Entry tags:
Doing My Inept Bit for Democracy
So, the Premier is trying to push through Bill 5 (the get-rid-of-half-the-city-wards-even-though-the-election’s-already-started bill) without having it read on the floor of the Legislature, and the NDP put out a call yesterday for members of the public to come pack the galleries at Question Time as a show of support against the bill.
Normally I can only make it to actions on the weekend, but I had a semi-legit excuse to miss work today (Andrew has a medical appointment this afternoon and isn’t really in a state to drag himself there unaccompanied) so I emailed the office and we spent the morning lining up outside the legislature building, only to find out the gallery was already packed to overflowing with Torontonians (mostly older white people so far as I could see) who’d come out for the same reason. There will be a press conference outside at 11:45, but Andrew’s already tired and overheated, so we’ve retreated to a nearby coffee shop, knowing we won’t be missed given the numbers.
Anyway my point is that it really helps if your political movement has a wide age spread, because when the government tries to do stuff on a weekday during business hours, seniors are the main group of people who are free to come downtown and yell about it.
Normally I can only make it to actions on the weekend, but I had a semi-legit excuse to miss work today (Andrew has a medical appointment this afternoon and isn’t really in a state to drag himself there unaccompanied) so I emailed the office and we spent the morning lining up outside the legislature building, only to find out the gallery was already packed to overflowing with Torontonians (mostly older white people so far as I could see) who’d come out for the same reason. There will be a press conference outside at 11:45, but Andrew’s already tired and overheated, so we’ve retreated to a nearby coffee shop, knowing we won’t be missed given the numbers.
Anyway my point is that it really helps if your political movement has a wide age spread, because when the government tries to do stuff on a weekday during business hours, seniors are the main group of people who are free to come downtown and yell about it.