Civility in Canadian Politics - Has it declined in recent years? COMMENTS TO THE BANFF FORUM Saskatoon, Sk -- September 12th, 2014 By Hon Ralph Goodale, PC, MP (Wascana) Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada The short answer is yes, especially in the past nine years. There is less camaraderie. Less good will. Hyper-partisanship seems to trump everything else. Political opponents are seen not just as competitors to be defeated in elections, but moral evil-doers to be destroyed. And the ends will always justify the means. There are exceptions in Parliament. I think of Michael Chong on this panel. And Peter Stoffer in the NDP. And Bob Rae and Justin Trudeau among my Liberal colleagues and their commitment to what Laurier would call sunny ways. But they often get swamped in a scripted sea of abuse. Their good will is repaid with insults and invective. This damages the dignity and the usefulness of Parliament. That undermines democracy. It consolidates power in the hands of a small autocratic Executive Branch and the zealous, unelected boys in short pants who serve in the backrooms of that Executive. To some extent, the cause of Parliaments malaise is bad behaviour by individual MPs. But to a larger extent, that bad behaviour is just a symptom of a larger problem. And that larger problem is Parliamentary structure and procedure that is not geared to reflect the best of democracy. My Leader, Justin Trudeau, has acknowledged that point, and has taken some bold steps to start to change things: * regular pro-active disclosure of MP expenses; * a more non-partisan, non-patronage and truly independent Senate; and * stronger Access-to-Information rules and procedures. Justin has also refused to respond Attack-Ad for Attack-Ad to the abuse that is thrown his way. Let me mention six other ideas that merit consideration: * a preferential ballot instead of our first-past-the-post system; * more free votes in the House of Commons; * stronger, clearer and real Parliamentary control over government spending; * a truly independent Parliamentary Budget Officer; * explicit limits on the use of Omnibus Bills and Prorogation; * adequate funding, investigative powers and enforcement authority for Elections Canada to root out voter suppression and electoral fraud. These things could make a tangible difference toward greater civility in politics and better Canadian democracy.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 23:28:58 +0000
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