.
When would be a good time to talk about it?
.
August 23, 2015
Tisdale
by: Timothy W. Shire
Tisdale
by: Timothy W. Shire
.
In an election campaign as long as the one we are currently in, the question for me, is when do we talk about it, simply put, when would a discussion about an October 2015 election be relevant? I know full well I am not alone in posing this concern, because the matter came up early in the extended time the current prime minister has been in power. The Reform Party, which you will recall became the Canadian Alliance and then morphed into the Conservative Party of Canada, came from the most American part of Canada, Alberta. From their early days, they have wanted the Canadian political scene to mirror that of the chaotic system that is in place to the south of us and under the present prime minister, legislation was passed and ignored, setting out a fixed election date. Every Canadian who has looked at our parliamentary system knows that we do not have a presidential system of government and the government of Canada serves at the pleasure of the Governor General. The Governor General calls an election when he or she deems it a necessity.
A Canadian member of parliament is elected to a five year term in office, the majority party elects a leader to serve as the first minister and an election is held when the term of office is nearly completed, traditionally that is four years into their term. But, unlike the American system, a government that loses the support of the House of Commons, must go to the Governor General, who can ask the opposition to assume government, if it can have the support of the house, or if no alternative is available, he or she can call an election. That is the way it works. The present government doesn’t like the tradition and for whatever reasons they put forth, they want an American fixed term of office, with a preset election date.
The unfortunate result of this desire to hum Yankee Doodle Dandy, is that from the day the election is held, until the next one is scheduled, the public is confronted with continuous campaigning. It never stops, with the power of government, the ruling party can simple advertise themselves into insane information overload. Their “action plan” just goes on and on. Programmes that are never enacted are advertised as though they are real and the public eyes glaze over.
With this form of day after day campaigning, voter turn out in Canada has fallen to the point where it is really a bit of a stretch to refer to the present day Canadian form of government as a democracy. With more than two political parties, a majority in Canada is usually as little as 30% of the voters are electing the government.
During the late nineteen Century Karl Marx spotted this situation and realised that thirty percent of the people could rule a country, he called it the dictatorship of the proletariat. Similarly, with several parties vying for power in Germany after World War I, Adolph Hitler and his NAZI party, never had more than about 35% of the support of their citizens, yet he gained control of the country and inflicted World War II on the world. The situation in Italy was similar, as it was in Spain.
Bad stuff happens when a government pretends to be a democracy, when they only have a small segment of the population who support them.
In our case we have ourselves to blame. The fragmentation of special interest groups entering the political arena, replacing the convention inclusive “big tent” political party, exaggerates the political fragmentation and realising this, the present prime minister was able to get the Progressive Conservatives, under the leadership of Peter MacKay, to merge in the “unite the right” movement. Since the formation of the Conservative Party of Canada, it has shown no growth in membership, or support in the country and it doesn’t need it, because like Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini, all you need to control a country is perhaps 35%.
So here we are, in this unending election campaign with five political parties. The Quebec separatist party called “The Bloc”, the environmental tree hugger group called “The Green Party”, the party that used to be called the “Conservative Party of Canada” which now only refers to itself as “The Harper Party”, The Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party. Now I must return to the original question, when would be a good time to talk about the election?
Regrettably, the time to talk about the election is now, right now. The reason I draw this conclusion is that if we put off our involvement in the process, we will have simply sided with the overwhelming majority of Canadians who have tuned out politics a decade ago. On the other hand, by becoming actively engaged in the process, we feed into the frightful over polarisation of the process, so that no one listens to anyone else, but mere shouts their prepared talking points and ignores all else.
South of the border, more than a full year from their next election, the political process is repugnant because no one listens to anyone. Name calling is the only way to go, liberals call the Republicans brain dead, which of course they are and any intellectual who voices an opinion down there, is considered a raving commie radical. Unfortunately, fixed election do that, and we are seeing the pattern pretty much emerge here in Canada, mirroring that silly form of polarisation. The interesting Canadian spin is that in Canada, the prime minister has discovered that ignorance is bliss. By destroying Stats Can by eliminating the mandatory long form of the Canadian census, Canadians no longer have a clue what is happening in their country. By cutting off scientific research and the public reporting of research, the government has made Canada dumb and dumber. With ten years of this, there now is only ideological opinion, faith and platitudes. Reality and truth are ignored and each day the Prime Minister takes five questions to which he answers the same answer no matter what the question. We all know it by heart “let me be perfectly clear, I have maintained this . . . .”
So with still about two months of election campaigning to take place, what should the voter do? Glad you considered that issue, because the answer is plain and simple. We do not have a presidential form of government, when you cast a ballot, you vote for your local person, whom you want to represent you. Your job, Mr. or Ms. voter, is to find out, of those seeking your support, who will actually take direction from you and which candidate is just a puppet for their leader. Demand local representation and come to a solution. Who among the candidates for your riding tells the truth, understands the issues at hand and has a hope in hell of getting elected? In a political process you waste your vote if you stick to your principles.
Elizabeth May and the policies set forth by the Green Party are exactly what we need. The leader is the most knowledgeable leader in the country and perhaps best qualified for the job. If you vote Green you are wasting your vote and you have decided to support the party who is diametrically opposed to those principles of the Green party. In every riding with significant Green support, or even moderate support Liberal and NDP candidates will be defeated.
