Rally Letter to the Editor - alas!

I was reading the Tuesday edition of the Era-Banner this morning and enjoying their excellent coverage of the pro-democracy rally on Saturday when I started to notice some interesting facts being tossed about on page 10. 'Facts' about session lengths and prorogue frequencies. Stuff like that.

Disagreeing with the numbers, I sat down and wrote a very nice Letter to the Editor setting out my version of the facts.

Unfortunately, I received a note from the Editor, Ted McFadden, that it is their policy to *not* publish letters from political party candidates.

Since I'm the new Green candidate I have no voice - even though I believe my letter was fairly non-partisan.

So there you have it. And now you'll have my letter, because I'm posting it here. Gotta love the Net.

Dear Editor,

Thank you for the excellent coverage of the pro-democracy rally this past weekend in Newmarket. It was very exciting to be part of the event and an honour to be one of the speakers. John Taylor made what I think is a very important point: that the loss of democracy is always preceded by seemingly minor or technical incursions and silence on the part of the people. So it was with great pride that I joined the other demonstrators.

Contrary to Ms. Brown's statement, I do not think it was the appropriate time to end the session. There were 37 pieces of the government's own legislation still in consideration that were killed and their mandate had in no way been fulfilled.

I was a little surprised by what I perceived as inaccurate statements in your article regarding the last session of Parliament and proroguing in general. The last session was only 128 days, not 228, this can easily be confirmed by examining the parliamentary calendar for 2009. As well, the average is not 2 prorogues per year - there have only been 105 prorogues since Confederation. Finally, the average number of sitting days in a session since 1982 when the parliamentary calendar was introduced has been 183, not 128.

If the Conservative government could come up with a viable reason to prorogue Parliament, there would not be an issue, but the cynicism and arrogance with which our current Prime Minister has called not one, but two, prorogues in an attempt to avoid scrutiny is an affront that the people of Canada are not prepared to accept. Thank goodness and thank you again for your coverage.

Sincerely,
Vanessa Long
Newmarket-Aurora Green Candidate

(Here are the sources I used to get my information: You can count the sitting days here: Parliamentary Calendar and the Liberals have an interesting article on session length and the history of prorogation.

Rally Text

I was honoured to give a speech at the pro-democracy rally in Newmarket on Saturday. Thank you to Liz, Neale, and Nick for the awesome job they did with organizing and hosting a peaceful and powerful demonstration.

Here is the video of my first public speech as the Newmarket-Aurora Green Party Candidate (though at a non-partisan event).

Good Afternoon. My name is Vanessa Long.

Thank you so much for coming out on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. To begin, I think it is important to give ourselves a big cheer for proving that we are not merely the ‘chattering elites’ and that though we are definitely Canadian, we are definitely NOT apathetic. So turn to the person next to you and thank them for coming out today. We totally rock.

In the last federal election in Newmarket, just over 60% of eligible voters actually took the time to go and vote. Now, I know that in this political climate it is hard for many of us to find a candidate that we really 'want' to vote for, one that we can ‘believe’ in, but to abandon our democratic right to vote is a frightening prospect indeed. And, unfortunately, one that many of those in power are depending upon.

I just wanted to take a quick poll of our crowd here:

How many of you, how many of you that showed up here, for how many of you is this your first political rally.

Mine too.

Okay, this one is a little trickier. For how many of you is this your first political rally in Newmarket-Aurora.

Me too.

And isn't that gratifying? Isn't that encouraging?

Because, personally, I don't believe that there is anything wrong with proroguing parliament - it has been done 105 times since Confederation after all.

But it is the cynicism and, well, you know, the 'duck and cover' tactics that have led to the last two prorogues that have got me all riled up.

Prorogues were traditionally called 'after' a ruling government had 'completed' its legislative agenda. All the bills had been passed and they were ready to give a new throne speech and move on.

But this parliament did not pass the bills that made up their stated agenda. They killed 37 pieces of their own legislation. They can hardly claim that they had finished their mandate.

But I don't want to focus on what is wrong with our Parliament and our democracy these days. We already know.

I want to focus on what is right.

And what is right is standing right here in front of me.

And standing and cheering and marching and chanting in similar crowds at 50 rallies all across Canada.

We are what is right with our democracy 'RIGHT NOW'.

To steal another quote, We are the change we have been waiting for. YOU are the change that I have been waiting for.

These rallies demonstrate the power of ONE individual to make a tremendous difference. One person started a Facebook page and ONE person decided that we should have our own rally right here in Newmarket-Aurora.

And you, you are ONE person who said enough is enough and came out to cheer and chant and make you presence known.

We are the change we have been waiting for and I, I am also ONE person. And I tell you now. I am ONE person who is looking forward to the next election campaign when WE get to make our voices heard to those in power. When the ONE becomes the WE and WE get to vote for change.

Thank you again for supporting democracy and accountability and transparency. Let's keep the pressure up and demand proper governance from those we have entrusted with our beloved country.
Thank you.

Back after a long, educational hiatus

It's nice to be back. After leaving the blogosphere in 2008 (very long story) it turns out that this is where I belong and with a new education and critical perspective (yes, I do mean it *that* way) I am ready to re-engage with the farce that is Canadian democracy these days.

Oh. And I'm the new Green Party of Canada candidate for Newmarket-Aurora.

So let's see how much trouble I can get in to before the next election.

Thanks to everyone for showing their faith in nominating me. I'll be doing my best to make it interesting and not let you down.