Once in a while I like to take a look at the on-line Recall David Emerson Petition (currently at 20,354 signatures and climbing) for a little inspiration.
Even we Conservative Albertans think the way you got into the party is devious and very dishonest. Shirley Runzer, #20,238
I truly think it is appaling that the Conservatives who were calling for change would allow this. Show that you are going to change our broken political system and start doing something about the very things you’ve been complaining about. Tim Downing, #9,005
It’s appalling that he hasn’t already resigned of his own accord. Benjamin Keen, #20,345
I am a constituent of Vancouver-Kingsway. Mr Emerson – You fundamentally misunderstand your role if you think it is our job to get you back to Ottawa in a position of power. An MP exists to serve the voters of their riding; the voters don’t exist to serve the needs of the MP. Nicholas Heap, #19,218
I voted for change. This is ‘change’ alright, a change in govt but not a change in the deceitful ways a govt can work… What is really bad is that I got fooled into believing that this man would at least begin his govt based in integrity and moral conduct as his promised to do in his campaigning. Instead, he jumps right in with hypocrisy, deceit and rationalizing to justify his unethical actions. Absolutely amazing. Richard Szpin, #8,981
Even many from within the Conservative party’s “base” deplore what Harper did and Emerson accepted. They aren’t going to forget these arrogant and undemocratic moves.
Often when our politicians let us down the temptation is to throw one’s hands up in resignation and sigh “but what can I do?”
Lots, it turns out.
Just look at what a bunch of regular folks have accomplished. We’re giving voice to the frustration that all of us feel when a privileged few try to take advantage of us all. But we’re taking action, and believe me, the rewards in actually doing something are worth the effort. Come join us and see!
Case in point – just a couple of weeks ago the Walk for Democracy was born of an idea thanks to Manuel Pereda, yet another ordinary person driven by a just cause to work in extraordinary ways. A few calls to friends and neighbours, a few meetings and some more phone calls later, some donated labour and printing and paper and today we are distributing 8,000 handbills throughout the city – with more to come. We’re going to have a terrific event, marching along Kingsway past Emerson’s office to Norquay Park where we’ll rally together and show the politicians in Ottawa that the people aren’t going to lie back and take it any more. And its all happening because of regular people doing extraordinary things.
When you see people out there in Vancouver neighbourhoods putting up signs and passing out flyers just remember these people are your neighbours! We aren’t experienced organizers, we aren’t political operatives promoting a party or some other agenda – we’re just regular people who have come together to fight for whats right. We’re going to make a few mistakes from time to time, but we’ll learn from them and press on. We’re proving that we all can make a difference if people just take one step forward and try, instead of giving up.
Media Highlights for Saturday March 18 2006 – David Emerson
(Peter O’Neil and Miro Cernetig, CanWest News Service) Public won’t forget or forgive floor-crosser
Rick Anderson, the top adviser to former official opposition leader Preston Manning, was one of many who initially dismissed criticism when the Emerson appointment was made. He has since acknowledged he underestimated the public’s reaction.
He said the anti-Emerson movement is surviving because there is legitimate grassroots fury.
”The people who are most angry about it are the people who have the least to do with politics,” he said.
A little late, but Rick gets it! Now if only Rick and other Reformers would jump on board and help out. They more than anyone ought to remember that Reform was born in part to fight against exactly the sort of undemocratic stunt which the leader of my party has unfortunately pulled in appointing Emerson and Fortier to cabinet.
March 17 (Letters, Vancouver Courier) Defection a lesson for West Side students
I’d like to thank MP David Emerson for providing me with excellent fodder with which to teach the new Civics 11 course recently created to strengthen democracy among young Canadian citizens. The topic we are studying in our West Side Vancouver high school is “Flaws in our Democratic System.”
Voter apathy, a lack of informed voters, and a lack of proportional representation are near the top of the list, of course, but Emerson’s changing of political parties a few days after the election provided the clearest example of why democracy is suffering in Canada.
Supporters of democracy can only hope Emerson takes the ethical option and runs for the Conservatives in a byelection. My students certainly hope so. Paul Orlowski, Vancouver
I hope that Paul encourages his students to attend Walk for Democracy, Sunday April 2nd – the day before parliament resumes sitting. We’ll have music, humour, and informative speakers at the rally point, just to the east of Emerson’s constituency office.
March 17 (Letters, Vancouver Courier) Voter to Emerson-crap attracts crap
I didn’t realize this was a local issue, but just in case that’s how our democracy works these days, I happen to be one of the voters from Vancouver-Kingsway that David Emerson shat on, and I can tell you it was a direct hit, the pile is high and the stench just won’t go away. Roger Barany, Vancouver
March 17 (Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier) Campaign volunteer not going away until Emerson ‘does the right thing’
“I was prepared to go to jail to support what I thought was a fundamentally held belief in Canadian democracy and values, and I think I put that to the test,” he said. “This is such a fundamental attack on Canadian values. Canadians tend to be very quiet people who don’t make a lot of fuss, but boy you just don’t wake a sleeping bear, you know.”
By now Emerson and Harper’s spin doctors are fully aware that the bear is awake and headed straight for them. Collatoral damage is bound to follow, and there must be a few BC politicians wondering why they jumped on the Emerson bandwagon early on. People like Sam Sullivan and Gordon Campbell and Jack Poole and the heads of the Vancouver Board of Trade and BC Chamber of Commerce who support Emerson even as he makes a mockery of democracy are skating on thin ice. People will remember. We’ll help them.
