(no subject)
So I just read an article on another friends LJ about election reform and set election dates every four years. this is complete crap and I will tell you why...Here are my immediate reactions.
The Canadian governance system was created with the intention of being flexible, and to meet the needs of the public for electoral flexibility. This is completely opposed to the ideologies that founded this country and is taking us to a more american model of governance that is less flexible and less able to allow for the government to be responsive. While yes, quite often elections are called at a time when the party in power is most popular, but this is a part of partisan politics which is how the governance of canada works - regardless of the changing popularity of the model in the main stream (there is also media hype and misinformation feeding this cry for a change in the electoral system in my opinion). In my opinion that popularity is an indicator of political and governance stability, and it makes sense to ensure that the government can call an election when it makes sense (conservative or green). By fixing an election date the Canadian public is cheering on a distraction tactic that is removing the real issue about elections from the public eye. Proportional representation.
Canada is not the US (Sorry to my American Friends I am not trying to be insulting) and it is an insult to the Canadian public that we have been so indoctrinated into the american world view through the media that we think that this is ok and that the american model is the best model of governance. We are culturally buying into american patriotism (great for the US that they have been able to foster such patriotism from their citizens) but we are not americans and we should be fostering Canadian Patriotism and supporting the Canadian way of life.
this is a little bit of an incoherent rant but what it all boils down to is that this is wrong. While there will be no change to confidence votes (thank god although that would probably be next) this is still wrong.
And, doesn't electoral reform of this type require constitutional ammendment...
I'll clarify my thoughts later.
Long live canada
The Canadian governance system was created with the intention of being flexible, and to meet the needs of the public for electoral flexibility. This is completely opposed to the ideologies that founded this country and is taking us to a more american model of governance that is less flexible and less able to allow for the government to be responsive. While yes, quite often elections are called at a time when the party in power is most popular, but this is a part of partisan politics which is how the governance of canada works - regardless of the changing popularity of the model in the main stream (there is also media hype and misinformation feeding this cry for a change in the electoral system in my opinion). In my opinion that popularity is an indicator of political and governance stability, and it makes sense to ensure that the government can call an election when it makes sense (conservative or green). By fixing an election date the Canadian public is cheering on a distraction tactic that is removing the real issue about elections from the public eye. Proportional representation.
Canada is not the US (Sorry to my American Friends I am not trying to be insulting) and it is an insult to the Canadian public that we have been so indoctrinated into the american world view through the media that we think that this is ok and that the american model is the best model of governance. We are culturally buying into american patriotism (great for the US that they have been able to foster such patriotism from their citizens) but we are not americans and we should be fostering Canadian Patriotism and supporting the Canadian way of life.
this is a little bit of an incoherent rant but what it all boils down to is that this is wrong. While there will be no change to confidence votes (thank god although that would probably be next) this is still wrong.
And, doesn't electoral reform of this type require constitutional ammendment...
I'll clarify my thoughts later.
Long live canada