Canada has a new government this week. Monday’s by-election wins combined with five Members of Parliament trading their elected party affiliation for the big red umbrella means we have a Liberal majority government in power starting this week.
There are many unfortunate consequences from this, for those serving on Parliament Hill, and for Canadians.
Not only does Prime Minister Mark Carney command a slim majority in the House of Commons, the many parliamentary committees that do the work of governance are changing. Under a minority government, the Liberals did not have a majority of seats in parliamentary committees. There were more opposition MPs on those committees than government MPs. Meaningful opposition, not just political gamesmanship, could — in theory — improve legislation. Under a majority government, the Liberals will have a majority of all parliamentary committees and appoint the chair of said committees. That means smoother sailing for government legislation, and an opposition that becomes weaker and less effective.
Opposition leader and Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has railed over and over again about the recent floor crossings — including that of Marilyn Gladu, who jumped the good ship S.S. Conservative for the Liberals. Poilievre said it goes against the wishes of voters in that riding. Maybe, and a Conservative like Gladu was an unexpected defection. But Poilievre has been supportive of floor crossers when they traded their Liberal coffee cups for Conservatives.
Poilievre is right, though: floor-crossing MPs do not accurately reflect the view of their constituents. That is not because of the actions of those MPs, rather it is because of the political system as a whole — highlighting the need for voting reform.
How many times in elections have you had to hold your nose to vote for a candidate because you liked the party, but not the person? Or vice versa. There have been some elections where the right candidate has been running for the wrong party.
Recently, I gained insight into local municipal and regional elections in Germany through one of our sons who lives there. He had to vote for the first time and their ballot was enormous, over one metre wide. There were up to 93 votes on one ballot depending on the district you lived in.
The key takeaways from this are a voter could choose both a party and a candidate. In fact, a voter could also vote for a party, and a slate of candidates, and exclude certain candidates if they wanted. Candidate votes were ranked, so if your number-one choice did not get in, your vote would be transferred to your second choice.
The election took up to 12 days to count all the results. Ballots were double confirmed by human eyes, and no computers or artificial intelligence was used. Voter turnout was about 75 per cent. The result, minority governments, voting coalitions, and compromise. All hallmarks of responsive government.
This system applies to all levels of government in Germany, something we could learn from here in Canada.
Majority governments do place too much power onto the ruling party, and for a term that is too long. Too much damage can be wrought by a majority government that stays in power too long – either through corruption or by complacency.
The best governance happens when there are minority parties working together. Many parties in one legislature act as a check on abuse of power.
If Poilievre wants to rail against floor crossing, he could try to get his own house in order — or he could support voting reform and change the system. Given the outcome of this past week in politics, he’ll have to wait three or four years!
This column was originally published in the Apr. 15 print edition of the Morrisburg Leader.
Discover more from Wandering with Phil
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.