Canadian House of Commons. You will never see this scene on TV because the cameras are not allowed to show it. Canadians might realize how few MPs are actually present. The TV cameras are only allowed to show the person talking and the few sitting behind him. Canada needs a law that sets the election date and obligates all Canadians to vote.
The Canadian claim to democracy is an election every 4 or 5 years and more often when and if the prime minister sees an opportunity -- 3 years. There is no set date. Therefore this Canadian date with democracy is an unknown factor even to the prime minister himself until the opportunity arrives. Canadians then elect a series of politicians and immediately loose control of their government again until the next election at an unknown date in the future. Very few Canadians benefit from this system because they are shut out from government input. Canadians on the whole are not allowed to vote for their prime minister or allowed recall or binding referendums. Canadian MPs are obliged to forget their constituents and toe the party line no free votes. An elite cadre of invisible bureaucrats and visible dunderheads run the government.
And then it gets worse.
The Canadian Government has evolved into a struggle between those who tax, spend, give, grant and socialize everything and those who want fewer taxes, less corruption, less big government, equality for all Canadians not just special-interest groups -- and more democracy. Under the present patronage system Canadians pay the highest taxes in the industrialized world and carry the highest proportional debt -- $600 billion.
This Canadian federal government has expanded out of all proportion in every direction and instead of just looking after defence, foreign relations, currency, foreign debt and the central bank, it has extended its tentacles into propaganda, airlines, electricity, employment,unemployment, culture, Indians, hockey, NGOs and provincial areas of jurisdiction health, welfare and education. Their monstrous federal bureaucracies consume 53% of the national income. Seventy percent of Canadian taxes go to support this closed shop of a vast federal bureaucracy.
And then it gets worse.
The federal government has fallen under the influence of special-interest groups. These organized groups: left-wing socialists, gays, lesbians, feminists, Quebecois, multiculturalists, prisoners, pedophiles, minorities, abortionists, UN people, Indians, appointed-for-life Supreme Court justices, immigration industry, social workers, civil servants, unionists, welfare recipients, people who need grants or loans in Shawinigan and people without ethics. These groups and their patronage friends have infiltrated almost every facet of the Canadian government. They dominate or control federal programs. This oligarchy of special-interest groups let their invisible fingers manipulate the systems so that their special-interest are front and center in government programs, spending and court decisions while all the time the majority of Canadians are quietly kept out of the loop. If you are a member of a special interest group you might appreciate homosexual-marriage decisions or kiddie porn from the Supreme Court or if you are an Indian you might appreciate a decision that allows you to fish all year or the Nisgaa agreement. If you are within the loop you might also appreciate an HRDC grant or a massive loan from a government-associated bank with the help of a few phone calls from the prime minister but if you are outside the loop, you are merely a number. Your MP does not even represent you. He represents his political party party discipline.
This past election had a 63% Canadian voter turnout. The Liberals got 41% of the votes of this 63%. Therefore those who declined to vote, 37% of Canadians, could have changed the outcome of the election. Therefore a very small proportion of Canadians actually elect the government and the proportion of non-voters who refused to exercise their right to democracy could have changed the outcome of the election. These large groups of non-voters are allowing the activists to control the government. The ruling Liberals in Ottawa see nothing wrong with this system because they and their special-interest friends continue in control.
Canada needs a law that sets a firm date for elections and compels Canadians to vote in all elections. This is the only system that will thwart the hidden agendas of manipulative politicians and special-interest groups. This law would give Canada back to all Canadians. Citizens who have come to accept democracy should also accept the obligation and responsibility to ensure that democracy is not bent or twisted by powerful politicians or special-interest groups. If the Australians can do it, and have done it since 1918, why not the Canadians?http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/pasteact/0/57/top.htm (Section)http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/pasteact/0/57/0/PA003100.htm (Complete Act 1918)
If the Americans know the dates of their elections years in advance, why cant the Canadians have the same advantage?
It is the people to whom all authority belongs. Thomas Jefferson. If you want to check something in a foreign language web site, click on the next line. Need to translate something It is obvious by the arrogant behavior of our majority politicians in Ottawa that Canadians need a system to address contentious issues and even bypass the dictatorial behavior of a tightly disciplined majority political party. It is obvious to anyone who watches the conduct of our majority politicians in Ottawa that something is dreadfully wrong. The basic ideas of democracy and rule by the people for the people, need to be returned to the people. This is a radical idea in Canadian politics because our national politicians have been accustomed to being isolated by party discipline in distant Ottawa.
Canadians need a Referendum-Recall Act, to amend or cancel legislation, Supreme Court decisions, change our Constitution and give Canada back to Canadians.
Politicians in a majority-disciplined position as the Liberals in Ottawa, are fiercely opposed to this type of legislation. They are comfortable with the Ottawa imposed dictatorship, the constant world traveling, the billion dollars missing at HRDC and the 22 ongoing police investigations. They are extremely reluctant to share power with the people. They prefer to keep Canadians in a dependent child-like state.
They will attempt to stop, delay, change or manipulate these proposals out of existence as they did with the APEC inquiry.
Opportunities to initiate a Referendum-Recall Act will only present themselves after a long period of mismanagement by government (as in the HRDC scandal) or extremely arrogant moves by politicians (as in Mulroney of the stacked Senate and the imposed GST).
A Referendum-Recall Act would force politicians to pay attention to their constituents and be less isolated by party discipline in Ottawa. A Referendum-Recall Act could be designed to enable Canadians on a national level to address national issues or Canadians on a local level to recall their elected representative.
The Referendum-Recall Act should enable Canadians to initiate a referendum by a petition supported by 5% of the eligible voters on the current voters list. 50%+1 should be considered a majority and the result should be legally binding.
This does not mean government by referendum. It does mean that Canadians do not elect dictators to govern for a four-year stretch. It does mean that Canadians may not want to live in a judicial dictatorship of radical decisions by the Supreme Court. It does mean that Canadians want Ottawa to exercise fiscal responsibility.
The business of government should continue in the usual way.
Elections Canada or another designated bureaucracy should be delegated to organize and exercise the leadership necessary for effective and speedy referendum process. Because this system is new to Canadians, the media and a web page to advise Canadians should publish the issues. 
Destroyers in Halifax Harbour |
