For starters, I’d like to apologise for trying to invent the word “proroguement.” Perhaps I was trying to blaze a trail. Perhaps I know as little about it as most Canadians.

In the seventh episode of my podcast, Jeff Wilson reminds me that prorogation has been used over a hundred times in our nation’s history. It’s true. This stat is probably ubiquitous enough by now that it’s meaningless again. In pointing this out, however, we get some insight into just how little we know about our own Parliament.

While Harper deserves all the licks he’s getting for shutting down Parliament for, let’s be honest, most of February, this tactic is right out of the Jean Chretien playbook. You may remember that Chretien used prorogation to avoid Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s report on the sponsorship scandal. Not much outcry then.

He also used prorogation to dodge the heat of the Somali affair. Not sure if you remember that one. It was similar to the Afghan detainee thing, except it involved actual Canadian soldiers actually killing somebody. Not much outcry then.

Chretien’s abuse (today’s definition) of prorogation was every bit as egregious as Harper’s is today. Yet, the public outcry isn’t nearly as loud. Perhaps we could spend some time thinking about this and asking ourselves some hard Canadian questions. At the very least, we could pretend we care all the time, not just some of the time.

In closing, I’d like to thank Mr. Harper for restoring an element of competition to Canadian politics that was absent for some time. It clearly has a positive effect on the population, albeit a somewhat baffling one.

My grandpappy/an old-timer/a wise man once said: “If you wanna win the race, you gotta have the best horse in the race.” Granted, I don’t actually have anybody to attribute this quote to, but I’m going to try to make sense of it by the end of this post.

You had to enjoy the massive turn out to this weekend’s proroguement protests. Conservative estimates put the crowds in the neighbourhood of 27,000 nationwide. Liberal estimates say it was 25,000 on Parliament Hill alone. Either way, the numbers are laughable. We’ve been hearing about how angry Canadians are with Stephen Harper and his dictatorship. We’ve been hearing that there’s a grassroots fury building via Facebook group. Then, when it came time, about 10% of that Facebook group turned out for the protests. Rather, a crowd representing about 10% did.

Can you blame our Prime Minister for his semi-mocking tone and patronizing comment that he feels inspired seeing Canadians getting involved in politics? The protests were a joke. They deserve to be joked about. A fraction of the people most upset by Harper’s actions came out to say so. Iggy and Jack lambasted Harper, but you’ll remember they refused to kick him out when they had the chance. This weekend was nothing but grandstanding, and the stand wasn’t very grand.

I don’t blame people for not showing up, though. Even if I were as outraged as the throngs claimed to be, I wouldn’t turn up to a fruitless advertising venture like these rallies. Instead, try getting to work grilling your party leaders for some lasting change. Admit it, the opposition has been hammering on the Afghan detainee issue, a total non-starter with the electorate, solely to make the Harper government look bad. This issue is older than the Tory minorities anyway, but not much is made of that. The Liberals care about the treatment of Taliban prisoners about as much as they did back when they were in power.

The reality is that if an election were held today, the balance of power wouldn’t change. Granted, the Tories have lost most of their edge in popularity polls, but the Liberals are a long way from laughing. If we voted now the turnout would be lower than ever because, despite all the outrage we witnessed last Saturday, the prevailing sentiment in Canada is disenchantment or disinterest. Also, and it’s worth saying, the Liberals don’t even like their leader that much, so why would they rush to the ballot boxes?

For the record, I’m not thrilled about Harper putting off Parliament for two months. I’m not going to take a side in this fight because I know that the Liberals have done it many times as well and that counts for something in this discussion. But I’m not about to call for his head on a platter like the left will because they have yet to put a better horse in the race.

Eureka!

For all the bitching and moaning coming from the socialist half of this country, they have yet to put up a leader with a basket of inspiring ideas. Instead, we have an opposition that shamed the PM into leading Canada into deficit with stimulus measures and is trying the same tactic on issues the country isn’t into talking about. Couldn’t the Harvard prof have brought us some great ideas by now? Ideas worth voting for?

Here’s my advice for those of you who want Harper’s head to roll: put a better horse in the race and then sound the bugle. Liberals want somebody better than Iggy to vote for. Find him/her, make him/her your leader, spring an election. That’s how to get things done. Enough with the paltry protests. Change government from within, not without.