerating. The NDP and Liberals are in fact quite different on many points; what I was trying to express was that in this election, many people were much less interested in the differences than in what they have in common. ABC voters (“anybody but Conservative”) and all that.
      
      Note the Reform party and the Conservative party were quite different, too, and there were lots of voters who strongly preferred one or another. They still felt they were splitting votes, which is why they since merged. I think the Liberals and NDP are having an analogous problem.
      
      I’m also happy for Layton, and for May. I’m sorry for Ignatieff, though; I like his party less, but it’s sad to see someone lose so badly from what seems less a change in the politics of Canadians and more the result of successful smear-campaigning.
chortick

Wow. I’m having a lot of trouble with some of the comments. A lot of post-election sour grapes combined with a poor understanding of democracy.

You’ll never be happy until your lot win. the notion that a democratic government is only valid if it wins a majority of seats *and* a plurality of votes will come as a surprise to a lot of well functioning democracies in Europe. And if the wrong lot win that, you’d just start whining about the ‘tyranny of the majority’ anyway. That’s ok, politics is like that.

As for the young lady that is the subject of the article, she’s thrown away personal and direct access to structured politics. If I had been a page at her age, I’d be an MP by now, changing the system from within. Instead, she can join the ranks of ineffectual cranks railing from a distance that one of the most well-regarded democracies in the world is somehow equivalent to an Arab torture state.

I am eager to see how the Conservatives govern, in their current incarnation. I’m curious to see how the Dippers fare as Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. We all owe Mr Layton a chance to speak, in gratitude for obliterating the BQ. And finally, I wonder what the other guys (what was their name? Something with an L…) will do.
- Anonymous
  
  That’s something that’s actually really growing to concern me about the state of internet political discourse.
  
  Namely we’ve moved from ‘With years of hard work, thoughtful protest, political and societal discourse and willingness to engage we can change things to better craft a society we want’ to ‘Here are some theatrics. DID WE BLOW YOUR MIND?’ to the point I’m wondering who killed all the grownups.
- Calvid Wilde
  
  “You’ll never be happy until your lot win. the notion that a democratic government is only valid if it wins a majority of seats *and* a plurality of votes will come as a surprise to a lot of well functioning democracies in Europe. And if the wrong lot win that, you’d just start whining about the ‘tyranny of the majority’ anyway. That’s ok, politics is like that.”
  
  - Much of Europe has some form of PR. Their governments are often formed out of coalitions, or alliances.
  
  - When a party gets a majority in Canada they have absolute control, with little to no accountability
  
  - I did not vote for the party that won, but I would NEVER want the party that I voted for to have a majority government. In fact, the reason I voted for them is because they have electoral reform as part of their platform.
  
  - I will be happy when we have political parties working together to govern, and when our voting system is reformed so our house of commons reflects the vote count.
j-os

On a completely unrelated note, it’s always nice to see Canadians come out of the BB commentary woodwork.
lutzray

Absolute numbers:

23 M Total Ã©lecteurs inscrits (yup that’s some franÃ§ais)

9 M refused to vote
8 M voted for adverse parties
6 M voted for the now rulling party, CPC

FAIL

BC Single Transferable Vote,
GB Alternative Voting anyone?Â
(hybrid proportional proposed systems)
arborman

Though I tend to agree with her politically, I can’t agree with her choice of venues. By tradition and necessity, pages must be nonpartisan, as with many of the other parliamentary functionaries (i.e. Sergeant at Arms, Speaker).

So while I agree (mostly) with her (somewhat simplistic but appealing) positions, I do not agree with where she took her stand. Her taking a partisan/critical position opens up the possibility of Harper (or some future PM) making partisan appointments to page positions, and tainting their functions.

As for the ’61% of Canadians voted against Harper’ position, I am definitely in that number. And I give money to FairVote Canada, to change our electoral system to something that more accurately reflects the will of the people (whatever that is). Our current system is based on antiquated notions of land and interest (highly territorially biased) and needs updating. It made sense when we got around on horseback, but now it is absurd.
- Michael Smith
  
  nonpartisan … Speaker
  
  The Canadian speaker is nonpartisan? How does that work? The speaker in both Australian houses of Parliament is a normal member, usually chosen from the dominant party, who only votes when a tie break is required.
  - Tzctboin
    
    I am not Australian, British or Canadian, nevertheless understand perfectly the principle of having a Speaker of the House that is non Partisan in spite of being a former member of one party.
    
    That people that grew on this kind of democratic system don’t understand this principle says it all about the sorry state of the democracies in some developed countries.
  - Narfig_Agar
    
    Same deal here but the speaker is expected to vote for the status quo.
    
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_House_of_Commons_of_Canada
Anonymous

To hear politicians complain of how this girl abused of her position as page to express her own personal opinion makes my irony sensors overload.
Anonymous

Seriously folks. All this has done is get some girl fired. Non story that no one will remember in two weeks.

