March 29, 2011

No Plan to Invite Green's Elizabeth May to the Upcoming Televised Debate


The broadcast consortium responsible for the upcoming televised leaders debate has decided to exclude Elizabeth May of the Green Party.

During the last Federal election May participated in the debates, inspiring substantial controversy around the topic of who should be invited to the televised event.

In the opinion of the consortium this time around, only the leaders of those parties who have elected representation in Parliament will be invited to participate. Despite the frustrated reaction from May herself, I truly believe that the consortium is completely in the right.

Elizabeth May has herself failed to become an MP and her party has never elected a single representative to the House of Commons. That right there is grounds enough to be excluded from any kind of nationwide debate. Its my opinion that the Green Party should focus on building its grassroots movement instead of attempting to jump into the "big game" dominated by the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois. It seems that in the opinion of Canadians, there isn't any room for the Green Party.

Idealism just doesn't work for Canadians when there are so many more pressing issues that must be addressed. If the Greens expect to have a chance in upcoming elections, they need to broaden their appeal to the average Canadian.

Will they re-evaluate their position and consider changing some aspects of their idealistic platform to appeal more widely to the nation?

Anything in that ballpark has yet to be seen.

What's your opinion?

Can Fixed Election Dates and a Parliamentary System Co-exist?

(title acts as a link to the Globe & Mail website article "We don't have fixed election dates, and can't")

NO.


Right above this text is an image of a flag.
Certainly not the Canadian flag.
Absolutely the American flag.

There is one thing that a lot of Canadians desire: fixed election dates. They have the potential to give Canadian politics a measure of predictability; certainly something that we do not have now.

Well that's all warm and fuzzy, but the question is what would we have to sacrifice in order to get this long sought after stability?

The answer: everything.

The way the Canadian Parliamentary system functions is such that our legislative and executive branches of government are meshed together. Our Prime Minister (whoever it may be) is only our Prime Minister because he is elected within his political party to lead it. If that political party gains the largest number of seats in the House of Commons after any election, it makes the leader of the party the leader of Canada.

That is simply not how it works in the United States, a nation that DOES indeed have fixed election dates. There, the political system is much more compartmentalized, meaning that elections for different aspects of government come at different times and are, in some cases, executed differently.

What I'm trying to get at is that for those Canadians who do understand and embrace our Parliamentary system of governance, fixed elections dates aren't even on their radar. Part of the excitement of Canadian politics is that when we're in a minority situation, everything can change in a matter of days.

This coming election is expected to cost $300 million taxpayers dollars, and while that may sting in the minds of many Canadians, seeing as how its the fourth election in seven years, it is the price we must pay for who we are: a modern, Constitutional monarchy with a Parliamentary system.

Our checks and balances are better then those of the United States, and despite the very recent fall of the Conservative minority government, our system offers a piece of mind for the future that is unrivalled in the world.

Except maybe by the United Kingdom.
Duh...

March 28, 2011

CBC.ca Vote Compass


(title acts as a direct link to the cbc.ca vote compass quiz)

Well folks, its Election time again!

Over the course of the next five weeks I will be posting as much as I possibly can. The reason its been so long since my last post is simple: schoolwork! This time of the year is what many consider "crunch-time", and I apologize to those who read this! I'll try to not let this happen again!

But, I digress. So with the passing of a motion of non-confidence, the Opposition Parties in the House of Commons have once again brought down the minority Conservative government. Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked for the dissolution of Parliament this past Saturday, March 26 2011. The Election date has been set for Monday, May 2 2011, exactly five weeks to the day from now.

The reason I'm posting this and also the reason why my first post in regards to the upcoming Federal election isn't about the parties or the inherent politics themselves, is because I want to spread the word about the new test the CBC has formulated. The questions in the test itself are quite detailed and they concern issues that are more-or-less common knowledge. That, in my opinion, makes the test valid and its my view that the results are quite valuable.

So, what are you waiting for?
Go to the website and do the test!

Feel free to post the results of your test in the comments section at the end of this entry!

All the best,
Dan