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Brigette Marcelle DePape.
No. Canada does not need an Arab spring. We are not Libya. We are not Bahrain or Syria. The very fact that you were able to publicly non-violently protest the sitting Prime Minister on the senate floor speaks very much to how very different our countries are.
This kind of rhetoric is very damaging. No, we are not fond of our government. No, we did not vote Conservative. But we were given the opportunity to vote, to do so without harassment and with so many other rights and privileges that many many people are fighting (and sometimes dying) to gain.
We need to be able to organize and rise up in a way that is not at the expense of what has been occurring in North Africa and the Middle East. There is no comparison, and we need to stop pretending that there is.
I get the impression that Ms. DePape is rather young - I whole heartedly agree with her “stop Harper” protest, and it was her decision on where and how she was going to do it. I think she did it in a way which took advantage of her position as a senate page, and whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is probably up to the individual.
But for the love of cheese, please do not suggest that what Canada needs is an Arab Spring. Stephen Harper is not, for his many flaws, a tyrant. And we are in a country where we are blessed to have many ways of speaking out against our government safely and without prosecution - as Ms. DePape demonstrated today. We need to acknowledge and appreciate that.
This has been a rant.
(Source: canada.com)
