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Pastimes : My House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (6508)	3/29/2003 2:16:39 PM
From: Solon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7689

One of Canada's huge produce companies (Peak of the Market) was talking the other day about a number of produce contracts being cancelled without overt reason, but with a clear suggestion that it related to the Government stance on the war. I have come across other instances in editorials and such which escape me at the moment. Canada has tried to carve out a niche as a peace keeping force. The little bit of offensive military power we have in such a tiny population base is best saved for the time when it might truly matter. __________________________ "I think part of the "problem" Canada has is a French-Canadian prime minister. Correct?" I don't know about that. It keeps the bitterness and devisiveness down to a tolerable level between two cultures that are not truly merged. Some would say that Canada makes too much of compromise. We have, after all, spent billions over the years to placate the Native and Metis and French populations. On the other hand, there can hardly be anything worse than a civil war where brother fights brother. So far we have manged to avoid such a tragedy. I came across this poster on a BB who makes some points that are valid... freerepublic.com "To my American friends: many express understandable exasperation at Canadians' seeming acceptance of what must seem often a very out of touch government. Unfortunately, our present political system breeds this disconnect between what the population may want and what our policians feel they acually must do. Our parliamentary system has virtually none of the checks and balances built into the American system. The result is a population essentially cut off from the ability to influence government in any meaningful way. Let me elaborate... In theory, a Prime Minister and cabinet serve at the pleasure of the House of Commons, with the requirement to forward policies that can maintain a majority vote in the House. In practice however this is a fantasy. A non-confidence vote generally forces an election. You can't realistically expect members of the ruling party (in any nation) to knowingly vote themselves out of office. In the American system, where a congressman is not entirely at the mercy of the President for their job, it is not out of the question for a representative to vote against their party's majority if they know they'll face the rath of their constituents. This can lead to compromise and alliances appropriate for a particular issue that we just don't enjoy. As well, because Americans feel that they have the ability to influence their elected representatives, there is a much greater willingness to "man the phones" en masse to influence a vote. This does not happen anywhere near the same degree in Canada as frankly it's basically pointless. A member of parliament that votes against his PM runs the very real risk of losing all party privileges, being excluded from any chance of a position in the cabinet, and realistically finding the PM unwilling to sign their nomination papers for the next election. Our PM has effectively imperial power. A Canadian Prime Minister is as close to a potentate as is possible in an otherwise democratic country. While again in theory, the Senate has the constitutional ability to block a bill originating in th House of Commons, in fact convention has destroyed any real power in this regard. A bill sent to the Senate essentially becomes law after 3 readings, even though the Senate can hold it up to try and embarass the government. However, since Senators are appointed (by the PM!) they have little democratic legitimacy, so a determined block on a bill passed by a democratically elected House would create a constitutional crisis unwanted and unseen since the King/Byng affair of the early/mid 1900's. An all-powerful PM, members not truly free to vote the wishes of their ridings and the lack of checks and balances creates a situation where a PM can basically rule at will as long as he doesn't totally alienate his cabinet. Just to put the icing on the cake, realize that we have no concept of confirmation for judges and cabinet members. All are appointed (judges at the federal and Supreme Court level) once again by the PM...there is no recourse should a blatantly political appointment of an unqualified individual occur. Further, we have no mechanism for recall. Tag on our riding configuration, where unlike in the U.S. with its electoral college that requires a President receive a broad range of support outside the major population centers and you see the recipe for a very unrepresentative government. If a party in a federal election manages to get few seats in Atlantic Canada, does well in Quebec and then cleans clock in Ontario, federal elections are effectively decided before the polls in Manitoba and all points west even close. Frankly I'm amazed westerners even bother to vote at all anymore. The situation is NOT healthy, IMHO. Americans wanting to make some sense out of Canada's political process need only to be aware of the fundamental difference between the creation of our two nations. The founding of the U.S. was about liberty and rejection of an overbearing government acting out of concert with the needs and rights of the colonies. Yours was a clear rejection of overbearing centralized authority. Canada's independence was about replacing British parliamentary rule with a Canadian-based duplicate to a degree. There was never a move to decentralize power to the provinces in the same way the U.S. tried to separate the power of the federal branches and the states. Our Supreme Court was an element of the British government until well into the last century. Add in the economic equalization policies at the heart of our confederation and you get a system designed to strengthen the hold of thr center on the regions, not reduce it. Bottom line...Canadians increasingly feel detached from and irrelevant to the the actions of our federally elected officials. It pays for the feds to, instead of trying to stregthen our national unity, actually play the regions off one another in order to build defendable voting blocks. The Liberals have no desire greater than to maintain power, and while I know the Dems can be easily accused of this the rot is far deeper up here, IMO."