I seem to be "lucky" enough to be living in historic times. I have seen historic elections, I am witnessing the worst financial crisis since the depression, and now I see that the Canadian government will likely be replaced by a coalition of opposition parties.
In principle, I am not against coalition governments, they seem to work fine in other countries, such as Switzerland. It fosters cooperation, and in theory represents the majority of the citizens, while keeping the interests of the smaller parties in mind. In fact, I am curious to see how that would work here in Canada; it can be disconcerting to see a minority government trying to get things done by pressuring opposition parties that are too afraid to trigger an unwanted election. But in my opinion, the validity of the idea of a coalition government is not the most significant issue in Canada today.
The most significant issues, in my mind, are timing and validity of the proposed coalition government.
We just had an election, the Conservatives were elected with the idea that the winning party would actually form a government. That's how it has always been (as far as I know). That's how it was assumed before the parties were elected. What would the outcome of the previous election be had the Liberals and the NDP campaigned for the coalition? I personally know people who strategically voted for a party they knew had no reasonable chance of forming a government to offset the power of another; the possibility of a coalition would have almost certainly been a considerable and possibly a deciding factor in their vote. In the end it very uncertain as to what the outcome would have been. Creating such uncertainty, in my opinion, undermines the intent of the voter, and the democratic processes of this country. If coalition was not the name of the game when people were voting, then it should not be formed.
Even if it were fair to have a coalition government, I would certainly not support this particular coalition. My most serious concerns with it are:
1. It can only survive with support from the Bloc Québecois.
I realize that the Bloc are not actually part of this coalition, and would not hold any cabinet positions, but their votes are needed to make it work. I intensely dislike the Bloc, I dislike any party with aspirations to divide and irreparably damage the country. I also dislike any party that only has the interests of a single province in mind. One can argue that political parties favor geographical areas, but the Bloc are intolerably extreme in this regard. Given that Québec has a disproportionally high amount of seats, the Bloc already gains undeserved leverage. If they have the power to hold together a coalition, their leverage within that government to further their own agenda.
2. No Clearly Defined Leadership.
The coalition would be led by the leader of the Liberal Party, Stephan Dion, who previously announced that he would step down. This is the man failed miserably in the last election, not gaining a single seat, but has somehow recently gained the trust of the coalition. Apparently he will still step down within the next year, and the new leader of the Liberal party. Our future Prime Minister, will be elected exclusively by members of the Liberal party. It doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that the future leaders of this country will be a 'choice' between someone deemed as incompetent to lead a political party and some mystery man. Clearly this is not what this country in these uncertain times needs.
I am not happy with the prospect of another election that will cost taxpayers somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 million, but I feel that it is a price Canadians should be willing to pay for a real democracy. If a coalition wants to run in another election, that's fine, if the people vote for that type of government, then that's what they should get. Despite the fact that voting in the winter is a pain, and that Canadians are sick of election after election; I can take solace in fact that we live in a free country where we are "burdened" by too many elections. People in other nations would kill (literally) to have what we have. Besides, the money we spend might stimulate the economy.
The right thing to do, as far as I can tell, isn't usually convenient or cheap.
C'est la vie... (happy Gilles?)
In principle, I am not against coalition governments, they seem to work fine in other countries, such as Switzerland. It fosters cooperation, and in theory represents the majority of the citizens, while keeping the interests of the smaller parties in mind. In fact, I am curious to see how that would work here in Canada; it can be disconcerting to see a minority government trying to get things done by pressuring opposition parties that are too afraid to trigger an unwanted election. But in my opinion, the validity of the idea of a coalition government is not the most significant issue in Canada today.
The most significant issues, in my mind, are timing and validity of the proposed coalition government.
We just had an election, the Conservatives were elected with the idea that the winning party would actually form a government. That's how it has always been (as far as I know). That's how it was assumed before the parties were elected. What would the outcome of the previous election be had the Liberals and the NDP campaigned for the coalition? I personally know people who strategically voted for a party they knew had no reasonable chance of forming a government to offset the power of another; the possibility of a coalition would have almost certainly been a considerable and possibly a deciding factor in their vote. In the end it very uncertain as to what the outcome would have been. Creating such uncertainty, in my opinion, undermines the intent of the voter, and the democratic processes of this country. If coalition was not the name of the game when people were voting, then it should not be formed.
Even if it were fair to have a coalition government, I would certainly not support this particular coalition. My most serious concerns with it are:
1. It can only survive with support from the Bloc Québecois.
I realize that the Bloc are not actually part of this coalition, and would not hold any cabinet positions, but their votes are needed to make it work. I intensely dislike the Bloc, I dislike any party with aspirations to divide and irreparably damage the country. I also dislike any party that only has the interests of a single province in mind. One can argue that political parties favor geographical areas, but the Bloc are intolerably extreme in this regard. Given that Québec has a disproportionally high amount of seats, the Bloc already gains undeserved leverage. If they have the power to hold together a coalition, their leverage within that government to further their own agenda.
2. No Clearly Defined Leadership.
The coalition would be led by the leader of the Liberal Party, Stephan Dion, who previously announced that he would step down. This is the man failed miserably in the last election, not gaining a single seat, but has somehow recently gained the trust of the coalition. Apparently he will still step down within the next year, and the new leader of the Liberal party. Our future Prime Minister, will be elected exclusively by members of the Liberal party. It doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that the future leaders of this country will be a 'choice' between someone deemed as incompetent to lead a political party and some mystery man. Clearly this is not what this country in these uncertain times needs.
I am not happy with the prospect of another election that will cost taxpayers somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 million, but I feel that it is a price Canadians should be willing to pay for a real democracy. If a coalition wants to run in another election, that's fine, if the people vote for that type of government, then that's what they should get. Despite the fact that voting in the winter is a pain, and that Canadians are sick of election after election; I can take solace in fact that we live in a free country where we are "burdened" by too many elections. People in other nations would kill (literally) to have what we have. Besides, the money we spend might stimulate the economy.
The right thing to do, as far as I can tell, isn't usually convenient or cheap.
C'est la vie... (happy Gilles?)
1 comment:
I love the quote I found in the paper this morning:
"The highest principal of Canadian democracy is that if one want to be prime minister, one gets one's mandate from the Canadian people, and not from Quebec separatists"
Oh the times that are ours...
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