We take it for granted that we live in a democracy. That label for our political system is, however, no longer accurate. Premier Dalton McGuinty's decision to shut down the Ontario legislature until his successor is chosen (whenever that might be) is further evidence that our democracy is under constant threat, more so in fact by the powerful than by terrorists.
Consider some of the principles of democracy:
1. People vote for individual representatives and governments. The government's power and legitimacy of the state is, therefore, derived from the people and entrusted to those elected;
2. Our electoral system should produce governments that reflect the will of the majority, thereby resulting in policies and laws that reflect the consensus of the majority of the voters;
3. People expect their representatives to ensure that our legislatures are functional and productive;
4. The Prime Minister and the premiers serve at the pleasure of the legislatures; and
5. While governments are supposed to govern for the majority of the electors, they are supposed to respect the rights of those in the minority.
How many of these principles do you believe are being respected by those to whom we have entrusted our power?
The weakness of our democracy begins with our electoral system. Our outdated "first past the post" electoral system significantly distorts voter intent. In the 2011 federal election, the vote was distorted by 22.2 per cent. That's a whopping distortion when you consider that the Conservatives have taken complete control of the federal government after earning less than 40 per cent of the votes.
It's very unfortunate that our politicians would rather keep this electoral system than change it. They hope to benefit from the distortions to get into office and stay there. The possibility of attaining complete power is more attractive than having to work with other parties to govern, as would more often be the case if we used a proportional representation election system, one which accurately allocates the number of elected members to the percentage of the votes their parties earned.
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Canada needs electoral reform but we lack the tools of direct democracy to move this issue forward without the support of the parties. Proportional representation is clearly in our interest if we want a true democracy, but when our rights in this regard conflict with the needs of the parties, it is the latter that prevail.
Our warped electoral system clothes leaders who have the support of relatively few Canadians with the full legitimacy to govern. Prime Minister Harper pretends that he has a support of the majority of Canadians. He has never enjoyed anything close to that support but he has set about remaking Canada nonetheless.
When faced with the real possibility that a majority of Members of the House of Commons would vote him out of office, he shut down Parliament so they could not do so. Now Premier McGuinty has employed the same tactic, presumably to stop the opposition from further investigating the Liberals' roles in the Ornge affair and gas plant closures as well as possibly censuring one of his cabinet ministers.
The Premier's stated reason that labour negotiations require his government's full attention is not credible, or has the Premier also forgotten how to walk and chew gum at the same time? If he were President of the United States, by his own logic, he would not have been able to deliver health care reform while attending to the economic recovery while Congress was still at work.
Prime Minister Harper and Premier McGuinty apparently believe that the people's elected representatives are a mere inconvenience, and why shouldn't they? Just as we have ceded our power to our elected representatives, they in turn have ceded their power to the Prime Minister and Premier in the hope that their leaders will look favorably upon them when it comes time to select their cabinets, or to avoid being kicked out of the caucus for not voting in accordance with the leaders' wishes which would jeopardize their reelection.
The erosion of democracy is far from a trifling matter. The exercise of a disproportionate amount of power can lead to serious problems. In our case, the will of the majority is subsumed to the power of the leaders who feel nearly impervious to threat. They are free to do considerable harm. They have used this power to serve corporate interests beyond what is in the interest of society as a whole by putting policies and laws in place that allow income inequality to grow to levels that are unhealthy for society and reduce food safety among other things. What informed citizen would believe that governments that do such things are really working in the country's best interests?
We let our politicians get away with far too many actions that undermine our rights. Shutting down the legislature to avoid being scrutinized or turfed by the majority is not an action that meets the test for true democracies. Premier McGuinty will get away with it because our system lacks the requisite checks and balances. We don't have the tools for direct democracy because we have put our faith in our politicians to uphold the principles of democratic representative government. They repeatedly fail us in this regard.
Truth and trust are rare commodities in politics. Our representative government is dysfunctional. Those in power have no shame. The politicians think we don't know what they are up to, but we do. The fact that they believe we can't do anything about it until the next election also does not speak well of our democratic system.
Governments count on us having short memories and their ability to divert our attention from what really matters when the next election comes around. Often, they are correct in this regard. It's up to us to not let our political leaders fool us, and to not fool ourselves. We have more than enough power if we choose to exercise it.
We owe it to each other as citizens of our nation to get involved to make things better. Talk about and work for electoral reform and the other important issues facing the people of our nation. Tell your politicians when they fail you and make sure you let them know that they will lose your vote if they don't take corrective measures. Remember the words of our national anthem: "O Canada, we stand on guard for thee." Will you?
Follow Benjamin Trister on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cdnsforjustice
Not under the Harper Regime. Harper considers himself a King.
"2. Our electoral system should produce governments that reflect the will of the majority, thereby resulting in policies and laws that reflect the consensus of the majority of the voters;"
This is absurd. The "majority" is not an entity. It has no "will," and its members certainly don't have consensus on any particular issue.
"4. The Prime Minister and the premiers serve at the pleasure of the legislatures; and"
I think this is just plain false. The prime minister and premiers serve at the pleasure of the Queen.
"5. While governments are supposed to govern for the majority of the electors, they are supposed to respect the rights of those in the minority."
Governments are supposed to govern for *everyone*, not just their supporters. Futhermore, what is the "majority" exactly? For a given issue, there's no guarantee that a solution exists that will please and/or benefit 51% or more of the electorate. In fact, I think it's pretty rare. Most of the time, when the government acts, it will please some, anger others, and make not the slightest difference to most.
I see it in people all the time when I explain, for instance, how money works, where it comes from and its effects on society. I have literally had people go into a rage when I suggest the monetary system should be rendered obsolete. Its as bad as religion. Politics is the same. Some people are so heavily invested in their political ideology that they can't for the life of them, see anything out side of it. A life time of indoctrination is hard to overcome.
"Talk about and work for electoral reform and the other important issues facing the people of our nation. Tell your politicians when they fail you and make sure you let them know that they will lose your vote if they don't take corrective measures." - That is all well and good, but it is not enough. Not nearly enough to start the wheels of change into motion.
People first need to educate themselves and understand the system under which they live, and the laws by which they are governed. Part of not letting politicians lie to us about what they are and are not legally allowed to do, is by first understanding the roles and responsibilities of the various entities within a Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Only then can we hope to examine whether those structures, roles, and responsibilities are best suited to helping us identify, realize and actualize our vision as a country, and explore how we can change the system and make democracy better (or in this case "real").
Well, not any democracy that is representative of the people, and caters to the evolving realities and needs of Canadian society.
As my first piece of evidence, look at this thread, where after my post, there will be exactly one response. If we get a real flood of responses, we might end up with 5, or even six!
Meanwhile, the so-called disengaged Americans will regularly have tens of thousands of posts about political issues. Even given the 10-1 ratio of their population to Canada's, that still out does us by a mile.
I don't know what it will take to wake up citizens in this country. Seriously. If Harper and Dalton McGuinty are able to stir up anger over their abuse of democracy, then not much other than the permanent suspension of voting rights will, and even then I think a lot of people would welcome it as long as they are doing well and the economy is buoyant. It's depressing.
It's much easier to be a tax-payer and vote on short-term and short-sighted 'economic' issues - which usually means voting for anyone who gives you more money or promises to take less of the money you already have.
She's to busy reaching out to the people of B.C. and looking for new cabinet minsters who are dropping like flies
Odd times indeed.