Should Canada hold an emergency referendum to vote on a Boycott of the Beijing 2008 Olympics?

Question

Weak kneed and cowardly is our government in Ottawa. Many Canadians want a Boycott of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. If the cowards in office are too afraid to make a decision, let's help them out. Let's have a referendum on Canada's participation in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Let Canadians decide if we want our flag and athletes to be tainted by attendance in dictatorial China whose campaign of ethnic cleansing by "education", assimilation and murder is destroying the Tibeten people.

BOYCOTT THE BEIJING 2008 Olympics!

Answer 1

YES s***w china :D boycott for sure

Answer 2

Pretty one sided...  I would support not going, I think the IOC made a huge mistake by legitimizing China's human rights crimes by awarding them the Olympic games in the first place.

Answer 3

A referendum is hugely expensive.  It costs almost as much as an election, so it would cost roughly $200-250 million.  I think that if Canadian people feel strongly about this, there are a number of cheaper, and probably more effective things which could be done:

1.  All Canadians who care about this, write your MP.  You can send a letter for free if it is sent to your MP's office in Ottawa.  (No stamp required)  Or send an e-mail.  

2.  Canadian athletes who care about this can refuse to represent Canada.  This is a hard thing to ask, as for most athletes, this is their one and only chance to participate in the ultimate competition.  They have to ask themselves, "What is more important?  Global human rights or my personal glory?"

3.  Refuse to watch the games.  What might this do, you ask?  See number four:

4.  Write to the sponsers of the Olympic games, the ones who will be advertising on CBC or whatever channel while the games are played.  Tell them that you will not be watching the games, and urge them, for the sake of human rights, to pull all advertising from the games.  

5.  Start a letter-writing campaign.  Get all your friends working on this.  Start a facebook group.  The more participation, the more the government will have to listen.

6.  This is the big one:  Spread the word.  Don't buy tickets for the games.  Don't go to China.  Don't spend your money there.  

7.  Avoid buying "made in China".  This is almost impossible these days, but if you're vigilant, you can do it.

Answer 4

So you want to hold a multi million dollar referendum to see if we should tune out the Olympics all the while we will continue to sell natural resources to china and import d**n near everything from there?

Seems a little counter productive don't you think?