Time for a Paradigm Shift
So, Paliament has been struggling under a minority government since the end of June last year. I say "struggling", because "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition" have refused to allow the government to do any work.
Stephen Harper, Gilles Duceppe, and Jack Layton have allowed the daily questions periods to gradually devolve from a semi-embarrassing spectacle to an all-out political slugfest.
I honestly don't know how any Canadian can hold their head up high and say "I like the way Parliament operates". It's always been something of a throwback: Opposition member stands during Question Period and asks their question; Government minister stands and answers. Usually accompanied by a childish soundtrack of hoots and catcalls from the Opposition benches. The question, more often than not, is something that the Opposition member a) knows the answer to and just wants to get the government to attempt to wriggle out of something embarrassing or b) is just an attempt to make a point at the expense of the government.
All the parties are to blame for the mess. The Conservatives have always done it to the Liberals and vice versa. It's just gotten very very bad in the last year. Is it something to do with minority governments? Was it this bad when Joe Clark was PM? I don't know: I was only 10 in 1979 and not politically aware.
There HAS to be a better way to run a country. The US doesn't have it. Giving one man veto power over the collected will of two groups of elected representatives is about as far from a magic bullet as you can get.
I don't know enough about consensus government to evaluate it. I understand that it "usually" works in the NWT Legislature, but I don't know the mechanics.
something has to give. I'd very, very much like to say that a Green government would change it, but that won't happen:
We have to change the system. Whether we re-write the rules or just bludgeon our MP's into civility, something has to be done.
Stephen Harper, Gilles Duceppe, and Jack Layton have allowed the daily questions periods to gradually devolve from a semi-embarrassing spectacle to an all-out political slugfest.
I honestly don't know how any Canadian can hold their head up high and say "I like the way Parliament operates". It's always been something of a throwback: Opposition member stands during Question Period and asks their question; Government minister stands and answers. Usually accompanied by a childish soundtrack of hoots and catcalls from the Opposition benches. The question, more often than not, is something that the Opposition member a) knows the answer to and just wants to get the government to attempt to wriggle out of something embarrassing or b) is just an attempt to make a point at the expense of the government.
All the parties are to blame for the mess. The Conservatives have always done it to the Liberals and vice versa. It's just gotten very very bad in the last year. Is it something to do with minority governments? Was it this bad when Joe Clark was PM? I don't know: I was only 10 in 1979 and not politically aware.
There HAS to be a better way to run a country. The US doesn't have it. Giving one man veto power over the collected will of two groups of elected representatives is about as far from a magic bullet as you can get.
I don't know enough about consensus government to evaluate it. I understand that it "usually" works in the NWT Legislature, but I don't know the mechanics.
something has to give. I'd very, very much like to say that a Green government would change it, but that won't happen:
- The country's not ready for us and we're not ready to govern.
- It would require changing the Constitution and that's not a can of worms that anyone really wants to open right now or anytime soon.
- Nobody, but nobody, knows what to replace it with. Changing a system of government isn't something you rush into. Not in non-desert countries, anyway.
- The whole bloody country's in a tizzy over a measly $100 million. Just imagine the reaction if King For a Day Gordo decreed that Parliament, as we know and despise it, was no longer the way things are done: Yow.
We have to change the system. Whether we re-write the rules or just bludgeon our MP's into civility, something has to be done.
posted by Gordo at 5/13/2005 07:30:00 a.m.
<< Home