Little could more change the internal dynamics of a party and its policy choices than a massive injection of new members. The Occupy movement may be global in scope but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that its Canadian participants also have grievances against their federal, provincial and municipal governments. At a time when some Canadian ballot boxes are going half empty, those grievances have led them to the street, a move — some say — inspired by the recent Arab spring. But the core aspiration of those who risked their lives by taking to the streets to topple authoritarian regimes in the Middle East was for the very kind of democratic process that we — in this country — are increasingly content to shrug off.
