Conservative MP Laurie Hawn answers a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday Nov. 22, 2010.Sean Kilpatrick
Internet activists are hoping to catch anti-Conservative lightning in a bottle a second time with a new Twitter hashtag campaign.
CanAnon, the folks who lead the charge on #TellVicEveryThing and #InternetTaliban, hopes to get Canadians to #AskLaurieHawn to meet his own "open civil dialogue" commitment as promised last month on twitter.
Beginning back on March 12th, many Twitter users were surprised to see Laurie Hawn (Conservative, Edmonton-Central former secretary to the Minister of Defence) tweet a challenge (see the original here, and here) to discuss his comments on #InternetTaliban. In response Jake Daynes (of the Pirate Party of Canada) attempted to engage the MP in debate in exchange for his real name 30 days ago. Anon supporters were not so surprised when Mr. Hawn then tweeted a "clarification" and eventually avoided the dialogue he promised to Canadians.
CanAnon, the Policy Action wing of the Canadian Anonymous Movement, will encourage Canadians to add their own 140 character twitter question for Laurie Hawn using the hashtag #AskLaurieHawn.
"This campaign is meant to give Canadians a chance to express their concerns over the secrecy and lack of debate that is the hallmark of the current government." explains @PresidentShaw, noted CanAnon activist and online radio host. "The fact that a sitting cabinet minister labels thousands of Canadians 'Internet Talibans' shows the lack of knowledge about the Internet our leaders have and the inability they have to engage in debate with people who are opposed to their policies. They conveniently use schoolyard tactics and name calling then avoid the debate once people are asking them questions and providing their identity. I believe this clearly shows the level of contempt with which they hold their own citizens, the very people who pay their salary with tax money."
"Lets be honest, the whole "lets trade real names" demand by MP Laurie Hawn, was used to make us feel threatened after the Vic Toews incident about the parliament privileges. Let's also not forget that Mr. Hawn made very clear demands to the RMCP that some Anonymous should be taken to custody to be made an example..." observed @AnonInsight, Bosnian Peacekeeper and Canadian Forces Veteran.
While CanAnon does not endorse political parties, they have repeatedly come to the aid of many individual policy and censorship fights from SOPA to C-30 and are coming out strongly in support of Mr. Daynes' campaign to see Laurie Hawn held accountable on his offer of civil open dialogue.
Since last fall the opposition parties in Parliament have been banging the drum, raising concerns over the increasingly insular, secretive and inward facing Conservative majority government seemingly doing everything in its power to silence public debate.
CanAnon believes Canadians can be encouraged to break through the government silence with #AskLaurieHawn.
It is odd how sometimes the confluence of ideology, politics and technology sweep together online, creating strange bedfellows and often very unexpected outcomes. While that was sort of what all those bytes and packets are meant to do, I still can't help but wonder if #VicToldLaurie just how difficult it all becomes when they all start routing your way.
Now there is a good question to #AskLaurieHawn!
Following a 20 year career pioneering digital publications, B2C/B2G/B2B e-commerce and high security mobile solutions both in Canada and abroad – Jon Blanchard spent the last 6 years as Webmaster with the Halifax Herald family of companies.