Legal Research

Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament

By Connie Crosby

With the controversial prorogation of Parliament last week comes a new grassroots movement, Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament. Started only a few days ago by University of Alberta student Christopher White, this group is organized via a Facebook group and currently boasts over 30,000 members.

The idea behind the group is to ask Members of Parliament to return to Parliament despite the prorogation. The precedent being cited is the so-called Long Parliament that, according to Wikipedia, took place in England in the 1600s after the English Civil War. The Facebook group includes a sample letter to MPs inviting them to “ignore Stephen Harper’s request to prorogue parliament and attend anyway.”

Additional information:

• Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook Group (Blogging Canadians, Jan. 5/10)
• 25,000 join anti-prorogation Facebook group (CBC News, Jan. 5/10)
• Liberals ‘not interested in mock parliaments‘ (Ottawa Notebook blog, The Globe and Mail, Jan. 4/10)

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on January 05, 2010 (boomark / email).