Over the past few weeks I've occasionally tweeted on the political crisis taking place in Canada that has been brought about by the prorogation (i.e., suspension) of Parliament. Traditionally, the power of prorogation is reserved for instances when all proposed legislation in a Parliamentary session has been passed and the government wishes to adjourn until it can propose new legislation for the following session. The current prorogation though does not fit this model.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has suspended Parliament until after the Olympic Games are completed. How come? Well, his minority Conservative government was in the midst of damaging investigations into Canadian complicity--up to the ministerial level-- in the torture of Afghani detainees and an ensuing cover-up. But beyond trying to use the Olympic circus to make Canadians forget about the scandal, he is also using the prorogation period to make patronage appointments to the Canadian Senate--Canada's Senate is not elected--as part of a broader strategy to derail the torture investigations by stacking key investigative committees with supporters. All in all, it's a very ugly business.
What has been interesting though is that a growing number of Canadians are becoming quite vocal in their outrage over Harper's prorogation. And one of the vehicles of protest mobilization has been Facebook. But who are these people and what exactly are they angry about?
Well, the Rideau Institute has just released an interesting study by Pierre Killeen that provides some initial answers to these questions. In general, members of the 200,000 strong Facebook group are older (50% over the age of 45) politically engaged individuals (e.g., 96% voted in the last election). 53% joined the group because they thought that prorogation was anti-democratic while 33% thought that Parliament should be investigating the handling of Afghan detainees. And for 55% of those surveyed, it was the first time that they had joined a Facebook group with a political theme.
How then might one interpret these findings? Will Facebook be a new site for political mobilization in Canada? Will 'Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament' emerge as a electoral force in the next election? Will Facebook groups begin to get taken as seriously as other forms of interest groups or political opinion measurement by Canadian politicians? Or do politically themed Facebook groups merely serve as pressure valve releases in instances when people are dissatisfied without resulting in tangible political change? And do these findings tell us something meaningful about who is actually using social networking technology and for what purposes?
In this case, Killeen argues that the survey results show that decision makers should not dismiss the Facebook group ‘Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament’ given the overrepresentation of active voters in its growing membership. Thus, it may just be that the next few months in Canadian politics and the role that Facebook plays in grassroots political mobilization against the Conservative government will prove to be really interesting...
Image/photo credits: both from designwallah (away from flickr)
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