I had an interesting e-mail at the end of last week. It was
from a student in one of my classes and it was a refreshing break from grading
papers. The student wanted to know what to do about Bill C-45. I didn’t know
how to answer. I have always felt that teaching requires me to walk a very fine
line when it comes to expressing political beliefs in the classroom. I have been told that I should not express
opinions but rather just state the facts and let the students make up their own
minds. That of course is a somewhat absurd suggestion both for the fact that
the very process of choosing which facts to present is a political act in itself;
and it is impossible for me not to wear my political heart on my sleeve.
None-the-less I felt a bit uncomfortable writing to a
student talking about collective action to prevent a government from damaging
our country further. So I am responding to that student and any others outside
of the colleges e-mail system.
It is difficult not to be alarmed over parts of Bill C-45. Like the previous omnibus budget bill it covers far too many issues, many of which are poorly define and certainly under-debated. It is, in fact, an outrageous piece of legislation that will have significant impact upon the future of Canada. As noted in the Toronto Star (http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/1274564--omnibus-budget-bill-c-45-is-an-affront-to-democracy) the bill is 443 pages long and affects 74 pieces of legislation. Specifically the bill dramatically changes the level of protection to our waterways, weakens the Canada Labour Act and creates changes to the Indian Act that have not been discussed (never mind negotiated) with our First Nation communities.
However there are no quick fixes. The bill has passed. The government
has used its majority and rammed it through with a minimal amount of debate, no
compromise and not a single shred of evidence that they have listen to the
1,000s of Canadian who have complained. The only people that they have listened to are
those who will benefit from deregulation.
To get rid of the bill under the present Parliament is
impossible. In spite of the protest that are being held in various First
Nations communities and elsewhere nothing will happen. This government has in
the past shown no inclination to listen. There is no reason to expect them to
do so this time. To reverse the direction of Canada there needs to be profound
changes in Parliament. That could be very long process. It will take
an extraordinary amount of political will and hard work on the part of millions
of Canadians to cause a change. I believe that that is possible. I believe that
it is something that we can and should do.
Here are some suggestions that we all can do.
According to the CBC there were in 2007 1,066,000 students
in Canada (http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2009/08/27/f-back-to-school-numbers.htm)
There are 852,910 people between 20-24 in Ontario alone (http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CD&Code1=3515&Geo2=PR&Code2=35&Data=Count&SearchText=peterborough&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=&TABID=1).
Most of the people have at least one if not two parents.
(1)
It would seem to me that one of the first steps
is to get all of those students and all of the young people from Ontario (and
all of the other provinces) to start to vote on the issues that will affect
their country for all of their lives. Can you imagine what an incredible force
young people could be if the various political parties realized that they could
not afford to alienate or ignore young people? Can you imagine what could
happen if the young people became involved and talked to their parents and got
their parents to think about the issues from a young person’s perspective? Canada
could change in a handful of years. Not all of the students would vote the same
way – but they would vote and therefore politicians would listen to them.
(2)
Secondly individuals can get involved right now.
All of the parties have youth wings that one can join. I am not too sure how
much the political parties listen to their youth wings but it would allow one
to become involved in the process. There are also groups such as The Council of
Canadians (http://www.canadians.org/index.html)
who are more active than other groups on some of these issues. There is a local
chapter in Peterborough.
(3)
Write letter to your MP. Get all of you friends
to write letters. Tell them that you are concerned. Tell them that you want to,
and will get involved. Invite him to a meeting to explain this and any other
bill.
(4)
Check out the notice board of the local library.
There are announcements posted there as to when there is a meeting about this
or other topics.
(5)
And finally to anyone who is reading this - you
are doing the first step in becoming active. People need to educate themselves
on the issues. They need to engage their peers in the conversation so that they
can be educated on the issues. It is, quite frankly, too late to get upset when
the deed is done. We as citizens of arguably the best country in the world need
to stay on top of these issues so that when some government, be it federal,
provincial or municipal, suggest that they are going to make a decision that
appears to be harmful to our lives or our environment that we are informed
enough to say why it is a bad idea and to provide alternatives.
As I look at my words, I am struck by an immense sense of
futility. My words are an inadequate response to that student. I suspect that
they want to do something right now. To do something that will have a profound
and an immediate impact. But it does not work that way. BUT 1000s of students
last spring in Quebec caused a government to change its mind and if we have
learnt nothing else about the Arab Spring – it is that if enough people protest
long enough – someone has to listen.
