dstewart.org

Electoral Reform

Posted on 25 June 2009

After seeing the results and tactics of major political parties, I think it is time that some serious electoral reform take place.

Under the current system the party with most members elected lead the country regardless of the number of people who have actually voted for them. With 5 political parties in Canada the chances of any one party getting a majority of the voting public to vote for them is extremely unlikely and the country is almost always run by a party which doesn’t have the same values as the majority of Canadians.

Our current system of adversarial parties require those we elect to office to often vote along party lines regardless of the wishes of their constituents. Bills are voted on based on party membership instead of the actual value of the bill. Legislation presented by a non-ruling party member, or even an independent Member of Parliament, has about as much chance of surviving as a snowball on a sunny July afternoon sitting in the middle of a highway.

Our recent elections have been fought with attack ads, personal attacks, efforts at making people look foolish and inept with out of context sound bites and videos clips. These parties run on platforms of what they are going to give you, your corporation or organization in exchange for your vote. Many government initiatives are designed to buy votes in the next election and as each election rolls around the parties are out there promising more pennies for voters.

Voters have been conditioned to vote for people who will give them the most possible, as soon as possible, that they rarely will vote for a party which offer programs and policies that will benefit society on the whole for many generations to come. And to make matters worse, many voters don’t pay attention to what the parties stand for. They vote based on headlines in the newspapers and sound bites on the news without ever knowing the details of the stories in question.

In a honourable electoral system one would think people would be elected based on their beliefs and values rather than what party they belong to or how savagely they can attack their opponents and/or distort their ideas.

Originally Posted  06 April, 2009