A group of musicians hoping to oust the Harper government says it is selling out concerts across the country.
Canadian musician Dave Bidini told CTVâs Power Play on Wednesday that the concert series, known as #ImagineOct20th, has sold out numerous shows, including its concerts on Wednesday night in Toronto, Hamilton, Ont., and Halifax.
âTonight will be sold out right across the country. I think weâve struck a chord in peopleâs curiosity and interest,â said Bidini, founding member of the rock band Rheostatics. âItâs not a town hall, itâs not an all-candidates meeting. Itâs just people being together in sharing our concerns about where weâre headed in Canada.â
The series, known as , looks forward to the day after the Oct. 19 election as a ânew Canadian chapterâ without Conservative Leader Stephen Harper leading the country. It has organized a number of events, concerts and public meetings across Canada leading up to election day, and attracted big-name Canadian musicians including Feist and Dan Mangan.
Bidini says the series gives participants a chance to share what theyâve heard from fellow Canadians as they cross the country for their work.
âEverywhere we go as artists, especially musicians, we get into the veins of our country. Weâre moving east to west, north to south, through all the small towns, all the communities, and you get a sense of how people feel about the country,â said Bidini.
âEverywhere we turn thereâs dissatisfaction in the disfigurement of the soul and the face of Canada, and the path that weâre going down -- very paranoid, insecure state of our country.â
The group wants to make sure the voices of all Canadians are heard, ânot just politicians in Ottawa, not just Stephen Harperâs agenda,â said Bidini.
The #ImagineOct20th organizers are particularly concerned about Harperâs use of music, art and even hockey as âa tool of propaganda.â
âHe appears in these contexts to humanize himself,â said Bidini. âI think thatâs one of the reasons our antipathy towards him and our Conservative government has registered because heâs sort of pretending to be who we are and heâs not who we are.â