March 16 (Matthew Burrows, The Georgia Straight) O Emerson
Tom Little, a Vancouver Kingsway voter, was not to be dissuaded. Surrounded by about 40 protestorsmany of them from the De-Elect Emerson campaignhe sang his rendition of O Canada:
Oh, Emerson!
You tromp upon our rights!
Treacherous naked ambition under Harpers command.
With breaking hearts we see thee lie
You mock democracy!
From all of us, an angry cry
Give back my vote to me!
God keep our land glorious and free
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. Tom Little, Vancouver Kingsway
And lets not forget Emerson Must Resign by Andy Vine: “Mr. Harper are you listening, its a democractic system, and Emerson must resign” ...
In today’s Vancouver Sun an interesting article which looks at the voting patterns within the riding. I’m not fully on side with some of the analysis proferred by political scientist Fred Cutler, but there’s no doubt that a group dynamic in the riding – and in the surrounding Vancouver area – has formed.
March 18 (Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun) Emerson riding leans hard to port
“For social movements like this, it matters how much you think other people are in the same boat,” he said. “If you feel you’re isolated and other voters aren’t going to go down to that demonstration, you’re not going to go either.” In Vancouver-Kingsway, Cutler said, voters have a sense they’re all on the same side.
Personally, I think he’s reaching in his conclusions, if for no other reason than we could hardly paint the federal Liberals as “left wing”, as Cutler seems to do later in the article by lumping the NDP and Liberal vote into one big bucket.
However, Cutler cautioned against assuming that the swing from NDP to Liberal can be entirely explained by strategic voting. After all, the NDP increased its share of the popular vote in B.C. overall in 2006. And, as history shows, voting Liberal to keep out the Conservatives doesn’t make much sense in Vancouver-Kingsway.
Cutler’s right – one can not assume that the difference between the 2004 and 2006 vote is explained by strategic voting out of the NDP base of support. But it did happen, and if my straw poll held on street corners over the past month is any indication, its a significant percentage of the vote. That it doesn’t make any sense doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen.
The most common reasons I’ve heard people switch their support from the NDP‘s Waddell to Emerson in the last Election:
- Determination to keep a Conservative out of office (even though there was little chance of that occuring)
- Dissatisfaction with other candidates or satisfaction with the Liberal platform, party or candidate
- Expectation of a Liberal government loss, and a desire to see Emerson form part of a strong opposition.
Number of times I’ve ran into someone that voted for Emerson the Liberal who would now vote for Emerson as a Conservative? Zero. I’m sure such people are out there but they are few and far between.
Its a mistake to paint the uproar of Vancouverites as partisan in nature. No doubt that drove people’s first gut response on day one, but now more than a month into this protest, its become quite clear that people’s perspective has evolved far beyond a visceral reaction tied to party affiliation.
There’s always been a sense that the vast majority of voters in this riding feel they’ve been treated unfairly – literally robbed of their vote.
Yes, we are all in this together but its a sense of the loss of our power as citizens, not concerns over partisan battles, which has brought us all together.
Earlier this week we decided on the final route and rally point for the Walk for Democracy. Now just two weekends away, activity is kicking into high gear to ensure the success of this non-partisan, citizen-driven affair.
Visit Walk for Democracy for times, places, a map and more coming soon. Sunday April 2 – mark your calendars!
Senior political correspondent Peter O’Neil and Miro Cernetig of the Vancouver Sun have been working this week on a story about the “Anti-Emerson” efforts (I prefer to call our efforts pro-democracy myself, or at the very least, anti-Emerson, pro-Democracy). Worth reading.
March 18 (Peter O’Neil and Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun) Anti-Emerson drive continues
Irate constituents can neither forgive nor forget defection OTTAWA—David Emerson is about to face a rude shock if he thinks the six-week public campaign to cast him out of the federal cabinet is going to blow over any time soon.
Today, those who can neither forgive nor forget the cabinet minister’s overnight metamorphosis from Liberal to Conservative will begin hammering as many as 1,000 signs into lawns throughout his Vancouver Kingsway riding. All say the same thing: “De-Elect David Emerson.”
And the mailboxes in the embattled minister’s riding will soon be filling up with 10,000 pamphlets urging constituents to take part in protests calling on constituents to “support future rallies to de-elect Mr. David Emerson . . . . Sound your car horn to support the rally folks . . . . Recall MP David Emerson.”
They are being mailed out by Michael Pan, who is on a one-man mission to recall B.C.‘s most famous cabinet minister. He claims no connection to any political party and used about $2,000 of his own money to print the brochures, in Chinese and English, and pay the postage.
“I just think what he did is wrong,” said Pan, an artist and businessman who voted for the Green party. “I don’t belong to any political party. I’m spending my Mexican vacation money, but I think it’s worth it.”
It is true that these anti-Emerson protests are the work of a few dozen people at the core of the protests, many using the Internet and their experience in dealing with the media to keep the issue in the headlines. But most insist they act as individuals. Pan, for example, was alone at the post office, other than the half-dozen TV cameras that followed him. More >
Before I say anything else… wow! I’ve never heard of Mr. Pan or what he’s doing. That’s exactly the sort of grass-roots reaction that has been fueling all of the pro-democracy efforts. People get ideas, and they put them to action.