Angry in the Great White North

Can you imagine?  Over 570,000!!!

That Facebook group protesting the prorogation of parliament is really...well...not even close.

That magic number of 570,000 represents the level of participation needed to challenge the viral performance of the video of Stephen Harper singing at the NAC Gala.

Viewers of the Gala video: 570,000+
Members of the anti-prorogation Facebook group:  60,000+

Remember too, that a huge number of those 570,000 visitors watching the YouTube video actually viewed the entire nearly three-minute video, watching Stephen Harper get an enthusiastic standing ovation from the five-star crowd.

The anti-prorogation Facebook group has just over 60,000 members...and many of them just joined in order to boost the number, and aren't participating any more than that.  They'll join any Liberal or NDP Facebook group.  For them, that counts as participation.

All of those Facebook group members (or some percentage close to 100%) are committed to voting against the Conservatives, and always have been.  They don't represent a change in voting intentions.

Those 570,000 viewers of the Gala video include a large number of people not particularly connected politically, but who told about the video, and after watching it were thoroughly impressed by Stephen Harper's performance.  Some significant fraction of those people will vote for Stephen Harper.

There's a reason I killed my Facebook account months ago.  I just don't think it makes much of a difference most of the time.  The anti-prorogation effort seems to be one of those times.