Recently, I made a difficult decision to leave the New Democratic Party and sit as an Independent MP. The media (and many partisans) wondered aloud why anyone would give up the protection and support offered by a strong political tribe, along with the perks that go with it.
I agree with the NDP most of the time, and hope they form the next government. The NDP blocked my resignation delivery in the House, so I released it through digital social media. It caused a firestorm in Ottawa, in my riding of Thunder Bay-Superior North, and across Canada. Why did I do this?
All three main parties require lockstep discipline by MPs, with little room for meaningful public debate... or for putting constituents ahead of party politics!
Fueled by a flawed and antiquated electoral system where 39 per cent of the vote can gain 100 per cent of the power, the main parties are mired in a win-lose battlefield mentality. Instead of cooperation and compromise, our voters often observe mindless solidarity, where our tribe is always right, and THEY are always wrong!
I will no longer belong to any party that "whips" (mandates) voting by their MPs, especially on issues not clearly laid out in agreed-upon written policies or platforms. Which means that none of the main political parties is currently an option for me.
Many Canadian voters share my disillusionment. Two out of five eligible voters declined to even cast a ballot in the 2011 federal election. It has become clear that our current political and electoral system often brings out the worst in politicians and parties.
Parliament is a mess. Can we fix it? Yes. Here is my suggested "Four-Step Plan to Restore Democracy to Parliament." Three are quick and simple -- the fourth is definitely not!
Randomize Seating
We currently sit in hockey-style party blocs, waiting for our team captains to send us over the boards. Like hockey, some fans and media love the violence. Thoughtful journalists and voters long for civility, mutual respect, and meaningful debate. We can fix this in a single week: seat us randomly in the House. We will sit next to "them." We will get to know them as people, parents, spouses, and fellow citizens who care about Canada. It will be much harder to hurl insults at colleagues sitting right beside you, will facilitate open discussion between parties, and will result in voting more with our consciences or the wishes of our constituents, rather than the whippings of party "discipline."
Riding Level Candidate Approval
Since 1970, our flawed election laws mandate that a candidate must have his/her nomination papers signed by his/her national party leader. It is a "Sword of Damocles" held above heads of MPs. The parties and the leaders don't trust the members in the riding to know who they prefer to represent them, or the voters in that riding to elect the best person. Pierre Trudeau described his own back-benchers as "trained seals." Let's do away with that. If the local riding association picks a turkey, let democracy work. Allow the voters to weed them out -- or not. The riding associations should sign our nomination papers.
Collaboration Between Parties
Allow co-sponsorship of private member's bills across party lines (currently not allowed). Bills are often branded as an initiative of the party the member belongs to and opposed or defeated just because the idea comes from "them." Last Parliament (2009-2011) out of 441 private member's bills introduced, only four passed!
Proportional Representation
Here is the BIG ONE. We will never have real democracy in Canada until we have a truly democratic electoral system. That means some kind of proportional pepresentation ("PR"). The vast majority of democracies in the world (about 100) have some kind of PR. Only a handful use our antiquated British "first-past-the-post" system, where in each riding the voter's vote affects only the outcome in that single riding.
Most modern democracies have a hybrid electoral system, where most parliamentarians are elected directly, but some are selected indirectly to result in..."PR"! Imagine if 20 per cent of the nation's voters vote for the "Purple Party" -- the "Purple Party" gets 20 per cent of the seats! Right now, Stephen Harper is dictating through a "false majority." If we had real democracy, here is what Canadians voted for in the 2011 election: Conservatives122 seats (vs. 167), NDP 94 (vs. 102), Liberals 58 (vs. 34), Greens 12 (vs. one), Bloc 19 (vs. four) , Independent or Other, three. With PR, strategic voting would no longer be necessary!
I am going to devote much time and energy towards achieving these goals to fix Parliament. Are there other "Independent Democrats" out there who will help make it happen?
Ok Bruce you didn't get a shadow cabinet. Mulcair whom I had my disagreements with definately made the right choice. So simply just go away.
We have the faux democracy of party dictatorship in this country.
However, one of the cause to this partisanship is the dogs of the media that will eat their young if it will get them ratings. The way the media had engineered crisis and scandals from a mis-spoken word, a minor mis-step had caused all parties to lockup their MPs and MPPs. The only people who benefited are the PR people, and we all pay for that.
Don't want to be in the party that you were elected under... fine. Resign and run in a by-election as an independent. It is what the people in your riding deserve... democracy.
As for your 4 points. Were you to amass enough power to implement these changes, you would be so beholden to the existing system that you almost certainly would have a change of heart.
Most MP's do not have your integrity.
do you really think harper being a parent and family man means he wont swipe those social programs from under your children's and babies feet, you are a very ignorant and naive individual....
The only thing that will even remotely bring about the reforms Mr. Hyer wants is a progressive, majority government, one strong enough to keep the poison of people like Harper bottled up permanently. While laudable, if more MPs sit as independents, they will be able to write about how they stand for high principles while watching helplessly as the Conservatives continue to cut Canada into pieces.
thats how its always be. i find this comment so pathetic and laughable its sad. reading these MP's comments are so sad in thier childish ignorance, its kind of like a little kid asking why daddy would hit mommy... so innocent, so sad..
I have little respect for the Harperites but they do have a right to hold their opinions, misguided as they may be. You too have that right, but you do yourself no favours if you want your comments to be heeded when you make abusive comments such as you have chosen to do.
You cannot take away the democratic right of free speech for others and restrict it to yourself. Democracy fails when this is done. Hyer has the right to express his views and , give the man credit, he stuck up for what he beliieved in. He is the one that will have to pay for doing so.
How do you think the system will get changed if people like him who have a voice that can be heard in public do not stand up for what they see as problems that need to be solved?
I like it.
I would much rather continue to pay taxes and contribute to a safe just society than live under fascist Harper and his enthusiasm for the war machine.... you are aware, I expect, that war has bankrupted the US and Harper is skipping into the vacated spot. Yet you consider this to be a wonderful alternative.