Like it or loath you have Harper as your prime minister and no silly girl with sign is going to stop that.
Gilbert Wham

The sock-puppetry is strong in this thread…
- futnuh
  
  The sock-puppetry is strong in this threadâ€¦
  
  And you’ve got some evidence to back up this borderline ad-hominem comment? Just because someone disagrees with your point-of-view doesn’t imply that he/she is controlled by 3rd-party interests. With all intended hypocrisy â€¦ christ, what an asshole.
  - Gilbert Wham
    
    My point being, the influx of brand-new commenters and anons foaming with ‘well WE won! Hur dur!’ comments is all. I’m quite sorry about the fact that Harper appears to be such a despicable little weasel, but it’s not my government (we have our own elected-by-minority despicable little weasel government to deal with, sadly). There is, as usual, a lively and well-informed debate in here, and it’s entirely possible that lots of people came specifically to defend their choice of party. Maybe they did. Anyway, it was an off-the-cuff comment and I was drunk. Sorry if I upset you like.
cservant

Only 60% of eligible voters voted. If you hated the Conservatives that much then vote and don’t vote for them.

Still like Layton’s immediate comment(watch CBC), I expected some decorum. So yea, I call this dingbat no matter what grades she got in her schooling. An’t matter now.

BTW, if you are a Conservative, where’s the small government I was promised? I haven’t seen cabinet size this big when the Liberals were in power.
isopraxis

Finally . . .Something to break up the never ending tedious echo of rubber stamps in the Canadian senate. Don’t you get it? This is the first hint of the Canadian senate (or should I say ‘Harper Government Senate’) becoming politically viable, even if it is performance art.
m0nkyman

Meh. She protested and got the punishment she expected (getting fired). Good for her, it showed some moxie, but it’s not like she stood in front of a tank in Tianamen Square.

My vote in the last election was ABL (Anybody But Liberal), and I’m glad that my riding went NDP, and the Liberals got crushed. I’ve been tired of watching the Liberals campaign like the NDP and rule like the Conservatives. At least now we’ve got what we voted for instead of another bait and switch Liberal government.
TMLutas

The rules that only legislators speak on the floor of the legislature is a good one. It prevents intimidation. When the system breaks down, you end up with the recent travesty in Wisconsin where the death threats were flying fast and thick.

Democracy can die of intimidation and threats on the floor of the legislature. This poor, sad girl with her pathetic sign struck did nothing to affect the Harper government. It did make it just a little less outside the pale to kill off Canada’s freedom by breaching the protections that allow *any* legislature to function.
Rectifier

Hey, some of us voted for the Conservatives. More than voted for the other parties, in fact. To hear the talk we were a small minority, or perhaps we just aren’t as outspoken.

The throne speech wasn’t ‘appalling’. In fact, it sounded a lot like the Conservative platform that I voted for. Cutbacks to non-essentials and wealth redistribution programs, a balanced budget, jail time for our career criminals and the right to own our hunting rifles without worries of being branded criminals ourselves.

Once I was a naive student like this girl, and I voted NDP. Then I got a job, and voted Liberal. Then I got a job where I work hard and am paid appropriately. I vote Conservative. Just like I wanted a free ride then, I’m tired of seeing others given a free ride now. It’s a growing process – sooner or later, she’ll feel pretty dumb about this.

I’ll admit she has more balls than 95% of Canadians though. Good for her.
- lorq
  
  “Once I was a naive student like this girl, and I voted NDP. Then I got a job, and voted Liberal. Then I got a job where I work hard and am paid appropriately. I vote Conservative. Just like I wanted a free ride then, I’m tired of seeing others given a free ride now. It’s a growing process – sooner or later, she’ll feel pretty dumb about this.”
  
  Ah, the inevitable “freeloader!” argument. Conservative rhetorical assholery, American style.
  - travtastic
    
    She just wants unemployment!
- Anonymous
  
  Once I was a naive student and voted Liberal. Then I got a job, grew up and realized my votes didn’t count anyways, and started voting NDP. I guess it must have been an easier job than yours, though, since I still had some time to do some research and notice it’s the right-wing who gives people free rides, just not the general public.
- joeposts
  
  Just like I wanted a free ride then, I’m tired of seeing others given a free ride now
  
  lol. This is a great statement.
- thirdway
  
  What this woman is advocating for is for people to engage. Performance art and/or demonstrations are civil yet effective when they happen to impact large numbers of people in positive ways.
  
  I’m staying busy by working with a group that are planning on working on a mentoring campaign to build new young leaders who can make the case for progressive government to people like Rectifier who are operating out of fear as opposed to enlightenment.
  
  Kids are smarter than we give them credit for. Its the fact that life sometimes beats the hope and spirit out of some us sometimes. Some of us then in response think that we need to protect our stuff from those damn ‘freeloaders’. However, others of us try to hold on to that spirit of hope, and we get busy doing stuff to ensure we don’t lose it.
  
