Jim Reed
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Canada is a Sham Democracy!
This is from a site called Fair Vote Canada – and echoes my sentiments exactly.
We do not have democracy
The idea of representative democracy is simple. Citizens elect their representatives. The majority win the right to make decisions. Or as Ernest Naville wrote in 1865: “In a democratic government, the right of decision belongs to the majority, but the right of representation belongs to all.”
Does Canada actually have representative democracy?
Think about this: In the 2008 federal election:
- 940,000 voters supporting the Green Party elected no one, while fewer Conservative voters in Alberta alone elected 27 Conservative MPs.
- In the prairie provinces, Conservatives received roughly twice the votes of the Liberals and NDP combined, but took seven times as many seats.
- Similar to the last election, a quarter-million Conservative voters in Toronto elected no one and neither did Conservative voters in Montreal.
- New Democrats: The NDP attracted 1.1 million more votes than the Bloc, but the voting system gave the Bloc 49 seats, the NDP 37.
What about majority rule?
Canadians are usually ruled by majority governments that the majority voted against. In some provincial elections, parties coming in second in the popular vote have won majority control of the legislature.
Heart of the problem: why Canada needs fair voting
The solution: fair voting alternatives
We need better representation.
Responses to “Canada is a Sham Democracy!”
November 13th, 2009 at 10:51 am
I like the idea presented by democratic space, actually.
The party nomination list could easily be refined by having the party publish the names of aspiring candidates and invite the general public to vote the nominees online in a secure system. The public could base their vote on a published biography and platform.
The party would then publish a province-wide list of the winners and they would constitute the names on the list.
Power to the People: I agree!
November 13th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
You’re absolutely correct Jim. But I’m not holding my breath for reform any time soon. In fact, never. The one and only referendum held was an outrage- poorly worded, timed, confused and obscure- and all purposely so.
Change is not in the interest of the bosses. And Canadians, smug, contrite, complacent and for the most part dull, have little imagination for change, or even the possibility that there could be a better way. That’s why were ripe for manipulators like Harper, and are sleep walking to a conservative majority.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
The problem is who to vote for.
I sent him a polite letter protesting against the NDP vote on Gun Control and today received a form letter reply…the Conservatives didn’t bother answering at all…nor did the Liberals.
It seems to me they are all of a piece. A pathetic piece.
November 13th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Which is why, in the next Federal election, I will formally refuse my ballot. I will not give whatever miniscule little bit of legitimacy my one vote would give to this undemocratic sham.
November 13th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Once again I agree, who to vote for.
All big parties are pathetic because they are completely headquarters-centric, they don’t give a shit about ordinary Canadians until their bank-balances are low or until polls give them a sense of direction especially towards election-time.
My radical idealism would have List-candidates chosen by rank-and-file riding members EXCLUDING the riding executives, who are most likely to be tainted by HQ seductions.
They could be candidates, of course but surely wouldn’t object to decision-making going directly to the roots of their parties, would they?
Seen in this light, the concept of any political HQ telling us who will be good for us is even more repugnant.
Power to the People!
November 13th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Yes indeed.
Your concerns had me looking back to Ontario’s MMP train-wreck, I still agree with the many who saw it as a Liberal ploy to smokescreen their shitty record. Designed to fail.
We badly need another try at MMP but next time let the people decide who the listees are, not the incestuous cabals who run Big Party.
If this had been done last time, we would be on the MMP path today.
This quote on List MPs…. “If they are not seen to be working on behalf of a given community, they won’t win nomination and they certainly won’t win a local riding. This ensures accountability of list MPPs….” begs the question, if that’s the kind of partisan clunker he/she is, what on earth are their names doing on a list?
Trust HQ?
Nope. Regardless of stripe.
Power to the people!
http://democraticspace.com/blog/2007/04/what-does-ontarios-mmp-system-look-like-and-what-does-it-mean/