The bravest person in Canada

[WWWTT]

And why is she? Because you like her?

I do not know her.So I can not honestly say I like or dislike someone I do not know.

But I do like/admire her bravery.

She stood up against someone and made her voice audible without saying a word so she has signifigantly proven her brilliance!

I sincerely hope that her actions are contagious!

WWWTT

[ReeferMadness]

Brigette is a hero. And all of the dull cheap shots from all of the plebian minds around here don't change that.

Anyone else catch the irony of Noel Kinsella accusing her of "contempt of Parliament"? Could it be he doesn't remember who was actually found in contempt of Parliament?

And then he was re-elected. What fools we Canadians be.

[Moonlight Graham]

I do not believe our democracy is entirely healthy.

When there are so many people who profit from the status quo, how will it ever evolve to reflect a changing reality?

WWWTT

I agree, i was just talking relative to most other countries, ours is fairly healthy, but not without flaws.

[Smallc]

She isn't brave. She's stupid.

[cybercoma]

Nonsense. All it took was zero respect for the position she was in and for the institution that she was hired to work for.

It's telling that you believe protesting a single man, Harper, shows no respect for being a Page in the House and for the entire Parliament. Contrary to what he believes and what supporters like you seem to think, given your language, Stephen Harper is not the institution nor the Government of Canada--even if he changed the letterhead to say as much.

[WWWTT]

It wasn't you that said the NDP are the only party capable of forming a majority?

Ya that rings a bell.I would have to go back and dig up to see what I exactly said(I wish I had the time).

Man you like to twist words around.

You think I'm stupid buddy?

But thats not what I questioned your integrity about so don't play stupid games with me!

WWWTT

[Keepitsimple]

What a little meathead. She said she wanted millions to start an Arab Spring to stop Harper's agenda - that 3/4 of Canadians voted against him. I actually felt sorry for how naive she really was - and how misinformed - and how disrespectful the whole charade was. Of course, CBC gave her all the time in the world. What she deserved was about 15 seconds of coverage saying what a sad spectacle she was.

[Smallc]

It's telling that you believe protesting a single man, Harper, shows no respect for being a Page in the House and for the entire Parliament.

No, the fact that she protested on the Senate flor during a Speech from the Throne shows a lack of respect and constitutes a breach of security.

[charter.rights]

Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.

Howard Zinn

[Sir Bandelot]

bjre is right. She was almost arrested. They considered pressing charges against her, but dropped it. Point is, criminal arrest was a possibility. And bjre is right too that she may find it difficult to get a job in the future, depending on the nature of the job and who's doing the hiring.

I wouldn't cal her a hero, or the bravest person in Canada, not by far. But she does have the guts to speak out, by causing a minor, non-violent but inappropriate incident.

There's not much room in politics for those who are always well-behaved. You want something done you have to make some noise, push the limit and bit but know when to stop. I think she did that quite well.

[TimG]

It's telling that you believe protesting a single man, Harper, shows no respect for being a Page in the House and for the entire Parliament.

It has nothing do with the content of her message. The problem is she girl abused her position in order to express an opinion. I am sure that every page has strong political opinions. The only thing that separates her from other pages is she her lack of respect for the institution that she was working for. Her act is equivalent that letting a loud and smelly one rip in a theater. i.e. rude and inconsiderate. Edited June 4, 2011 by TimG

[Sir Bandelot]

It's a tempest in a teapot. Sure, she showed contempt for the pomp and circumstance of this whole preceeding. It's so unimportant, most Canadians wouldn't have even known the ceremony took place, if she hadn't a caused her little ruckus.

Way I see it, there's contempt of silly throne speeches, and there's contempt of parliament. So pick your poison.

Edited June 4, 2011 by Sir Bandelot

[bush_cheney2004]

Plus her sign was not in the two official languages of Canada.

Arrêter Harper!

[Smallc]

It's so unimportant,

Canadian ignorance doesn't in any way make it unimportant. It's a ceremony in which the government's future vision for a particular session of parliament is laid out. It's far from unimportant.

[Sir Bandelot]

Canadian ignorance doesn't in any way make it unimportant. It's a ceremony in which the government's future vision for a particular session of parliament is laid out. It's far from unimportant.

It's unimportant to those who don't believe a god damn word they say.

[BornAlbertan]

The moment she pulled out that sign she was a trespasser, not a page.

She is lucky she wasn't arrested....only reason she wasn't is because of the whining fuckheads in this country who would cry that "her rights to disrupt parliament were violated".

I respect her opinion (well...her right to have it anyway) I don't respect her methods. You were to pull this shit in a court of law you would be up on contempt charges so fast it wouldn't be funny.

[Smallc]

It's unimportant to those who don't believe a god damn word they say.

You don't believe they'll do pretty much everything they laid out in the next two years or so? Why not? They wouldn't be surprises from this government.

