Strange bedfellows

[eldr_ferd]

If I lived in Central Nova or Saint-Laurent-Cartierville I would be seriously pissed off.

It certainly is undemocratic to strategically place or not place candidates in ridings for the purposes of creating political alliances. The constituents of those ridings have the right to choose who they will elect to represent them, no one else. Forcing

Comments

[big_paul]

Forcing voters to propel party policy by denying them a candidate is W-R-O-N-G.

Well, that's what Jack Layton thinks, but I'm not sure that's true. A party can choose to run whoever they want, wherever they think is appropriate.

It's not like the charter guarantees you the right to vote for the NDP, Liberals, or Conservatives.

If anything's anti-democratic, it's the existence of political parties in general, or at least our modern practice of "party discipline". I vote for Joe Smith, a Liberal, but somebody I didn't vote for is going to tell my elected representative how to vote? For example, on the issues of NAFTA or the GST, a lot of people voting for Liberals in 1993 expected Chretien to get rid of NAFTA and the GST.

As long as the Bloc Quebecois doesn't spontaneously self-destruct or something, then, for at least the next few years, we won't be seeing a majority government.

Therefore, maybe, if our politicians ever figure this out (probably another 2 elections before they do...), it'd be cool if people like Dion and Layton familiarized themselves with a term:

Coalition government.

Y'know, if Martin and Layton could've actually worked for the good of the country, they could've formed a bare coalition and prevented Harper from becoming Prime Minister in 2006.

I like Layton, generally, but I don't think he's speaking in the best interests of the country on this one.

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