  The hope for me is based in the idea of a country where we can do things like eliminating poverty, restoring dignity to all, offering equal opportunities for education, and ensuring that wars are only fought out of necessity, not for disasters like leaders who need to show they are tough (yawn), leaders with control issues or had bad parenting which led them to believe that economics (or GDP) is the only thing that matters in life.
  
  If you ask me, Ms. DePape’s goals of not “wasting billions on fighter jets, military bases, and corporate tax cuts while cutting social programs and destroying the climate… [wanting] green jobs, better medicare, and a healthy environment for future generations” seems a hell of a lot more productive and serving of the public good than your “Fuck you all, I got mine” goals.
  
  CWAA.
  - Anonymous
    
    I can’t speak for Canada, but the cause of the corporatist views of all national politicians is due to their need to raise massive amounts of money to win an election. Thus, they can’t piss corporations off.
    
    I’m sure it’s much the same in most western countries though.
Anonymous

>liberal political philosophies are childish and naive

boy, you sure are grown up and a glowing example of maturity.
Gordon Stark

The Crown Inquiry held before the election assault to
enforce a coalition without an election judicially verified
that any new election instigated against the directives
of the SLDI-2005 Authority, as upheld by The Canadian Judiciary,
is a foreign military assault upon Canada by the United States
to breech election security for Harper, who is convicted of
fraud in his war on Canada with the Americans.

The election assault was pre-emptively ruled a fraud in the
SLDI-2005 Crown Inquiry, and holding a new election before
deploying the coalition defense measure constituted an ACT OF
WAR upon Canada by The United States of America and their
collaborators in Canada.

The current sitting of the House of Commons are Appointed MP’s
selected by the U.S. Military; and The Harper Government, (which
is an organized crime syndicate which has NOTHING to do with
The Government of Canada), is a mass fraud, which has no legal
nor elected authority to form or portray a government in Canada.

Canada is in a state of national security crisis in the covert
war on Canada’s sovereignty which America declared upon Canada
in February of 2005, and which America REFUSED to repent of
in October 2005. Stephen Harper has NEVER been legally elected
to the PMO, and is to be removed from the foreign compromised
PMO according to the judicial findings in the SLDI-2005
inquiry in 2009.

America has been judged by the International Coalition in
defense of Sovereignty for it’s belligerent refusal to repent
of it’s fornications, and murders, and other aggressions,
and it’s justice is imminent according to sentencing.

The young lady who has protested the crime spree in Ottawa
is a good Canadian setting a fine example.
lectio

Um..fornications and US military overtaking of Canada aside…

Just stopping by to point out that we often have elections more frequently than once every four years. And while I understand her ‘Arab Spring’ comment, I’d suggest that she is unlikely to be arrested and subjected to a virginity test. I can’t say that likening the Canadian political climate – if you don’t like it – to the kinds of climate and problems faced by people in, oh, Yemen is quite accurate or appropriate.

I imagine she’ll land on her feet, though.
arborman

Whee, a Gordon Stark appearance. Our very own Larouche!

I hate that >40% of the vote gives unnacountable power for any party in Canada. I hated it when Chretien pulled the majority out of less than Harper’s vote, and I hate it now.

Surely we can do better.
Anonymous

CBC Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i11Tu4eMYwE
Anonymous

She wanted, and I presume succeeded, to impress her friends in a fast and safe way. Cheap notoriety, the highway of modern politics she is so aghast with, achieved for the price of showing disrespect to the duly elected representatives of people. This price seems to be small in Canada, meaning there is no respect for the choice of people.

In Arab countries, people protest the government, risk their lives and get killed, how one can compare? She has full spectrum of legal means to try to convince majority of population that her position is the right one (if she has one). Starting from slapping the public is a distasteful one.
Anonymous

To bad conservative MP,s don,t have the guts to stand up for canada like this brave young lady. Harper is the most pathetic dishonest clown ever to hold power in Canada. Leave her alone Harper she’s a true Canadian.
David Scott

I find the “you’re just mad because your party didn’t get in” comments sort of funny. I agree that we lefties are a bit upset over this election, but it’s not because we voted Liberal and the Liberals didn’t get in or because we voted NDP and the NDP didn’t get in… it’s because the majority of us voted for left-leaning parties (even the Bloc, at least for the last while has been closer to those two parties than the Conservatives, except for the whole “separation” issue, which has become less and less a part of their platform) and we are now represented by a right-leaning party. This is partly why the PCs and Reform joined, because their vote on the right was getting split (a few of us small L liberals, including myself, will even admit that the Progressive Conservatives were a reasonable choice – fiscally conservative but socially, well… progressive).

