Coalition government activism

Not to be a downer,but I was there at Montreal and I'm not certain there was 1000..I did arrive late however. The rally was really great however.

I'm glad that we got the better turnout. :)

The first job is to help the media explain to the public how the parliamentary system works. The media have not done a good job until the past week. Many working journalists feel guilty and are looking for good quotes.

It's odd how seldom the defeat of John A. Macdonald in 1873 gets mentioned. He faced a non-confidence vote more than a year after the 1872 election.

The second election for the new country of Canada began on July 20, 1872, but the writs for Gaspé, Chicoutimi and Saguenay, Manitoba and British Columbia were not returnable until October 12, 1872. This resulted in about 103 Conservatives and 97 Liberals. When the new parliament convened March 5, 1983, Alexander Mackenzie became Liberal leader. On April 2 the Pacific Scandal erupted. After having sat 59 days, plus a lengthy adjournment while a committee investigated, Macdonald got a prorogation of Parliament on August 13 over strong opposition resistance (although a shorter prorogation than he had wished), and got a Royal Commission appointed to further investigate the affair. The scandal was such that the Governor-General considered dismissing Macdonald, but his instructions from Britain were that it was the business of the Canadian Parliament to decide whether to withdraw confidence. On Oct. 23, 1873, Parliament re-opened. Alexander MacKenzie moved a censure motion against Macdonald. Within a few days of the opening of Parliament, support for the government began to weaken, and continued day by day. On Nov. 4 two more MPs deserted him, leaving him certain of censure. Macdonald resigned Nov. 5 rather than be defeated, and the Governor General invited Mackenzie to form a Government.  Alexander Mackenzie was sworn in as Prime Minister Nov. 7, 1873, more than a year after the previous election. The same day he prorogued the new session after only 11 sitting days. It never resumed: on January 2nd he was granted a dissolution, and the election was held January 22.

But there was no thought of Macdonald being granted a dissolution.

I think I probably arrived after you left. I heard the head of a Unioversity student's asociation speak, a female labour leader, Thomas Mulcliar, and Gilles Duceppe. The band was really good-especially the Tina Turner tunes. I arrived when they were playing "Respect".  I thought the rally was supposed to last until 4pm ? It ended at 2:30ish.They ended with drums, so I know what you mean, they were pretty good.

As for singing O Canada, some of the organizations there were pro-sovreigtny...they all cheered after Duceppe made a reference to it. 

I would have liked to quietly go to the Conservative rally, just to hear what they were saying. 

I hope there are more rallies between now and tghe end of January, as I think it will be very important to keep up this momentum.  Where you there as part of an organization ?

Good show, outwest!

Tractors block traffic in Ottawa in coalition protest

http://tinyurl.com/6c4dlv

... Jamie MacMaster, director of the landowners association
and one of the protest organizers, was still concerned about the
possibility of a coalition ...

"Nobody that I know of in rural Ontario … voted for any kind of
coalition," he said. "And I can take it a step further and say nobody
certainly voted for a coalition that's going to have a separatist at
the helm." ...

Ian Cumming, a dairy farmer from Williamstown in Glengarry county
who joined the protest, said he understands that the possibility of a
coalition government "might have merit" legally but isn't appropriate
for a time of crisis.  "So what's being done here is just foolish and childish and downright dangerous, actually," he said ...

Right you are. What you're doing, that is.