Edited June 4, 2011 by Smallc

[BC_chick]

What an idiot. Claims that "3/4 of Canadians are against Harper". Basically claiming that anyone who didn't vote is against Harper and on her side. Fucking moron.

By that same measure, 81% of people are AGAINST the NDP and 89% of people are AGAINST the Liberals. But they should be in power because "75% of people are against the Cons". Retarded little child.

I'm not commenting on her actions, but within context of what she said, she has a point. If you read her full statement, she said that the majority of Canadians are against the Harper agenda which is not good for her generation. She gave examples of military expansion, corporate tax-cuts and lack of environmental values.

The Canadians who did not vote for Harper did vote for different parties, you have a point. But all those parties share a similarity on the issues that she raised.

So whether she was stupid or brave, she did make an accurate statement about the majority of Canadians being against Harper policies.

[Smallc]

So whether she was stupid or brave, she did make an accurate statement about the majority of Canadians being against Harper policies.

Not necessarily. Most Canadians believe the country is on the right track, and I, for example, didn't vote Conservative, but I support most of their policies.

[dre]

It's quite telling thhat you think a 21 year old Uni student is the bravest person in Canada.

She is braver then our Police Officers, our firefighters and our soldiers?

She is braver then our Police Officers, our firefighters and our soldiers?

None of those jobs are particularly dangerous, or take much bravery. THey just happen to be the jobs society is conditioned to glorify.

[Smallc]

None of those jobs are particularly dangerous, or take much bravery. THey just happen to be the jobs society is conditioned to glorify.

Soldiers in Afghanistan don't have a particularly dangerous job? A Senate Page certainly doen't.

[BC_chick]

Not necessarily. Most Canadians believe the country is on the right track, and I, for example, didn't vote Conservative, but I support most of their policies.

Everyone can find policies within all parties that they agree with, it's who represents your beliefs the most that gets your support.

And within the context of the examples that she gave (military, corporate tax cuts and environment), her statement was correct. Liberal/NDP/Bloc policies differ, but they share the similarity that they are different than CPC on the examples she cited.

Whether or not you can agree with Harper here and there (even I agree with him on some things) doesn't take away from her point that the majority of people voted for parties who share the similarity that they are starkly different than Harper's military, corporate and environmental beliefs.

Edited June 4, 2011 by BC_chick

[August1991]

It has nothing do with the content of her message. The problem is she girl abused her position in order to express an opinion. I am sure that every page has strong political opinions. The only thing that separates her from other pages is she her lack of respect for the institution that she was working for. Her act is equivalent that letting a loud and smelly one rip in a theater. i.e. rude and inconsiderate.

Precisely.

It takes balls, guts, whatever to pull that kind of stunt. I don't anyone here, hiding behind internet anonymity, could say the same.

But hey, prove me wrong AW: what the fuck have you done in your life?

Gimme a f-ing break, BD. She abused her position to pull this stunt.

IMHO, when parliament hires someone to work as a page, they have a duty to respect the rules. It is an abuse of privilege to use that position to make a personal statement. How would you feel if a judge or police officer used their position to berate you with their personal views?

By all accounts, this young woman was an activist who has demonstrated for left wing causes before becoming a page. As such, she received little media attention. It is her position of page that is attracting attention.

And that begs the question of how parliament hires its pages. Don't they vet them? Is there a security check?

It got her to the very top of the national headlines to get whatever message (however you may feel about it) she had out. I tip my cap to her.

The MSM, and the juvenile fringe of Harper haters, love stories like this.

In fact however, I suspect that her antics probably succeeded in pushing a few more voters into the Conservative column.

----

If Harper is to be defeated in Canada, this young woman has taken precisely the wrong approach.

Edited June 4, 2011 by August1991

[Sir Bandelot]

I believe the main reason the CPC won is not because Canadians believe in them, or their leader Stephen Harper so much as there is a vacuum in Canadian politics. The average voting monkey knows little about the important issues but goes with their gut feeling, first impression or the way a person looks and speaks. Stephen Harper certainly has more charisma than any of the other choices. And for Jodie-Bob who has the right to vote, that's all it takes. A boyish face, and a few choice sound bites, and they are ready to decide on the future course of a nation.

[Sir Bandelot]

You don't believe they'll do pretty much everything they laid out in the next two years or so? Why not? They wouldn't be surprises from this government.

I believe they'll do whatever they say, plus more. He did not mention the building of more prisons to house the mandatory minimum criminals that we so urgently need to lock up. He did not mention blowing billions of dollars on planes that we don't need, or probably can't even be built for what we've paid for. He did not mention removing rehab programs, and incarcerating people for longer, to save money. He did not mention, not funding womens rights programs in third world countries.

But I believe he will do all those things, plus more.

So please, CPC, bring it. Give us the government we deserve...