Now, do I think Harper’s majority is a sign of the apocalypse? Not quite. But there are several laws that I’m not looking forward to. They’re a tough on crime party (although crime is pretty damn low comparatively, it scares old people into voting for them), and apparently that means we should be allowing the police to tap into internet connections based on suspicion and not a warrant… and that we should put more people into the prison system for minor offences (although Mr. Harper likes to sing Beatles tunes, he thinks a little help from your friends should put you behind bars). We’re also looking to update copyright laws which, if the first few iterations were anything to judge, will be decidedly pro-business and anti-consumer. My problem with all that is that laws tend to stick around a lot longer than the politicians who put them in place, and we tend to not be that good at removing the ones that don’t work. So, am I sort of sad about that? Sure.

I might not agree with Ms. DePape’s comparisons of our situation to Egypt’s, but I applaud her for speaking her mind publicly. She could have done worse things to get attention, and although her job was 2 weeks from ending anyway, I’m sure it will be a bit of a black mark on her record. I’ve heard that this program isn’t the easiest to get into, and it didn’t sound like she had planned that the entire time. It sounds more like she was a young woman who was getting interested in politics and getting involved who was sorely disappointed by what she saw. I don’t blame her for that. She didn’t hurt anyone but herself. She didn’t kick and scream when they led her out. She acted quite stereotypically Canadian about the whole thing. I saw a few comments from MPs afterwards talking about the need to beef up security. Security for what? Is someone holding up a sign for a few minutes because they believe they need to be heard and then peacefully leaving when escorted out really something we need to worry about? Mr. Harper has sent men and women to Afghanistan (and would have to Iraq if he’d have been in power then) to fight for the same freedom that Ms. DePape expressed. Democracy is not something we won way back when and occasionally fight a war over. It lives and dies by people willing to test it and push for it.

One final thing. If the NDP ever wins a majority and doesn’t reform the electoral system towards more of a rep by pop style, I’ll be just as pissed off. As a lefty, I’m tired of having one party tell me “vote for us or the other guys will get in” and the other party flipping me the finger because they “got the majority of the vote”. As a Canadian, I like that we don’t have a two party system, and I feel it’s a shame that we might go towards that, as it’s the only way, without electoral reform, that we’ll be represented by what the majority of us believe. It might also encourage the parties to work together. As many have pointed out, Mr. Harper has run his minority government over the last few years that largely disregarded the other parties. I know the Liberals have done the same (and that’s partly why they’re in their currently decimated state). I hope he proves me wrong and is a more gracious winner. But if not, I hope for proportional representation.
- Calvid Wilde
  
  It might be appropriate for this thread to come to rest on 103 comments.
  
  (Though I certainly welcome further conversation…)
Anonymous

Some people here have a tenuous grasp of basic math. 39 percent, as in, 39 out of 100,. is no majority mandate. The political system here in Canada, (as in every place I can think of) is terribly broken. A system where the minority opinion holders get to form the ‘government’ because of goofy party splits is non democratic. When a party, the Greens, can get over 6 percent of the vote in the nation and only be represented by a single individual (0.003% representation) the political system is defunct on its face.

Calling this woman names and using language like “illegal” to describe her protest is sad. These same math deficient folks seem to think voting once every few years is the start and end of a democracy, really?

The ‘Conservatives’ are very far from being conservative, they spend on war making and police powers like there is no tomorrow,. and only work to cut programs of social uplift. This group is corporatist with an inordinate militaristic focus and a police power bent (recall the G20 ?),. commonly known as fascist. They have stated they want to build larger prisons and make prisoners work to live there,. gulag anyone? What is their motivation then, imprison political and ideological ‘enemies’ and profit by it! Ugly and not at all democratic.

STOP HARPER!
Narfig_Agar

While I agree with her view of the “Harper Government” she is going to get into such trouble for this. Unbecoming behaviour for a parliamentary page, it’s important that they be non-partisan. And during the throne speech no less! The queen might have been watching on the tele!

It was a very interesting election and I expect the upcoming Canadian parliament to be extremely entertaining. I’m excited to see how the NDP who are young, socialist and completely unprepared to be in the position they’re in, do as the official opposition. I’m hoping they hold the tea-bagging, old school big blue Conservative party’s feet to the fire. I feel like the opposition is far more representative of Canuks then the government. Most of them *never* expected to actually get elected and have no political experience. I remember when Bob Rae’s NDP won Ontario and his staff had absolutely no idea what to do with themselves. Sadly I expect Harper to make good use of his majority to do all sorts of things that will make scared rich old people slightly more happy.
Anonymous

Posted this on Reddit, probably relevant here.

A number of years ago I was a Page, albeit at the provincial level.

She undoubtedly abused her powers. The only people in the House who are supposed to be able to voice opinions are the elected officials, since they are chosen to represent the nation’s voters. When a Page, or any other unelected body makes a political statement, it adds a voice to the House that does not represent the views of the electorate.

