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.