It seems to me that people are sick of Canada's government
as it stands today, and not just because of the Conservative Party of
Canada. While there has been more
unrest about the government than there
has been since the Conservatives took power.
While people acknowledge the Conservatives are governing horribly in
almost every measure imaginable, the other major 2 parties aren't trusted either,
for legitimate reasons (previous scandals, lack of experience). Still there is little talk of changing the
underlying system of government we currently use. Alternatives have existed with successful
present day examples of governing democratically, without any one party having
total control. I suppose there are still
a lot of big unanswered questions when it comes to proportional representation
as a legitimate form of government.
Questions like, why do coalitions have a bad reputation in Canada? Why are majority governments seen as a good
thing? What would collaborative
leadership look like?
Proportional representation is an extension of the parliamentary
government system originating in Britain in 1707 which is used by many
countries today, particularly those of the British commonwealth. In this government system MPs are elected in
proportion to the percentage of votes that a political party receives,
resulting in several political parties working together to form a government,
because no party can form a majority on their own, and encourages many small
instead of consolidated to big parties that don't really know where they stand
on most issues. The government lasts
until the next election or until the parties can no longer work together and
the government collapses. At this point
a new coalition must be formed or a new election commences. This makes for better, balanced laws because
no one party can ram through legislation without serious debate and revisions,
so people must reach consensus, more closely matching what the countries'
citizens actually want and expect from their government.
In fact, the vast majority of countries that use the British
parliament system actually now use coalition governments, including the
majority of European and Asian countries, many more than use the winner-take-all
dominant party system that is in use by Canada and the U.S. And in fact in Canada a coalition was actually
used back in 1864, so it's not like Canada has never employed this system
before. It is strange though that now in
the collective thought, coalition is seen by many as bad.
The main criticism of coalition is that the government seems
self destructive and ineffective, unable to carry out their responsibilities of
passing legislation and keeping the country functioning. But we know from our own experience that our
supposed "sound, stable majority" has done nothing in the past year
but ram through an omnibus bill that no sane person would normally have passed
without debate and revision. Not only
has the Canadian Conservative government shut down democratic dialogue by using
their heavy handed majority to ram through legislation, but since they have
been accused of wrongdoing and scandal, they have blocked and prevented efforts
to answer questions about what was really going on regarding the scandal, and they
are shutting out the media and other political parties, even to the point of
proroguing parliament 3 different times since they have been in power. There are also many things the government has
done that most people are not even aware of, such as the 2013 FIPA agreement,
containing guarantees that Chinese buyers would have the legal right to sue
Canada in private settlement of inhibition to its activities by that government
(including provincial or municipal for whom the federal government would be
liable). Does that seem like a more
effective government to you? The main
obstacle is the parties need to learn to work together, but is that a bad
thing?
Although I don't know the answer for certain, it seems like
many Canadians are opposed to a coalition government because they don't want to
think about and deal with government and politics as little as possible, and
keep it out of their day to day life. With coalitions they would expect things to be
more uncertain, and politics would be more in your face. This is the only reason I can think of, other
than that Conservative ads may have just beaten their opinion in to the
collective consciousness of Canadians.
What we should want from our government, any government, is
that they follow through with promises they make during the election, to
research, discuss, debate critical issues and current events to improve the
functioning of our country. We obviously
want our governments to be transparent and accountable, and what better to hold
people to account than the other parties who at least share in more power, when
their hands are not tied and they are able to access the resources they need to
answer questions and solve problems as they arise such as the senate
scandal. Imagine how differently that
would have played out if all three political parties took a share in power and
were able to properly conduct inquiries and come to a consensus on what the
problem is and how best to approach and solve those problems. Shutting down parliament solves no problems
only kicks the can down the road when the issue has then snowballed
further. The senate scandal would not
have got to the point where people are writing cheques to cover incorrect
expenses, because the audit would be conducted sooner and senators held to
public scrutiny sooner. The problem with
majority governments is that it only serves one group - the political party
that holds the power. We need to move
power away from parties, because they do not truly represent the will of
Canadians, just one aspect of it, and twists away from doing the will of
Canadians to serving their own interests.
Political majorities do not work effectively because the government
essentially becomes the political party ideology, and no one persons beliefs
are completely in line 100% with a political parties ideology. Only by having the parties hold each other in
check and to account can you be sure that what they are doing is on the level
and serves the public benefit.
Coalition government falls under the greater umbrella of an
emerging management concept in business - collaborative leadership. For example, Valve software has no management
hierarchy, and what does that do? It
decentralizes power, encourages creative thought so people are more likely to
experiment. The ultimate form of
collaborative leadership is to the point where power has been distributed to
voter participation. With massive
amounts of technological power already being in the hands of the average person
in smartphones and computing, the next logical step is to increase voter
participation. With an established,
secure system of ensuring one vote per registered citizen, online referenda
where people can at least voice their opinion to MPs and at most actually vote
on issues, similar to Swiss voting system of direct democracy. Done via smart phone and streamlined to
accommodate constant verified voting on all issues, the current technology can
minimize costs and our billion dollar spy agency can provide counter intelligence
to prevent hacking, and include CSIS involvement in doing something actually
useful.
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