I wouldn’t say being a page opened any doors. That being said, it undoubtedly made it much, much easier to get jobs working with local MPPs, MPs, or council members. It’s also worked as a foot in the door, as well as a fantastic networking tool. The best part of the position, IMO, was seeing politics first hand. I assure you, it’s nowhere near as cutthroat as ‘Power and Politics’ makes it out to be. Hell, you’re lucky if all of the MPs show up to a major vote. Like a university degree, it isn’t the piece of paper that is useful, it’s what you do that matters.

I wouldn’t say she closed any doors. Sure, if she was planning on working for a Tory think-tank, I guess that’s a major blow to her – but it doesn’t seem like she’s ever considered working with the Conservative Party. In fact, her doing this makes her known to the press corps, as well as the politicians and their respective aides; so I would say that this kind of demonstration may have aided her more than it hindered.

tl;dr politics is all about getting to the front page. She won the game.
ryanrafferty

Oh no… another slave has just showed up all us other slaves! What shall we do!? I say execute her for treason… then all us other slaves can get back to our comfortable lives…. this is Democracy(tm) after all!
Rayonic

Wait, wasn’t Harper supposed to have converted Canada to a fascist dictatorship by now? What’s the holdup?

Or maybe I’m hung up on semantics. To some people, Fascism is when your party doesn’t win.
- Anonymous
  
  The same hold-up as in the states; civil liberties are best removed slowly.
Anonymous

I don’t know the whole story. Honestly, I just thought that this was an interesting debate. However, as a Canadian I am absolutely appalled by a reoccurring theme in this thread. As a page she had no right…. She abused her power. I’m sorry but when did any of you decide who has the right to do what? We, who live in the land of the free, trying to say what somebody can and cannot do. What we need are less unintellegent sheep. If it’s her opinion, or somebody else’s opinion, who cares. Maybe it made somebody think, maybe it angered others. It doesn’t matter. She has the right to do whatever she wants. She has the right to a voice, whether it’s right or not. That’s supposed to be what separates us from fascism. We are no longer the old, free-loving Canada I grew up believing in. We’ve changed, and not neccessarily in a good way.There should be no censorship.
- Tzctboin
  
  You don’t have the right to do wahtever you want, stating that is demonstrably false.
  
  Even freedom of speech is limited, in the sense that exercising this right without method amounts to little more than a very boring but dangerous cacophony.
Anonymous

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brigette-Depape/114258801995644
boo

Although much older than Ms. DePape, I fully concur with her opinion of “the Harper government”. The agenda outlined in today’s throne speech is appalling (though not unexpected) on many levels. I would like her to know that there are people older than her who will take to the streets with her generation. Perhaps it will be the flowering of a new era in Canadian politics: hey, the Greens finally have a seat and the NDP are sitting in the Opposition. There may still be hope.
- Anonymous
  
  You can of course explain what this agenda that was outlined is, yes? Preferably with quotations from the — vague and platitude-filled — Speech from the Throne.
Calvid Wilde

Many Canadians are frustrated both with Harper and his agenda, but also with the election process and our antiquated first past the post system. “Stop Harper” is a little simplistic.

If she had used her page position to stage a protest with a sign that read: “Electoral Reform Now” I would have completely supported that action.
grimc

I think “DePape” is Canuckian for “brass ones”.
Lord Haw Haw

Can somebody please inform this dingbat that Canada just had an election? Like it or not, they just voted to keep Harper in power.
- Anonymous
  
  Because of our unacceptably flawed first-past-the-post system LESS than 25% of eligible Canadian voters actually voted for Harper… So yes, we did just have an election and the majority of Canadians are AGAINST equating conservative values as being Canadian values. The majority of Canadians DO NOT support the ambitions this man has for our Country and the majority of Canadians are now expected to sit on their hands for the next four years while this decidedly undeserving majority government goes about it’s business… starting with changing our government’s name from the Canadian Government to the Harper Government, moving away from accessible healthcare to a largely privatized system, spending BILLIONS of $$$ on fighter jets and military bases while completely ignoring our embarrassingly poor environmental record and those tragically left to poverty. But you’re probably right, someone needs to educate this dingbat!
  - Tzctboin
    
    Change the system then!
    
    Here in the UK people were given the change to move a little away from First Past the Post and they could not voter.
    
    First Past the Post is a despicable voting system, but if the people can’t be arsed to change it, well, that is the will of the people! Democracy sucks because the inertias informed people have to fight, but it is the right way of doing things, unless you want to fall in the false trap of missianic all knowing leaders or “enlightened” politburos (of any political colour).
- Anonymous
  
  Can someone please inform Lord Haw Haw dingbat that people still have the right to protest.
- Anonymous
  
  Yeah, we just had an election. And the majority of Canadians didn’t vote for Harper. Or even for the Cons.
  - Anonymous
    
    The last time there was a “majority” aka 50% popular vote or above in Canada was in 1984 when the Conservatives got 50% of the popular vote. Previous to 1984, it was 1958 when the Conservatives got 53.7% of the popular vote. Before that? 1953. Doesn’t happen so often when you have more than 2 parties to choose from.
    
