There was no student protest at Parliament Hill today.
“We were duped,” said Cam Cotton-O’Brien, disappointed rabble-rouser.
Despite the momentum built up from hundreds of University of Calgary students massing on campus to hear vice-provost Alan Harrison deliver the tuition screw-job, no students managed to find their way to the important rally in Ottawa at the Parliament buildings this evening.
“I thought everyone was totally jazzed to protest and shit,” said Jon Roe, who went through a lot of effort to Sharpie a sign. “I was so excited on the plane ride over. And then we got here and we were the only people here to protest. Unless you count the Frisbee guys. But they weren’t really protesting.”
Both protestors were sincerely disappointed in the University of Calgary Students’ Union, who had promised an Alberta-wide march on Parliament today.
“I don’t know what went wrong,” said Cotton-O’Brien. “Obviously someone is not doing their job. I thought this was a union. You know, unity.”
The two protestors went about their protest anyways, walking up and down the lawn, holding their signs to a generally disinterested public. Many families were on sight to see the buildings, but didn’t seem to care about fat cats, student debt or the power, nevermind fighting it.
“I thought the tide had turned and people cared about student debt or whatever,” said Roe. “But I guess the fat cats in Ottawa got to everyone this time.”
Both were seen talking to an RCMP officer before being discovered later hammered in to the local stockades.
To see photos from the disappointing march on Parliament, go to here.