change

Stephen Harper plans to introduce a bill that would establish fixed federal election dates every four years. He's not suggesting a fixed-date system a la the US: the House of Commons could still defeat the government. An exception would also be made for "cases where the government is prevented from governing," although Harper hasn't defined that yet.

Harper claims that fixed election dates, which some provinces already have for their own elections, will level the playing field by preventing governments from calling elections for short-term political advantage.

According to this CBC article, Canada's current system is in the minority. But that doesn't necessarily mean its broken and needs fixing. One expert claims fixed election dates would increase voter turnout, but that's subject to debate.
Henry Milner, an eminent student of Canada's electoral system, points out that of the 40 comparable democracies in the world, Canada is one of only 12 that does not have fixed election dates. That is statistically interesting, but significant only if the 12 are prone to murder, mayhem and other consistently anti-democratic behaviour.

Milner argues that fixed election dates would reverse the trend to increasingly lower turnout in Canadian elections. Unhappily, turnout seems to have a life of its own, unaffected by winter, summer or voter contentment; and the consistent trend is downwards.

Canadians curious about the effect of fixed election dates could consider the U.S., where elections have long been carved in stone. American voter turnout is so consistently low that the U.S. now ranks 139th in the world in voter participation - although Canada at 77 is hardly in a position to boast.
If a government could be defeated in Parliament anyway, I don't see how fixed-date elections are either a drastic change or a huge improvement. But as I'm new to the parliamentary system, I may well be missing subtle - or not-so-subtle - issues.

Your thoughts? I know many of you don't read on the weekends, so I'll look for your replies on Monday.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

april 28: day of mourning for workers killed and injured on the job

Image
April 28 is the Day of Mourning for Workers Killed or Injured on the Job.  The canary is a potent symbol and a powerful reminder.  This tiny, fragile bird was the only thing that stood between miners and a suffocating death. The world over, workers are little more than canaries in their own workplaces. No worker should ever be killed or injured because of work, yet it happens on a regular basis. The pandemic has put the spotlight on the many dangers that workers face every day -- but it hasn't led to employers or governments bringing an end to dangerous practices. In Canada and the US, a huge percentage of workers don't even have access to paid sick leave. And the pandemic has only extended the long reach of precarious work. When workers do not have guaranteed work, or don't get enough hours, or earn too little to survive, they are much less likely to speak up about unsafe working conditions. Employers know this. In the precarious workplace, all too often there is scant att
Read more

welcome to toronto, where everything is 1½ hours away

This is my favourite time of year in the GTA. The August humidity has cleared, the air is light and breezy, the sun sparkles during the day and you need a light jacket at night. It brings me back to our first month in Canada. After a pressure-cooker of a summer, we spent our days unpacking and leisurely taking care of business, then sat in our first-ever backyard and enjoyed the peace, both outward and inner. Sheer bliss. Next week we're off to our first-ever Canadian cottage experience, which I anticipate being much like our old upstate New York cabin experiences, hence wonderful. Looking at the map, the Kawarthas have to be at least 3 hours from Mississauga. But predictably, the Lake Edge Cottages brochure and website say it's an hour and a half. Ask anyone how long it takes to get anywhere from Toronto, and that's what they'll tell you: an hour and a half. I don't know if this is peculiar to the Toronto area, or if it's generally Canadian, but why does ever
Read more

what i'm reading: the sword and the shield: the revolutionary lives of malcolm x and martin luther king jr.

Image
When I read a review of The Sword and The Shield: the Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. , I knew it was a book I'd been waiting for someone to write.  I despise the way Martin Luther King, Jr. has been sanitized and diluted for public consumption. The version of King that is widely celebrated is a pile of sentimental goo that the real King would not have recognized, let alone endorsed. King's radical legacy is reduced to a kind of bland "why can't we all just get along". His memory is used as a pacifier. King is officially lauded because of the fear of Black violence, and the ruling class' desire to promote docility among Blacks. So the public doesn't see King. Doesn't see the King who railed against the U.S. war in Southeast Asia, the King who marched with labour unions, the King who knew that without economic justice, desegregation was a hollow promise. The anti-capitalist King. The anti-imperialist King. The anti-war King
Read more