aftercaffe

then we wandered up to baldwin street















to john's caffe (or café depending upon which sign you look at. my friend tom says that as john's is an italian joint, it should be caffe - but then should it not be caffe di giovanni?)
















where we ran into our good friends, sisters i have known since christmas 1970ish and their friend. their friend is a toronto boy like my dad so, mixed in with the politics and catching up, the gnocchi and the coffee, was talk of the cityscape and history.

christmas 1970

after the rally we went into city hall to warm our feet and found that there was a christmas bake sale inside. each table represented a different country and was laden with delicious treats ranging from custard tarts to roast pig. people told of how different foods represented religious beliefs or elements of folk tales. it seemed a little old fashioned - it brought back memories of days when children would come to school in their 'national dress' for the annual christmas celebrations that always included a re-enactment of the story of the birth of christ along with the carols and the cake. but it was very cozy and good spirited - all sparkles and lace and christmas carols.

ramshackle day parade

there were 2 rallies here in toronto: a pro-coalition rally at nathan phillips square (city hall) and an anti-coalition rally at queen's park (the provincial legislature).













there are lots of pics all over the interweb but you can see both at once at blogTO.
i only went to the pro- rally. here is some of what i saw:

my companions (leslie and carl - my dad)


















signs














































flags
































les flics














































speeches by new democratic party leader jack (layton) & liberal party leader for about another 10 minutes (stéphane) dion (get it? jack & dion : jack & diane :P) mary walsh was the mc and marie clarke walker led us in a minute of silence for The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. i do not have pictures of mary and marie but i am sure you can see why i did not bother.
















music (broken social scene)




















new coalitions

































aftermath

movie night at rideau hall

On the other hand, perhaps Ms. Jean watched this video last night. Perhaps she is hoping what we are all hoping. Perhaps she will let Mr. Harper wear the dictator label and perhaps that will have consequences.

The King-Byng Affair. The CBC Digital Archives Website. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Broadcast Date: June 27, 2004

Canada had never seen anything like it. In 1926, Prime Minister Mackenzie King wanted to call an election to spare his scandal-gripped government an embarrassing vote in Parliament. But the governor general, Lord Byng, said no. Instead, Byng invited the opposition Conservatives to replace King's Liberals as the government. As we see in this retrospective television clip, however, it was King who had the last laugh.

There is already this site. I never like these Hitler analogies myself. I mean, c'mon, Hitler? On the other hand, it is not the first time the dictator label has been applied to Mr. Harper.

Or control freak. He is famous for not letting even cabinet members speak freely to the public or the press and for his battles with the parliamentary press gallery.

Or bully.

prorogued!

Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean has granted a request from Stephen Harper to suspend Parliament until late next month, the prime minister announced on Thursday, a move that avoids a confidence vote set for Monday that could have toppled his minority government. CBC, Thursday, December 4, 2008 | 12:57 PM ET

flags and socialists

post-coalition accord, the john mccain playbook comes to canuckistan...

"I understand Mr. Dion wants to be Prime Minister, it's a great honour ... I would certainly not want to find myself governing this economy beholden to socialist policies and at the behest of a veto of the separatists."

Stephen Harper, Question Period, December 01, 2008

"Here we have these three parties signing a document, and they wouldn't even have a the Canadian flag behind them! They had to be photographed without it, because a member of the coalition doesn't even believe in the country."

Stephen Harper, Question Period, December 02, 2008

wonder how long it will be before harper starts accusing dion of being a community organizer.