Now it almost goes without saying that you would be making a huge mistake to support a Conservative candidate. The structure of the party and the performance in Ottawa has eliminated all authority and worth of local Members of Parliament. Secondly, the Conservative government promised a balanced budget and has failed to deliver, their fiscal management is the worst performance of a national government in my seventy year lifetime, as they have guided our country into not one, but two recessions. Financially, they have crashed and burned, and we are all paying for it over and over, and we are paying for it with five quarters to get one dollars worth of value, as the loonie is worthless and continuing to become even of less value. Your earnings, your pension, your savings, are all damaged, perhaps beyond repair by the devaluation of our money and the destruction of our economy, can you possibly imagine four more years of such destructive mismanagement?
So dear voter, check out your candidates do it now, don’t wait and decide who has the best chance in your riding, your NDP candidate, or your Liberal candidate. First evaluate what they stand for and then measure their electability. Once that is determined, get out there and help your selected candidate to win. Get a sign on your lawn, make a donation and be a part of this process, so that when we finally get to the October election you will be able to say, “I did my best, I did my part.”
A Canadian member of parliament is elected to a five year term in office, the majority party elects a leader to serve as the first minister and an election is held when the term of office is nearly completed, traditionally that is four years into their term. But, unlike the American system, a government that loses the support of the House of Commons, must go to the Governor General, who can ask the opposition to assume government, if it can have the support of the house, or if no alternative is available, he or she can call an election. That is the way it works. The present government doesn’t like the tradition and for whatever reasons they put forth, they want an American fixed term of office, with a preset election date.
With this form of day after day campaigning, voter turn out in Canada has fallen to the point where it is really a bit of a stretch to refer to the present day Canadian form of government as a democracy. With more than two political parties, a majority in Canada is usually as little as 30% of the voters are electing the government.
During the late nineteen Century Karl Marx spotted this situation and realised that thirty percent of the people could rule a country, he called it the dictatorship of the proletariat. Similarly, with several parties vying for power in Germany after World War I, Adolph Hitler and his NAZI party, never had more than about 35% of the support of their citizens, yet he gained control of the country and inflicted World War II on the world. The situation in Italy was similar, as it was in Spain.
Bad stuff happens when a government pretends to be a democracy, when they only have a small segment of the population who support them.
In our case we have ourselves to blame. The fragmentation of special interest groups entering the political arena, replacing the convention inclusive “big tent” political party, exaggerates the political fragmentation and realising this, the present prime minister was able to get the Progressive Conservatives, under the leadership of Peter MacKay, to merge in the “unite the right” movement. Since the formation of the Conservative Party of Canada, it has shown no growth in membership, or support in the country and it doesn’t need it, because like Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini, all you need to control a country is perhaps 35%.
So here we are, in this unending election campaign with five political parties. The Quebec separatist party called “The Bloc”, the environmental tree hugger group called “The Green Party”, the party that used to be called the “Conservative Party of Canada” which now only refers to itself as “The Harper Party”, The Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party. Now I must return to the original question, when would be a good time to talk about the election?
Regrettably, the time to talk about the election is now, right now. The reason I draw this conclusion is that if we put off our involvement in the process, we will have simply sided with the overwhelming majority of Canadians who have tuned out politics a decade ago. On the other hand, by becoming actively engaged in the process, we feed into the frightful over polarisation of the process, so that no one listens to anyone else, but mere shouts their prepared talking points and ignores all else.
So with still about two months of election campaigning to take place, what should the voter do? Glad you considered that issue, because the answer is plain and simple. We do not have a presidential form of government, when you cast a ballot, you vote for your local person, whom you want to represent you. Your job, Mr. or Ms. voter, is to find out, of those seeking your support, who will actually take direction from you and which candidate is just a puppet for their leader. Demand local representation and come to a solution. Who among the candidates for your riding tells the truth, understands the issues at hand and has a hope in hell of getting elected? In a political process you waste your vote if you stick to your principles.
Elizabeth May and the policies set forth by the Green Party are exactly what we need. The leader is the most knowledgeable leader in the country and perhaps best qualified for the job. If you vote Green you are wasting your vote and you have decided to support the party who is diametrically opposed to those principles of the Green party. In every riding with significant Green support, or even moderate support Liberal and NDP candidates will be defeated.
Now it almost goes without saying that you would be making a huge mistake to support a Conservative candidate. The structure of the party and the performance in Ottawa has eliminated all authority and worth of local Members of Parliament. Secondly, the Conservative government promised a balanced budget and has failed to deliver, their fiscal management is the worst performance of a national government in my seventy year lifetime, as they have guided our country into not one, but two recessions. Financially, they have crashed and burned, and we are all paying for it over and over, and we are paying for it with five quarters to get one dollars worth of value, as the loonie is worthless and continuing to become even of less value. Your earnings, your pension, your savings, are all damaged, perhaps beyond repair by the devaluation of our money and the destruction of our economy, can you possibly imagine four more years of such destructive mismanagement?
So dear voter, check out your candidates do it now, don’t wait and decide who has the best chance in your riding, your NDP candidate, or your Liberal candidate. First evaluate what they stand for and then measure their electability. Once that is determined, get out there and help your selected candidate to win. Get a sign on your lawn, make a donation and be a part of this process, so that when we finally get to the October election you will be able to say, “I did my best, I did my part.”
.
