Generation XYY of the neo-cons, Tasha Kheiriddin and Adam Daifallah are now election bloggers at Macleans. They replace their elders,Jason Kenney, Rob Anders, and Ezra LeRant as the newest generation of the same old same old Replublican Conservatives in Canada.
Anyways, Tasha and Adam join Paul Wells, Warren Kinsella (the whore that roars), Colby Cosh and Maude Barlow. All that's missing is Buzz Hargorve.
Not a NDP supporter amongst this motely crew. But what else is new, we know that to the MSM and theirpet bloggers this election is the same old same old, Liberals vs. Tory's.
In her latest blog installment Tasha takes Buzz's call for Strategic voting to heart and admits that she is going to have to vote for Olivia Chow, since she lives in the riding of Trinity Spadina. She says she is forced to do this cause of the first past the post system we have of regressive representational democracy.
So far only two parties have called for election reform, the NDP and the Green's. Sure the Conservatives have revived the old Reform Party program, like Frankenstiens ghost, of an elected Senate,with the Liberals piping up with a "Me Too".
While I don’t believe out-and-out proportional representation is the answer, a review of the federal system is in order.Such a review includes many options, including making the Senate an elected, regionally representative body, electing some MPs at large while others represent ridings, or moving to a type of preferential ballot. MP recall laws would also hold politicians’ feet to the fire between elections.
Senate reform is as dead as a door nail. Waste of time and space. It's an outdated institution. The idea of the Triple E senate so favoured by Preston Manning, and the Reformers that are left in the Conservatives, Ralph Klein and Link Byfield is NOT electoral reform. As I have written before, we need to ABOLISH THE SENATE.
And while Link Byfield is a Senator in waiting along with a half dozen other Reform Party members in Alberta, when the last provincial election was held the majority of Albertans did NOT vote for our Senators in waiting. We either ignored the phoney election, abstained or spoiled out ballots.
Which says something considering that Alberta is the home of the Triple E senate lobby. If you can't get enough folks to support the idea here, its time to drop it.
Nor do we need American Style Republican Recall of MP's. This idea along with Term Limits failed in the U.S. and has failed miserably in B.C. where it was used to attempt to destablize the NDP provincial government.
Recall originated in Alberta back in the 1920's on the left. The United Farmers of Alberta and the Canadian Labour Party, under William Irvine had in their platforms recall as well as referendums. But once in power this too was shelved as unworkable within a parlimentary democarcy of the British model.
Recall is uneccasary in a parlimentary system where elections are held every four to five years. By the time one gets a petition launched, signed and passed by the courts, its election time give or take a year. As the B.C. experience has taught us.
What is needed is to have set dates for election. Proportional Representation, and eliminate the Senate (which discriminates against renters and those who do not own $5000 worth of free standing property, and owning a car doesn't count).
By getting rid of the Senate we open up the House of Commons to expand the number of seats, and I would further suggest a reduction in the size of Constiuencies, so as to have more not less MP's.
Meanwhile I am heartened to see that despite her neo-con agenda, Tasha has to take the plunge and vote strategically for the only person able to defeat the Liberal in her riding, Olivia Chow.
See the Conservatives can work with the NDP.
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