This editorial appeared in the June 9, 2011 issue of the Interlake Spectator…
Teresa Carey
Mark that date because that 20 sec. protest, which pre-empted the new Governor-General David Johnston’s very first throne speech, was history in the making. I’ll bet Johnston thought he’d remember the date for a different reason. I’ll bet Stephan Harper didn’t see that one coming either.
Personally, I loved it, not merely because I agree that Harper could use some serious reigning in, but LePape made me, and everyone else, really take notice and listen. She spoke, I believe, for many of Canada’s young people, a generation increasingly distanced from the mainstream political process.
I agree with LePape that Harper has not been listening to the concerns of the country’s young people. The protest was really effective in sounding the alarm over how out of touch Harper is with Canada’s young adults. This was political protest at its most peaceful, an arguably, at its most effective. What a wallop to old Steve! What a way to get the country–and the world–talking!
I’ll bet that in the weeks to come Harper will start blubbering on about how much he is behind Canada’s youth, and how much he really cares. He might even tell everyone that he was once an environmental activist, back in the day, when he used to compose war protest tunes on his piano.
I wonder how much he truly does care. I wonder if putting a big PR bandage on the whole affair will suffice to cover the puncture to his wounded image, even from a distance of the other side of the globe?
Mr. Harper, please be advised that Canada’s young people are plugged in, and tuned into the world. They are watching you. Evidently, they are not happy. It appears they are starting to come after you now.
How will you respond? What are you going to do about it? Who will be the next to be fired, and will that suffice to silence their opposition?
I truly believe that the current generation of teens and young adults will cause a massive transformation of the political landscape in years to come, possibly sooner than later, but at least by the time Stephan Harper and his cohorts are a part of political history.
