It seems like a long time ago that the federal election started, but here we are at the end. By the time the next edition of News Review is published we will have a new government in Ottawa.
If exit polls from advance voting hold true, Yorkton-Melville’s MP will be Cathay Wagantall and she will sit in the opposition benches across from a Liberal minority government.
Nine weeks ago, when the writ was dropped, that seemed like a remote possibility. The grits were solidly in third place. Predictions at the time had the possibility of the third party picking up the most seats on October 19 in the low single digits.
The NDP looked strong, but the efficiency of the Conservative vote kept them in the minority seat range for most of the election.
All in all, it was a tight three-way race, the tightest in Canadian history. All the parties struggled to find the ballot box question that would help them pull away from the pack. In the last couple of weeks, voters have revealed that this has always been a change election.
In all honesty, how could it not be? Stephen Harper has had 10 years as prime minister. That’s pretty much the limit Canadians have ever given anyone in the modern era (post-World War II).
It’s not over, we could still end up with a minority from any of the three parties, or a remote chance of a majority. As we enter the next mandate, we need to decide what kind of change is needed.
Whomever we elect, they will, minority or majority, have gotten their with much less than a plurality of the popular vote. The last Conservative majority was achieved with less than 40 per cent of voters.
This must change. In the 21st century, in a country as diverse as Canada, this is no way to elect a government.
We also need to start clawing back the power of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). It may have been Pierre Trudeau who started the consolidation of power in the PMO, but it is Harper who has turned it basically into a republican presidency.
Our system was set up so that the House of Commons would hold the power, not the prime minister.
The Senate is another institution that requires reform. It will not be abolished, but that does not mean it can’t be made relevant. We should be looking at elections and term limits.
Whatever else happens in the next Parliament, strengthening our democratic institutions is a priority Canadians support. We need to keep reminding our MPs of that.
