Canada Explode!
I’m too tired to write much about our present political situation. I’m a little bit excited. We’ve spent a year focused primarily on American politics, to the point of mostly ignoring our own federal election. I’m glad that, at least, we’re focused on Canadian politics again… here in Canada.
I don’t think I would have written anything here at all… but this morning I recieved a remarkably stupid email message (forwarded) from a perfectly reasonable and intelligent person.
1)Conservatives win a minority government.
2)Conservatives propose that the other Canadian political parties sever their genitals and hand them to the Conservative party.
3)Other Canadian parties realise that combined, they could form a majority.
4)Other parties say, “No, you may not have our genitals, but we shall have yours.”
5)Everybody fight!
6)I get the following stupid-ass chainmail message from a friend of mine
_I recognize that many of my friends vote differently than I do and that diversity makes this country the best in the world. </p>
You may not agree with the present government but voting against this coalition is the right thing to do as consent will undermine all that our forefathers have worked hard to build: DEMOCRACY.
Approval of this coalition open’s a ‘Pandora’s Box’ and most importantly sends a clear message to our youth that their vote DOES NOT count.
(The best thing about Canada is that a democracy gives you the right to agree, sign & forward this e-mail, or disagree and delete )
Please take a moment to express your thoughts about our current political situation! PLEASE FORWARD to as many CANADIANS as possible.
No – this isn’t a chain letter. No, you won’t have good luck or win the lottery, but you may just get the opportunity to exercise your right to vote, instead of having your vote erased by those that claim to “know better” than we as the Canadian electorate.
Signing takes only a minute, forwarding just a second – the results can last a lifetime!
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/CANADIAN/petition.html</em></blockquote>
Canadians don’t seem, in general, to have a very strong grasp of the mechanics of their government. Harper and his conservatives have been taking advantage of this fact, as does the writer of this garbage chain-mail message.
You may not agree with the present government but voting against this coalition is the right thing to do as consent will undermine all that our forefathers have worked hard to build: DEMOCRACY.
About here, one ought to realise that the author of this piece is a permanent resident of crazy-town. Or a liar. Or some highly imaginative know-nothing who believes deeply in his fantasies.
Forefathers? Canada is the product of an evolution, rather than a revolution. We have no direct equivalent to American-style founding fathers; our government was not the result of some idealistic experiment in democracy, but rather, inherited from the British.
Also, appealing to some idealized white haired old white dudes? Pointless. We should be able to evaluate whether something is legal and democratic without appealing to somebody’s great great great grandpa.
Approval of this coalition open’s a ‘Pandora’s Box’ and most importantly sends a clear message to our youth that their vote DOES NOT count.
I’m going to go ahead and assume that the writer of this doesn’t actually know what Pandora’s Box is. The writer might also benefit from knowing that the “Pandora’s Box” she refers to in this case has actually been opened before. Not for a while, sure, but a coalition is an established option in Canadian government.
As for votes not counting: if I voted for a Conservative candidate in a riding where a Liberal won, how exactly does my vote count, past election day? Currently, popular vote is used to determine public funding of political parties. In fact, the present crisis was triggered in part by a move that would have stripped out this provision, the only place where popular vote is taken into account, the only place where your vote does count past election day unless the MP of your choice got in.
(The best thing about Canada is that a democracy gives you the right to agree, sign & forward this e-mail, or disagree and delete )
What? The best thing about Canada is that we have the choice to either forward this email message or delete it? Really? The best thing about Canada?
No – this isn’t a chain letter. No, you won’t have good luck or win the lottery, but you may just get the opportunity to exercise your right to vote, instead of having your vote erased by those that claim to “know better” than we as the Canadian electorate.
Whose vote is being erased, here? Certainly, my vote for a candidate who didn’t win would be erased if it no longer contributes to campaign financing, as the Conservatives would have had it.
The big appeal, throughout all of this, and many critical newspaper columns, is to some ideal of democracy being broken. Because democracy was responsible for the Conservatives entering power, that must mean that any changes now must be a foul violation.
In Canada, citizens do not vote for a Prime Minister. They do not vote for a political party. They vote for a member of parliament. They vote for a person to represent their riding. Historically, when an MP has left her party, perhaps to join a new one, a bi-election is not automatically triggered. That person would retain their seat until the next election, because it is that person who was elected, not their party, not their party leader.
That, in their own minds, many Canadians are voting for a Prime Minister or a party does not change this. The prime minister and his party enter power because they have the most MPs supporting them.
The Conservative Party of Canada received 38% of the popular vote, and won 143 of 308 seats. The Liberal Party of Canada received 26% of the popular vote and 77 seats. The NDP 18% and 37. The Bloc 10% and 49.
The NDP, Liberals and Bloc together represent 54% of the popular vote. Together, they represent 163 of the 308 seats in parliament.
Each member of the coalition was voted for. These elected representatives, who have chosen to support different leadership, represent the majority of seats, the majority of ridings, the majority of voters. The Majority.
The majority of voters voted for the MPs who are now supporting this meausure. As for being a legal but distasteful violation of voter trust, this measure doesn’t even approach the party-switches of David Emmerson or Belinda Stronach (both of whom remained in office). The MPs you voted in are still members of the same parties. They are likely to have the same goals, and the same principles. The only difference, is that now they’ll actually have the power to take action on behalf of the people who voted for them. The Majority.
How is this not democracy? How is this a violation of democracy? How is it that this is somehow less democratic than being ruled by the single largest minority?
Unless, of course, you believe the Conservatives, and the dumbass who wrote that original chain-mail message, that 37% of the popular vote and 46% of available seats are somehow a truer representation of the majority than a comprimise between those who represent more than 50%, that Harper’s mandate is magic, and in this special case, 46% represents a majority, for the first time in the recorded history of mathematics.
The coalition and its proposed ascent to power is not a legal violation. It is not a move counter to the interests or the votes of the majority of voters. Less histrionic, less dishonest conservative commentators have implied that, at best, the coalition presents some crude technicality, an aberration that wouldn’t exist in a fairer, more carefully constructed electoral system. But the numbers clearly show that in a more carefully constructed representative system, Harper would never have been Prime Minister in the first place.
The imaginary system the Conservatives try to represent as our own, is a winner takes all game with many players. One where no comprimises can be made, and the team that loses least wins big. It is a game for children. And like children, they’ll continue to cry about it.