We have a problem with our federal Parliament, and our provincial legislature. Actually, most provincial legislatures. The problem is called politics.
The problem, quite simply, is this: once the election is over, the place where our representatives go to discuss and debate for the good of the country or province becomes the place for highly partisan and rude shouting matches. The election is actually never over. It just switches location from the constituencies to the Parliament or legislatures.
And that doesn’t serve us well.
It wasn’t always that way. And it need not be that way. A much better system is in place in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, where members of the territorial houses of assembly are elected as individuals, without party affiliation. They then get together to elect a premier and cabinet. And if the premier or a cabinet minister screws up, he or she is voted out of that position, and somebody else takes over.
(Yukon, by the way, has party politics in place. The premier there is Darrell Pasloski, who in 1987 was the first owner and pharmacist of Shoppers Drug Mart in Yorkton.)
Democracy. Government of the people, by the people. Government by consensus instead of confrontation. Such novel concepts!
We are seeing today in the United States is democracy at its worst. Gridlock. Name-calling of the most vile kind in public debate. Every comment, every decision based not on what is best, but what will get the politician elected.
But let’s not be smug about that. We are better, but not by that much. The last Parliament and the majority Harper government were a disgrace.
But there is a bit of hope floating to the surface. The Speaker of our new House of Commons is Geoff Regan. He is the man in charge of maintaining order, of making sure that the rules of debate are followed, and that the work gets done.
The Speaker has power. He can remove members of Parliament who behave inappropriately, although that is seldom done. Mr. Regan, it seems, is more intent on ensuring that we have civil and meaningful debate. The Liberals promised as much during the election campaign, and after being humiliated in November, the Conservatives promised to be more respectful in Parliament.
Those were good signs. And Mr. Regan seems to be intent on guiding them in that direction.
This from a recent CBC News story:
“Speaker Geoff Regan’s interventions in question period have been unusual for their emphasis on respect and civility. Regan also stands out for identifying heckling MPs, having already done so on four separate occasions.
“Some of the more frequent words spoken by Regan have included ‘respect,’ ‘restrain,’ and ‘colleagues.’ In one of the … question periods … Regan asked those in the House to ‘restrain ourselves and listen to the other person’s argument, whether we like it or not, and sometimes we do not. However, let us try to listen and show respect for him or her.’”
It’s a good start. Imagine, if members of Parliament actually debate instead of shout, if every utterance isn’t tightly controlled by the leaders, if MPs can actually have original ideas and express them, if they can actually reflect the wishes and preferences of their constituent.
The cynic in me says, “Nope, never going to happen”. But the optimist in me has a slightly stronger voice that says, “Maybe, just maybe...”
Comments? Go to www.mytwobits.ca, where this and previous columns are also available.
