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Blue Rodeo, other singers use their voices ahead of election

Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor explain how their new holiday album is different than Micheal Bublé's.

Blue Rodeo are the latest Canadian artists to throw their cultural weight into protesting Stephen Harper’s government ahead of next month’s federal election.

The band’s new song and music video, “Stealin’ All My Dreams,” is the latest entry in a chorus of musical protest, including the song “Harperman” by Environment Canada scientist Tony Turner, a cover of a Buffalo Springfield classic by NDP MP Andrew Cash, “Save Our Waters” by Kinnie Star and Ja$e El Nino, “What Up Steve?” by Halifax hip-hop artist The Caravan and a video from postal worker and musician Daniel Greer.

Dozens of Canadian musicians will also perform at events across the country ahead of the Oct. 19 election under the banner of #ImagineOct20th, with the goal of encouraging political action and a change of leadership for the country.

“Though I might sacrifice some positive posturing in terms of my career in doing so, I don’t care,” musician Dan Mangan, who co-created #ImagineOct20th with Torquil Campbell of Stars, tells Yahoo Canada News about his political efforts. “I won’t be able to live with myself if the Conservatives win another election and I didn’t do everything I could to change it.”

Mangan is one of several prominent Canadian musicians speaking publicly about their desire for change in Parliament this fall.

Blue Rodeo’s video features statistics about the country’s Conservative government under Harper, and lyrics like “Little King Stevie and his monarchy” and “Have you forgotten that you work for me?” leave no doubt about the band’s political position.

“I didn’t want to talk about it, so I wrote a song about it,” singer Greg Keelor said in a statement. (The band was unavailable for an interview.)

“Blue Rodeo does not always speak with one voice. However we feel collectively that the current administration in Canada has taken us down the wrong path,” singer Jim Cuddy said in a statement. “We do not seem to be the compassionate and environmentally conscious nation we once were. As respectful as we are of the variety of opinions held by our audience, ‎we felt it was time to speak up and add our voice to the conversation.”

Mangan says he and Campbell quickly found supporters around the country, from big-name musicians like Feist to local independent bands, artists and fans.

“We just sort of started promoting it online with tweets and a hashtag,” he says, “and before we knew it we had artists and non-artists emailing.”

The #ImagineOct20th site lists events around the country with the goal of uniting Canadians and inspiring political action, and Mangan says that anybody can email the campaign to have their event — musical or not — added.

Other Canadian artists are working their non-musical political action into their songs. Last month, Greer, a letter carrier and a shop steward with Oshawa Local 579, released a video for “The Postie Song” online.

“I’ve always enjoyed music with a message,” Greer tells Yahoo Canada News. “It started with Rage Against the Machine for me in high school, and I have since branched out into a lot more folk and hip hop.”

Songs like the ones by Greer, Blue Rodeo and others continue a tradition of popular protest music associated with older artists like Buffy Saint-Marie, Neil Young and Neil Cockburn and carried on by younger musicians including A Tribe Called Red and Propagandhi.

His local union was very supportive of the video, Greer says, and many members participated in shooting its group scenes.

“On a national level, the support of our members across the country has been amazing‎, and it is getting shared all over the country,” he says.

Canada Post’s union members have been actively campaigning since the cuts to mail service were announced more than a year ago, but Mangan hopes the #ImagineOct20th campaign will motivate a group of people often accused of political inaction: young voters.

“Battling electoral apathy is definitely a primary focus of the campaign,” Mangan says. “A lot of people who listen to my music are exactly the age that [often] don’t vote.”

The campaign’s name comes from the idea of thinking about how things could be different the day after the election, and Mangan is hopeful the positive focus will inspire action.

“It really resonated with me,” he said, “not the old idea of Harper with the devil horns, but trying to unite people.”