CAPPWatch: Never in Canada, you say? Pity.

Over at the Globe and Mail's Ottawa Notebook, bureau chief John Ibbitson is musing about this weekend's Tea Party convention in Tennessee, and the American penchant for insta-populism: revolt first, ask questions later. What, he wonders -- or, at least, his headline writer does -- would it take for Canadians to charge the political barricades in similar (or at least per capita comparable) numbers? (Don't worry, it's a rhetorical question.) 

As his foundational anecdote, he uses the lack of universal outrage -- and associated absence of any plans to send a welcoming picket to the St. John's airport -- generated by Danny Williams' decision to head south for his as yet unspecified heart surgery as evidence that, up here in the "well-ordered" dominion, "we accommodate ourselves to the political reality we inhabit." Even the "reaction on the street" to the PM's prorogation gambit was "pretty feeble, compared to our American cousins' discontent," he notes. 

"Populism, he concludes, "isn't in our bones. There are no Sarah Palins among us. Whether that's a good thing or bad, it just is."

On a note that may or may not be related, last night, the CAPP media listserv announced the group's intention to "maintain the momentum" of last month's demonstrations, and "leverage the brand recognition achieved through the acronym 'CAPP' [to] grow the organization into the vanguard defender of citizen democracy in Canada," although in fairness to Ibbitson's thesis, no iconic beverages, caffeinated or otherwise, are mentioned:

Following the resounding success of the nation-wide rallies held
January 23rd, CAPP organizers have begun planning the future of the
movement. Hoping to maintain the momentum achieved by those
demonstrations, organizers have begun initiating plans in support of a
greater long-term strategy. The strategy involves educating the public
about democracy and their rights as citizens through the creation and
administration of an independent database of information.

Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament is in the process of structuring
itself as a non-profit entity, likely to be known as Canadians Advocating
Political Participation (pending a vote by supporters). Organizers hope to
leverage the brand recognition achieved through the acronym 'CAPP' and grow
the organization into the vanguard defender of citizen democracy in Canada.

To achieve this, the organization is planning on establishing various
chapters throughout Canada. These chapters will provide local-level
concerns and guidance to the central organization; the chapters will also
exist to provide public educational forums meant to strengthen the base of
democracy in Canada.

CAPP has also initiated a new month-long campaign called '31 Days of
Action', where participants are encouraged to individually achieve a set of
31 goals relating to political activism.

On March 2nd CAPP will hold a special press conference in Ottawa and present
a brand new website, which is currently under construction.

Unlike partisan political parties, which tend to conduct such strategic scheming behind virtually closed doors (*cough* En Famille *cough*), the stubbornly open source CAPPtivists are holding at least part of what is likely to be a lively existential debate -- on the group's original Facebook page, over at noprorogue.ca, and even in the comment thread generated by Colleague Davidson's post on Prorogue Bay, where the conversation has taken on a distinctly heated tone. 

You can even follow the realtime reaction to CAPP founder Christopher White's announcement that he has been invited to take part in an upcoming Liberal roundtable, in which he solicits suggestions from all members on what he should bring up, and says that even though the event in question was organized by the Liberals, he hopes to meet with MPs from all parties, and even wonders whether he can "engage directly with Mr. Harper, either publicly or privately."

In other quiet, Canadian lack-of-activism news, Aaron Wherry wonders whether the "internet generation" may be getting its live-action protest on, given the description of a recent pick-up picket of the PM's visit to Saskatoon, which was one of several such rallies that have greeted visiting ministers in recent weeks.