A Radical Idea to Return to Government by The People Rather Than by One Person

In the United States today perhaps we are seeing the epitome of government by one person, at least in countries that claim to be democracies.

Here in Canada ever since Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau made his alleged famous “MPs are nobodies off Parliament Hill” remarks and started the concentration of power within the Prime Minister’s Office, which was increased by Stephen Harper, and if his control over his caucus is any indication would be increased even more by Pierre Poilievre, we have been heading in that direction.

The Canadian public, and to a degree the Canadian media, overwhelmed by American media and news sources seem to have come to accept that, and people tend to think they are voting for a Prime Minister (or Premier) when they go to the polls.

But that is not the way our system works. We have a parliamentary system where Parliament governs and the executive function is shared by a Cabinet where the Prime Minister is considered “first among equals”. The Prime Minister is not elected as Prime Minister but serves as Prime Minister by virtue of, not only the confidence of the House of Commons as a whole, but also the confidence of their caucus and Cabinet. It is because Trudeau last the coincidence of his caucus, not the electorate or his party, that he announced his intention to resign.

How do we change this attitude that the Prime Minister is elected as “ruler of Canada” rather than chosen to be Prime Minister by virtue of having the confidence of the House of Commons.

I propose we get rid of party leaders as they are now selected by the parties in what could be considered an undemocratic manner where new party members have a disproportionate amount of influence.

Parties should contest elections based on their party platforms and local candidates, not a mythical claim by their leaders to be running to be Prime Minister. Let us bring the candidates the voters actually cast their ballots for to the forefront of the election process and put the emphasis on local constituency debates. There could also be a series of debates on subjects where the parties select different spokespersons to debate in each subject area.

After the election each caucus of elected Members of Parliament should elect their leader and the Governor General will ask whoever is best positioned to have the confidence of the House to become Prime Minister.

Let us bring back government of the people back.

 

Postscript: for a more comprehensive look at our democratic system see On Democracy.

TRUMP

The American Trump Timeline:

• It can’t happen here.

• It won’t happen here.

• It isn’t happening here.

• It didn’t happen here.

• How did we let it happen here ?

I am a cisgender heterosexual white male of European descent, with a Christian upbringing (though an atheist), so essentially one of Trump’s chosen people, so even if I was American I would presumably have nothing to fear from Trump’s politics of hate of “the other”, except for my political views.

As a Canadian I am also somewhat isolated from the direct impact of the Trump regime. Living in Ontario, some have compared Doug Ford to Donald Trump. But I disagree. While there are some similarities Ford does not preach the politics of hate that Trump does. Ford is more of an old fashioned anti-big government, pro-business and privatization populist.

Federal opposition leader Pierre Poilievre’s rhetoric echoes Trump’s to some extent, especially his reliance on slogans over policy and while he does sometimes play to the worst elements of his party, particularly his support for the #FuckTrudeau convoy types, his emphasis is also not on the politics of hate. At least we hope.

The Canadian leader that is closest to Trump and who is implementing dangerously similar policies is Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a stain on all of Canada.

So as a Canadian I feel somewhat protected from the impact of Trump on America.

I believe we all feel a sense of disbelief in what is happening, that it cannot be as bad as it seems even though he is doing nothing he did not say he would do.

In some sense there was a sense of relief that his first term in office was not as catastrophic as it could have been. I believe to a large degree that was because his leadership team and Cabinet was made up of primarily traditional Republicans.

His new team and Cabinet are MAGA loyalists who have no allegiance to anyone but Trump, after themselves perhaps, and certainly not to the American people or Constitution.

Many believed America’s system of checks and balances would protect the country from any excessive or constitutional acts of Trump but when The President owns both Houses of Congress and even the Supreme Court there are no checks and balances and he can function as an elected dictator.

For many of us I believe the seriousness of the situation has not sunk in yet leading us take the situation lightly as a self-protective measure. It is hard to believe that this is taking place in a country once proud to call itself a beacon of democracy.

Perhaps it is the pettiness of it all that makes it all seem so unbelievable. But if there is one thing Donald Trump is, it is petty. Indeed, among all the words one could use to describe Donald Trump perhaps the most accurate and telling is “cruel”. He seems to relish being cruel and making people suffer more than anything else, even more than being worshipped.

The only hope is the emergence of an American resistance movement, the signs of which are already emerging.