Democratic renewal?
So, Harper wants Senate reform as the key element of democratic renewal. Wouldn't adopting some sort of PR system for the lower house be both more effective at making our parliament more democratic, and also be possible without opening up the can of worms that is constitutional reform?
posted by Gavin Magrath at 9/11/2006 01:31:00 AM
2 Comments:
This is just one more step for Harper to star pulling apart Canada.
Can't any one see this?
I'm not so sure Harper's Senate reform proposals are for making our system of government more democratic, but rather eroding the checks and balances on the Prime Minister's power. If anything is done with the Senate, I want to see more checks and balances put on the office of the Prime Minister. No exceptions.
Sure, the Cons gave lip-service to democracy during the last campaign (like their promise to only have free votes on everything except the budget, which has turned out to be a lie), but just look at here in Alberta. Ralph Klein's Progressive Conservatives won 46.8% of the vote in 2004, but they won 75% of the seats, and 100% of the power. It's just not in the governing party's interests to abolish the anachronistic first past the post system; but the inflation of minority governments to majority status must end.
Tell you what, if Harper really wants to make the Senate more democratic, why not appoint a Green Party Senator? Greens won 4.5% of the vote last election, but did not receive a single seat in the House of Commons. Greens like me are on the opposite side of the political compass, so it would be a great way to show Canadians that he's not the ideologue we all know he is.
Come on Steve, appoint me. I'm under 25, Albertan, Green, and I disagree with you on basically every issue. You supported the Iraq war, I didn't. You support private health care, I don't. How about it? I'll even scratch your back on Senate reform, because the current system is unpalatable to Canadians of all political stripes. Heck, I'll even stop calling for your resignation for a couple months. (No guarantees. :)
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