If you contribute your cash to a man in a bar selling expensive watches for $10, or get into card games with people you don’t know, or believe the man on the phone you’ve never met before who tells you that Consolidated Moose Turds is going to go to $25 tomorrow morning so buy now, well, as they say, a fool and his money are soon separated.
Similarly, if you’re asked to “invest” in any of a number of public saviours telling you that a contribution to their operation will all but ensure a new and fairer voting system for Canada and that they have been busy emailing MP’s and the Prime Minister and Proportional Representation is all but a done deal – especially if you would make a generous donation – my advice would be to call back the Consolidated Moose Turds guy and buy a bunch.
The ignorance of Canadians about their system of governance takes the breath away. They will pour money at Fair Vote Canada, Dogwood Initiative, Leadnow, and others like them and do it over again, as those professional do-gooders work their buns off lobbying MP’s of every party for Proportional Representation. They faithfully follow up with the encouraging news that there are now umpty dump Canadians, political swords unsheathed, spreading brochures in the offices of MP’s and the feedback is most encouraging – one more effort (your cheque would be appreciated) should get the job done.
Folks, if you think you and your member of parliament have anything to do with changing the voting system in this country, you’ve never given up your faith in Santa Claus. If you think there will be any change to the voting system that remotely resembles reform, you must be Canadian because your capacity for self-delusion is limitless.
This all started when, after the 2015 election, Trudeau said that this was the last election to be held under First Past The Post. Wow! Let’s have a big public debate! Whoopee, democracy is coming and that will shut up boo-birds like Rafe Mair!
Well, not so fast. Here’s how the spontaneous, democratic expression of uncontrolled public opinion will take place. The government, chaired by the local, completely independent, unbiased, uncommitted, MP will hold wide open democratic hearings, record all viewpoints, then report everything back to the Prime Minister who will pass it all on, unedited, to the Liberal caucus, who will be part of a completely “free vote” in the House of Commons.
I smelled not a rat but the usual nest of elitist rats from their clubs in Toronto. One didn’t need to be there to hear the whispers, don’t go too far Pierre, oh sorry, I mean Justin, no referendum now and no new system that erodes the benign and beneficial influence of The Family Compact Party whose spirit we embody for Canadians right across this great land or ours. Do it the good old Ontario way, wrap it in maple leaves, and get the MP’s all singing its praises!
What’s “It”?
Why good old FPTP with that transferable ballot add on. Do that, and “normal” is safe for generations.
Why not a referendum, I politely asked? Is that because the last one you had, Mulroney had the crap kicked out of him west of the Lakehead where voters saw that all this ranting, raving, and flag-waving for Canada was to cover up special goodies for Quebec and Ontario and to distract BC from the sham of a new Senate? That one? The one you’re still explaining away if you even admit it happened!
Now, maintaining my traditional cool and dignity, I pointed out that there was a large conflicting interest between the voter and the politician. The voter wanted more and better choices and real power to his MP while the main parties wanted something that looked different but changed nothing.
To the voter, why should he/she, not the House of Commons, decide how their legislature is selected?
To the politician, well… MP’s are blah, blah, blah.
Now Trudeau has called the whole thing off.
Gracious me! What a surprise! He wasn’t going to get his way, the elite which includes the Oil industry that has the print media in its hip pocket too, wouldn’t accept reform that actually reformed anything so the party was called off.
This means, of course, that Fair Vote Canada and the Dogwood Initiative will stop their campaign for money to lobby MP’s for Proportional Representation, right? Right, just as the stock hustler will pack it in when Consolidated Moose Turds bombs out tomorrow morning!
You can take this to the bank. People with noble ideas for which to use your money never quit – the world is full of gullible people and there is no shortage of noble ideas or stocks just like Consolidated Moose Turds.
Never fear, if you have faith in your MP and his ability to obey the people, it’s not over. The aforementioned noble citizens’ groups are busy printing up documents and petitions for your continuing lobbying use.
And, oh yes, these efforts cost money and…
Another solid overview of what really goes on….just past the politician’s staged grins. Thanks Rafe.
[…] Let Those Who Know Best make the decisions […]
Too many political non-profits profit by milking money from the unsuspecting. In many ways, they have made it easier for the elected officials as they act as stand-ins with their written scripts all neat and tidy.
Nothing will replace the impact of individual, letters, emails, phone calls and one on one meetings with your MP’s.
Neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives will deliver significant electoral reform ever. In BC we have a shot at Proportional Representation via the BC NDP and BC Greens.
Rafe, I certainly take your point that politicians have an inherent conflict of interest with regard to electoral reform, which is why initiatives such as the Charter Challenge are so important (http://charterchallenge.ca) – they give us a route around the politicians. Nonetheless, since politicians hold the primary instrument of power (the ability to pass a new election law), convincing them to make a change is a possibility that we shouldn’t discount completely – occasionally there is a process that gives us a legitimate shot at reform via this route. The 2005 BC referendum was one example of that (of course, the politicians of the day decided that 42 was greater than 58, so they didn’t make the change, but it might have succeeded if the level of support then had been a touch higher). Next year’s referendum in BC is another possibility, and I do think that it’s worth the fight. Sure, there are any number of ways that it might fail, but to dismiss it out of hand as a possible path to reform begs the question of what a more reliable line of attack might be. Where would you suggest reform advocates invest their energies if not in this?