    See:
    http://www.electionalmanac.com/canada/popularvote.php
  - KevinB
    
    Chretien never got much more than 40% of the vote for any of his majorities, either. Did that make his governments any less legitimate?
    
    For people who keep bashing the Conservatives as being “too American”, you lefties seem to want a US style election system. Too bad. We have a parliamentary democracy, and with five parties running, it would take a miracle for any one party to get an actual majority of votes. The Conservatives won more ridings than everyone else combined, which gives them a majority government in our system.
    
    If you don’t like it, move to America.
    - joeposts
      
      I think it was the reform/conservative coalition that regularly complained about living under a Liberal dictatorship.
      
      Plus most NDP-voting folks were sickened by the actions of the Chretien/Martin governments.
      
      Your strawman arguments are as tiresome as they are loathsome, good sir.
    - Calvid Wilde
      
      “Chretien never got much more than 40% of the vote for any of his majorities, either. Did that make his governments any less legitimate?”
      
      No, Chretien won his majorities legitimately, like Stephen Harper did. They just happened to win their majorities in an ancient electoral system not designed to account for multiple parties and and increasingly pluralistic electorate.
      
      I was 13 in 1993 when Chretien won his first majority. I could see â€” clearly â€” something was flawed with the system:
      
      1. Jean Chretien / Liberals – 177 (out of 295) seats – 41% of popular vote – 100 % of the power
      
      2. Lucien Bouchard / Bloc Quebecois – 54 seats – 13.5% of popular vote (all within one province) – official opposition
      
      3. Preston Manning / Reform – 52 seats – 18.5% of popular vote
      
      4. Audrey McLaughlin / NDP – 9 seats – 16% of popular vote
      
      5. Kim Campbell / Progressive Conservative – 2 seats – 16% of popular vote.
      
      The numbers speak for themselves.
  - CSMcDonald
    
    39% of the people who voted voted CON. Which means they got the majority of the vote – 30% voted NDP, 18.9% voted LIB. So it looks like they did get a majority vote.
    
    Looks like the people voted and were not stopped from voting. Making comparisons to the complete lack of democracy in the countries where the uprisings took place is completely insane.
    - Hugh
      
      I think you’re confusing “majority” with “plurality”. By definition, 39% is not a majority.
      
      And based on available public opinion research it appears that Canadians that voted Conservative largely do not hold conservative values, or even support most Conservative policies, weird as that may seem.
      
      But hey, how about those lazy apathetic youth today?
- Anonymous
  
  If you think genuine political change is brought about by elections and not popular protest movements then it is you who is the dingbat sir.
semiotix

So let’s get this straight. She’s a page, which is essentially an honorific position, but not one of responsibility. (I.e., she’s not privy to things other Canadians aren’t.)

Her term was about up, and she was… what, off to college? about to hit the MontrÃ©al theatre scene? If being a Parliamentary page is anything like being a Congressional Page in the U.S., it’s a lot like being valedictorian or a spelling bee champion: impressive enough, good for some anecdotes, but not the sort of thing that’s going to matter much once you hit 20, and certainly not the sort of thing you can parlay into actual notoriety.

I don’t know enough about the particulars of the anti-Harper sentiment to say how accurately she reflects them, although the few (liberal) political Canadian residents I do know aren’t comparing Harper to Mubarak.

But I think it’s probably a safer bet that she was acting to further a desire for self-promotion than out of the genuine belief that this was a necessary and justified “sacrifice” of her pageship and of Parliamentary decorum. She’s clearly smart enough to know that a page jumping in front of the camera isn’t the same thing as a minister resigning in protest.

I know enough about Canadian politics to be sorry that Harper is leading a majority government. I hope she doesn’t start looking too representative of the “opposition.”
Anonymous

I assume all the talk of electoral reform applies equally to the NDP, who in Quebec hold the vast majority of seats while not gaining near that many votes. Harper has a little over half of the house with 40% of the vote (11% spread). The NDP is calming to represent 80% of quebec with 43% of the vote (37% spread)…

At least the claims of Harper representing the western provinces is backed by majority of the vote west of Ont. And that’s with a massive over representation by the lower population provinces.
Bryan C

Elections should clearly only count when enlightened, right-thinking people agree with the results. After all, what’s the point of having elections and government and stuff if those stupid people you don’t like sometimes get to be in charge? She held up a sign! She did something she promised she wouldn’t do! She was rude to the Man! She’s Rosa Parks and Lech Walesa and the Tiannemen Square tank dude all rolled into one.
- Tzctboin
  
  The reason we have elections is so our differences are sorted and we can get on with living our lives.
  
  This is not to say that if somebody does not like the results he should not try to change the situation, but abusing a position of confidence in a democratic Parliament is one of the least enlightened ways to make your point.
  
