I am a pragmatist. I am not a Gordon Campbell-hater. He’s done some things I strongly supported, like crushing a rather frivolous teachers strike and saving money while he did it, and he made some harsh but fiscally necessary decisions in respects to health care. I have parted ways with him, however, over the HST debacle which some people still don’t see gives increased borrowing power to successive provincial governments via the de-facto 7% they will extract from each home sale, and be able to hold and invest for a fiscal year (in some cases a tad more) until they are obligated to turn this GST over to the Feds. “What” you may ask “will be the incentive to reduce PST in BC if they are already doing short term investing with GST from the same transactions?” Well anyway…

I am also not an Olympic hater. Not to say that I like them either. I really do not care about what kind of ball or rubber cookie young people from the lower classes are going to chase about on ice or grass or snow for the amusement of the bored and easily amused Euro-American middle class. I with only one exception I will expound on later, will not watch a single minute of the games, successful or otherwise, because I do not feel them any more relevant than the colors of Elizabeth May’s sweaters. Generally speaking, unless strong moral obligations present themselves, I am a fiscal conservative. So if the Olympics irritate a few Birkenstock-clad dreadlocked hippies, I really don’t care, but if they are going to bleed the province of what is ultimately my money, or infringe on the rights and freedoms of BC residents, then I am going to take serious issue with them. So, unlike the Olympics of 76 or 88, though perhaps because I have not really cared to look into these, I do take issue with the 2010 games.
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A prorogation rally on Parliament Hill. Photo Credit: Sean Kilpatrick, CP

In all the excitement about prorogation it has become fairly obvious that the vast majority of the Canadian public—present company included—don’t know much about what it actually is. Normally, I use this space to share my opinion, but this time I will preface it with something a little less subjective. Today I would like to present a brief prorogation primer, with a few personal opinions tossed in for good measure.

The fine folks at the Table Research Branch of the House of Commons maintain the House of Commons Compendium, an excellent source of information on how the House and its committees work. If you visit their web page discussing the Parliamentary Cycle, you will find this simple introduction:

“A Parliament is summoned following a general election and continues to exist until it is dissolved (ended) by a proclamation of the Governor General at the request of the Prime Minister. This is followed by another general election. The Constitution sets the maximum lifespan of a Parliament at five years; however, recent changes to the Canada Elections Act provide for fixed date elections every four years.

Each Parliament is made up of one or more sessions, each consisting of a number of separate sittings (meetings), separated by periods of adjournment. Each session, except the final one, ends when Parliament is prorogued by the Governor General. The final session ends with the dissolution of Parliament and the calling of a general election.”

So you see, dear readers, prorogation is not the rare beast that some people believe it to be. It is constitutionally valid and is not morally dubious in and of itself. In fact, Parliament has been prorogued over 100 times. Still though, we are unfamiliar with it and because of that, it makes us a bit edgy. In a perfect world, all Canadians would take a mandatory high school civics class – anything the school system ever taught me about our government is long gone. Yes, the topic can be dry, but so is algebra and they made us learn that too.
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Photo Credit: No2010.com

While many aboriginals in Canada are joining in the celebrations and taking part enthusiastically in Olympic planning and promoting, there is a group in Vancouver who stand firm in their opposition of the games saying they are “big business at the expense of the natural world.” The Olympics Resistance Network (ORN) established in Vancouver and mainly based in the Coast-Salish territories is focusing its efforts on stopping the holding of Olympic games on stolen native land.

The ORN holds that “BC is unique in Canada in that most of the province is unceded, non-surrendered Indigenous territories,” and that promotional and Olympic construction on this land (especially in the mountains) desecrates and disrespects sacred indigenous land. “The mountains, pure & undisturbed, are essential to the survival of all people…The mountains are the most spiritual place for us,” the ORN stated.

In addition to their most-touted line: “No Olympics on Stolen Land,” many ORN members are angry at what they are calling the misuse of funds. To them, the billions of dollars being spent getting Whistler and Vancouver ready for the Olympics is a slap in the face while poverty-stricken first nations people are “paying with their lives with inadequate housing and health care.”
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"R.C.M.P. Stare Down Protest"

Senior R.C.M.P. Officials can deny harassing Vancouver Olympic protesters all they want and Pat McDonnel can sit and feint innocence as long as he can legally cover it up or maintain deniability, but lets look at the truth – the R.C.M.P.’s actions, not statements, and I.S.U. security behaviours for the 2010 Olympics.

Danika Surm, friend of open anti-Olympic protester Chris Shaw, claims she was approached by two plainclothed Olympic security officers and questioned about her friendship with an anti-Olympic protester. Surm said “she was on her way to class at a south Vancouver campus when she was approached by two plainclothed police officers with the Integrated Security Unit, the force in charge of Olympic security. The two officers questioned her about her friendship with Chris, who teaches neuroscience at the University of British Columbia, and what she knew about his plans to protest against the Olympics in February. The R.C.M.P. then did the same thing to Chris Shaw’s ex-wife, even though the two haven’t been married for 15 years.
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All protest is about anger – someone said that in a documentary I watched recently. The rage you feel when you see something you know is wrong moves you to act against it. Admirable. Especially in the sea of apathy and numb complaisance that seems to be the hallmark of modern life. As you know, the 2010 Winter Olympics are fast approaching in Vancouver, and ever since they were announced, they’ve been a source of great anger for anti-poverty groups in the Lower Mainland.

The facts are undeniable:

Homelessness in Vancouver has doubled since we won the bid in 2003, at the same time that Vancouver introduced new by-laws making it illegal to ask for money or sleep outdoors – thereby making the very existence of homelessness illegal. Far from being green or sustainable, the race to erect new Olympic venues has been the cause of a great deal of ecological damage. However, it is this one glaring fact that truly angers Olympic protesters – 6 billion dollars have been spent bringing the Olympics to Vancouver, where poverty and homelessness are a real and deathly problem.
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