The federal election of 2008 was thoroughly discouraging. 

Perhaps you’ve heard of win/win situations ? Well, this wasn’t one of those. This was a lose/lose/lose/lose/lose situation. The people of Canada lost about six months of "productivity" (and I use the term loosely) in the House of Commons while the election was held, and we lost about $300 million taxpayers’ dollars which was wasted on the election. The Conservatives called the election because they thought they were in a position to get a majority government, but they lost. The Liberals didn’t really want an election at this time and they lost about 25% of they seats they held. The NDP thought they could end up as the Official Opposition party but they lost.

Anyone who had been following Canadian politics could have predicted that we’d end up with another Conservative minority government. Wonder why the tall foreheads of the Conservative Party couldn’t see what the rest of Canadians could see ?

It seems clear that political parties, like labour unions, have outlived their usefulness.

What’s the problem ? 

Well, they’re almost too numerous to list, but here’s some of them.

It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that we had one of the lowest voter turnouts in history. Anyone who has ever watched a television excerpt of proceedings from the House of Commons knows that our MP’s behave worse than kindergarten kids in the school playground. You’ll also notice how many of the MP’s are skipping school. So, if the MP’s don’t take their responsibilities seriously, how can anyone expect voters to be any more responsible ? Why should a person waste the two hours it takes to vote when there’s virtually no difference between the three largest parties. One is as bad as the other.

Most voters who took the time to cast a ballot were faced with the task of picking the lesser of five evils. In the days leading up to the actual election day, I spent a lot of idle time comparing the various parties’ election platforms. In each case, I found that I supported that party’s position on certain issues but not the majority of the important issues. Then I got really discouraged when I realized that no matter which party "wins", the new Prime Minister is going to claim that his win is evidence that all of Canada supports all of his party’s policies and that he has a mandate to ram them down our throats. In fact, Stephen Harper’s performance during the next session of Parliament should reflect the fact that 62% (of those who voted) voted AGAINST him and 54% of the ridings in the country elected some other party’s representative.

Then there’s the ballot itself which doesn’t identify which party a candidate represents. All through the campaign we’re inundated with media advertising. The Conservatives promise this, the Liberals promise that, the NDP stand for something else. I remember when I was a kid listening to my parents’ opinions on the issue of voting for the candidate or voting for the party. Well, it’s clear these days that you’re voting for the party and if you don’t agree, then explain to me how the Prime Minister is allowed to expel an MP form the Conservation caucus because he spoke out against one of his party’s policies (remember Garth Turner) ?

Then there’s the first-past-the-post issue. The Conservatives won 46% of the seats with only 38% of the popular vote. That problem just HAS to get fixed.

Then there’s the issue of "free votes". A couple of times during the last session of Parliament and several times during the campaign, Harper talked about holding "free votes" on certain issues that come before Parliament. How ludicrous is that ? Every vote should be a "free vote" ! It is an MP’s responsibility to determine his or hers constituents’ wishes and vote according to those wishes when that issue comes before Parliament without regard for their own opinions or the opinions of their party’s leader.

All of these problems illustrate the need for some significant electoral reform in Canada.

What do you propose to do about it ?

We propose the creation of the Electoral Reform Party of Canada - the ERPC - which will work towards enacting some real electoral reform, culminating in the abolishment of party politics.

There are people (like my father-in-law, for instance) who will say it’ll never happen, and traditionally that would be true. Typically, the people who run the party would never do themselves out of a job, but in this case, it is the ultimate goal right from the start.

However, in order to get the required legislation onto the legislative agenda, the ERPC would need to control that agenda, which is the responsibility of the governing party, so the ERPC would have to win an election.

So how would this work ?

First off, our federal MP’s need to realize that they serve at the pleasure of their constituents.

How ludicrous is it that an MP can get elected as a representative of one political party and then, one day, decide to "cross the floor" and switch parties ? Would the National Hockey League have let Wayne Gretsky cross the ice and play for the other guys if his team starting losing ? I don’t think so ! MP’s should not be allowed to "cross the floor". If an MP becomes disenchanted with the party they represent, then they need to resign their seat and contest the riding in a by-election, if they think they can get the support. (Why do I think that this has got something to do with losing out on pension benefits if they resign their seat ?)

Most Canadians who work for a living know in the back of their minds that if their work performance doesn’t measure up, then they can lose their job. We need to apply the same principle to our elected representatives. We need to enact recall legislation so that if 50% plus one of the eligible voters in a riding don’t think their MP is representing their wishes, then that MP gets fired and a by-election gets held.

Then there are longer term goals. The ultimate goal of the ERPC would be to abolish party politics. It would sure put an end to the "first-past-the-post" versus "proportionate representation" debate. And don’t tell me that it would never work - it’s worked in Switzerland for over a thousand years. But it’s going to take quite a few significant changes to the current parliamentary procedures, not to mention the Constitution.

Any candidate who wants to run under the ERPC banner would have to swear an oath to determine the wishes of the majority of their constituents and vote accordingly to those wishes, without regard for their own opinions.

Constituents’ wishes would be determined by means of a web site on which upcoming topics would be posted and constituents could express their opinions. Anyone on the voters’ list could register using an email address and a password which would prevent fraudulent input.

During the time between the election and the start of the next session of parliament, the elected MP’s would get together and elect the Prime Minister from amongst themselves. The MP’s would use the web site to know who their constituents want them to vote for.

Until such times as party politics is abolished, there would always be an identified ERPC candidate in each riding. Unlike the current situation where the candidates that lose go back to their former lives, the ERPC candidate will have a part-time job which pays $25,000 per year between elections until they get elected. One of their main responsibilities would be to function as moderator of the web site forum so that they can stay aware of the important issues.

So, do you support electoral reform ?

Would you donate money to start the Electoral Reform Party of Canada ?

Would you stand for election as the ERPC candidate in your riding ?