  The problem is that losers nowadays (and I meant this in the simple sense of losing an election, not thrown as an insult) simply can’t conceed graciously that they have lost and then move on to the hard graft of working in the next electoral cycle.
  
  If that girl is so angry she should have joined a political party, NGO, or whatever political organization she likes and use all the means at our disposal nowadays to make her points known.
  
  Abusing her position as a minor employee in the Canadian Parliament is frankly immature, but nowadays as perhaps always, young people are attracted to immatuire displays of political discourse, but no worries, we people with longer memories can remind you how inconsequential those publicity stunts normally are.
  - Calvid Wilde
    
    “Abusing her position as a minor employee in the Canadian Parliament is frankly immature,”
    
    And what does that make those who abuse their position as “major employees” of the Canadian Parliament (ie, Prime Minister, Cabinet, MPs, etc). Why does she get fired for “contempt of Parliament” and the Conservatives are given a promotion for “contempt of Parliament.”
    
    I would far rather someone (working for Canadian taxpayers) be immature, than corrupt to their core.
- Anonymous
  
  No, clearly disagreement with the government should only count until they’re elected. After all, what’s the point of expressing concerns if a first-past-the-post system didn’t take them into account? This person has broken far fewer promises than the government, for all you might care.
merodrup

Really now, what does she hope to accomplish? Legally, the Conservatives have a strong majority, good for 4 years. Why not wait until then, and vote him out?

Is she expecting massive civil disobedience? Is Canada really comparable to an Arab country? If she’s representative of our youth, we’re doomed.

As for Harper’s agenda… faster, please.
- Anonymous
  
  Why not wait until then, and vote him out?
  
  By all means, let us wait through four years of the same, and try again. Remember, if you don’t vote you have no right to complain, and after the votes are in you have no right to complain. Democracy is all about shutting up except for a single preference every few years, which thanks to first-past-the-post usually means no more than a 2$ donation – and Harper will surely cancel that before we vote again.
Anonymous

Considering the fact that the article describes her sharing a van with several protesters to the G8 conference in Toronto, I think she tried to protest where it was acceptable and got a shitty government response in exchange for that.

At that point, I’d do something flippant in parliament too. At least there’s less of a chance of being brutally beaten by a riot cop, and far more of a chance that people will notice.

Good on her!
Calvid Wilde

I agree that the comparison to an “Arab Spring” in Canada is a little misguided, but at the same time I understand where the sentiment comes from.

Canada needs â€” like Spain â€” to demand “Real Democracy”

Yes, we get a chance to vote. But our votes count for little, in MOST ridings across the country.

There are two ways we can bring about democratic reform: 1) Elect a party that supports it (like Harper used to in the Reform Party, or like the NDP claim to now) or 2) Massive long-term actions on the streets.

Neither will happen anytime soon: We are too well fed; too distracted by entertainment; too busy working… to give a damn what’s happening to our country, or the world. The majority of Canadians seem meek as sheep. We do not have the passion that the Arabs, or the Spanish have shown in recent months.
Anonymous

Am I one of the only people who sees that running parallel along with the united states is a bad idea ? I feel like I’ve been taking crazy pills ! Do you conservative dummies not understand the cold hard facts about what’s been happening in the world today ? Money being spent frivolously on fighter jets ? FOR WHAT PURPOSE ? To defend Canada from who ? Innocent people dying halfway across the globe for control of oil ? All these conservative pensioners need to lay off the evening news which scares them half to death of everything they can’t even get boners anymore !

Conservative diet of fear and Viagra. Sounds like more of the united states is seeping northwise.

We all need to stop focusing on this one girl and understand that there is a much bigger picture out there that should be looked at.
Anonymous

I wouldn’t trust Harper to play musicial chairs and not cheat let alone an election.

It’s weird how nobody has suggested he might have cheated. It’s not like we were having an election because he broke the law…
oh wait that’s exactly why we were having an election.

The conservatives have shown contempt for the law,
why did we even allow them to run.

:(
shannigans

Can somebody please inform this dingbat that Canada just had an election? Like it or not, they just voted to keep Harper in power.

39% of the people who voted voted CON. Which means they got the majority of the vote – 30% voted NDP, 18.9% voted LIB. So it looks like they did get a majority vote.
Looks like the people voted and were not stopped from voting. Making comparisons to the complete lack of democracy in the countries where the uprisings took place is completely insane.

Translation:

We have an election once every four years for this position so STFU as you’re not allowed an opinion or an attempt to influence politics in between those days where you are allowed to vote. Now bend over and take it you fools!
- CSMcDonald
  
  Shannigans – translating my comment to STFU is pretty ridiculous.
  
  I’m not saying STFU, I’m saying don’t over-exaggerate by comparing your freedom of speech to protest and vote against people who are dying for the right to protest and vote.
  
  Getting fired is nowhere in the same ballpark as having your child stolen and tortured to death for protesting. Making this comparison is cheap.
- travtastic
  
  You will participate in this liberal democracy when I say you can!
Griff Howe

uh…j-os, the harpercrites got in mostly by vote splitting…sneaky fear-mongering attack ads and other rotten agenda… the only thing even remotely admirable about them is they are united whereas the centrist left isn’t…
Griff Howe
android!

Well ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is one poorly traveled and horribly naive young woman. By even comparing the extraordinary (albeit imperfect) freedom present in Canada to the conditions found in most of the Arab world is an insult to the efforts and lost lives associated with the Arab Spring.

All I see is a shameless self-promoter looking for notoriety, since the page gig was up two weeks from now. Watch here interview on the CBC website – what an embarrassment!

Boo!
- Anonymous
  
  Please detail what extraordinary freedom you are talking about?
  
  Just because we don’t have death squads doesn’t mean we have democracy.
  
  As in the United States, the country dearest to Harper’s heart, public opinion is well to the left of both the democrats and the republican.
  
  People in those two countries and in Arab countries want their governments to genuinely serve the people: preserve and protect the natural resources, such as water and forests, promote and support education, community and well being, not war, destruction and privilege.
  
  As to the CBC fawning over her, I believe there was a live broadcast of Wallace McCain’s funeral on CBC’s website. Felt like hero worship to me. Hardly leftist, either.
- travtastic
  
  I gather that she was also playing on your lawn. It’s your lawn, not a park!
Anonymous

Unlike Egypt or the Arab world Canada has free and fair elections. PM Harper won, that means of the people who care enough to vote more people liked Harper than any other candidate. If you don’t like that then try and convince others of your opinions or run for Parliament yourself.

Illegal actions are justified when fighting a government which is not a legitimate democracy. If you want to fight something which is legal use legal means.

While opinion polls may show that people disagree with conservative policies that either indicates that a)the polls are inaccurate, possibly because people don’t like to admit of those opinions to pollsters or more likely b) there is no viable political alternative in Canada.
Karl Stevens

From the linked CBC article:

“A release from Senate Speaker NoÃ«l Kinsella said he the page’s actions constituted a contempt of Parliament.”

Harsh words indeed – the last time someone was found in contempt of Parliament, they got a majority government!

So, when is Ms. DePape going to be our Prime Minister?
emmdeeaych

Elections have consequences. Protest is among them. Buck up Buttercup.
aethelberga

If I’m not mistaken, it’s very difficult to be chosen as a parliamentary page, including very high academic standards, so I’m sure she’s not a dingbat. And after that rigorous process she chose to throw it away on this protest. Very ballsy indeed.
Anonymous

You’re allowed to complain, sure. But holy shit, pretending that the government that was voted in via free and fair elections is somehow to be equated with the repressive regimes of the middle east is a little bit much, even if they are terrible people.

If only 39% of the population is voting, that’s your damn problem and if you don’t vote, you don’t get to bitch.
- Ugly Canuck
  
  Anon #51: Says you, eh?
  
  Everyone gets to bitch, and it matters not if you voted or not.
  The real question is not, did the griper vote (or who precisely they voted for, eh, Anon?), but rather – has she got a valid gripe?
  
  That is what Governance is about, rather than some battle against those who don’t “measure up” under some bogus inquisition as to whether or not they voted, or who they voted for, or indeed any other personal characteristic.
  
  The question is: does the Citizen have a valid gripe? –
  and NOT: who precisely is this who is griping?
  
  Is the Government at war with the citizenry, that it must first hold an inquisition into who the Citizen is, before it will listen to the Citizen’s complaint or plea to the Government?
  
  The election is over. Let’s see how these guys actually govern – shall they continue to be “all attack, all the time”, as they were, while running their minority government?
  
  Are they going to do something useful and beneficial for Canadians?
  Or simply attack us, as they did their opposition ?
  - Anonymous
    
    You can bitch all you want. Bitch away.
    
    By not voting, you’ve essentially suggested your opinions aren’t worth a damn. That voting used up too much of your valuable time. That you’d rather be at the bar or watching a movie or picking up a few extra hours at Hortons than going and voting.
    
    If you’re not voting, you’re not engaged in the political process or living up to your basic responsibilities in a civic society so why should anyone listen to you?
    
    You had a place to have a meaningful influence on the political process, one more meaningful than any protest or piece of performance art or any bitching you do on the internet. An actual voice in the future of your nation.
    
    And 61% of you didn’t take it.
    
    That’s just a sign people need to grow the hell up.
Hugh

Watched her on CTV and I thought she was remarkably well composed, and handled the question as effectively as I can imagine anyone in her position doing.

Apparently some senator suggested that she had damaged democracy. Somehow I think democracy is going to survive.

I’m quasi-sympathetic to people who are turned off by her use of the “Arab Spring” analogy, but mostly I think it’s great and we should have a Canadian Arab spring. You know, Canadian style. Like standing quietly with signs. And getting involved in civil society. Like she suggested.