My Platform: Electoral Reform

The fact that you can be optimistic about a majority government in Canada with only 40% of the vote means that far too many Canadians are going unrepresented in Parliament under the first past the post system. In addition to that cynicism about Government is not only rampant but in too many cases justified.

Some form of mixed proportional representation is needed to insure that all Canadians are represented in the parliament. I would, and already have suggested one system that I think would improve representation and encourage greater voter turnout.

Beyond fixing the size and shape of the parliament I think it's vitally important to increase the independence of Members of Parliament. Voting your conscience or voting with your riding rather than your party should be your prerogative as a member of parliament and not something given as a gift by your party leader. Harper promised and failed to deliver a free vote on almost every issue. There should be a free vote on every issue. If a party leader cannot command votes from his or her own party based on the merits of their case, perhaps they should not be leader. Just as the PM needs the confidence of Parliament the leader of each party should have the confidence of their MPs - without threats or coercion.

Finally there is the issue of cynicism and corruption. Breaching the ethical rules of the Canadian government and bureaucracy and/or breaking the laws that you are elected to make and enforce should be listed among the most serious crimes in Canada. If people do not have faith and confidence in their government and public servants the country cannot, on any level, function as it should. In other words peace and order are dependent upon good government.

I would propose a set of laws covering breach of public trust that would cover criminal actions as well as serious ethical breaches. These laws would be applicable to elected representatives as well as bureaucrats and all government employees or contract workers. Being convicted of a breach of public trust, all by itself, would mean that that individual could never again run for office, be appointed to office, lobby the government, be employed by the government, seek government grants or contracts or work in a leadership position with any company that worked on government contracts. Additionally being convicted of a breach of public trust in relation to an actual crime would result in a doubling of the sentence in addition to the above mentioned restrictions. Sentencing for public officials should be in keeping with sentencing for other individuals involved in similar crimes. If these measures sound harsh they are, and are meant to be. As I said this should be one of the most serious matters in Canadian law.

Next up on the list is education, which is vital not only to the Canadian economy but to Canadian democracy as well...coming soon

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Previous:
My Platform: Introduction
My Platform: Arts and Culture
My Platform: Poverty
My Platform: Business and Industry
My Platform: Crime
My Platform: Carbon Tax
My Platform: Labour and Workplace Reform

Green or Greed Canadians....make your choice

It sure didn't take long for our leader (using that loosely) Stephen Harper to refuse a meeting Jack Layton asked to call of the party leaders this week concerning the recent economic nosedive the markets have taken and strategize steps to ensure Canadian economic welfare. The PM would rather duke it out in front of Canadians instead of putting competition aside briefly to gather those leaders we rely on as taxpayers and Canadian citizens to plan for any downturns. Tell me, is this the man and the party you really want looking after our country in what may be a very stressful couple of years.

According to Wolfe Blitzer on CNN's The Situation Room today discussions on how long financial stress could last...their guess, a couple years at best....at best. That, a very scary scenario for all North America as well as global concerns of how strong the ship's vortex will be and if it will be strong enough to sink everyone, but Canadians better take cue, we are very close in every way to the ship's vortex, close enough to be sucked in pretty deep so we must now look to our future with the best plan and the best man.

The Green Shift Stephane Dion has taken on, a brave Liberal leader who knew would be criticized by taxpayers, media and party leaders alike, still took on the task to finally implement a federal plan, not just provincial, who looked into our future of Canada and as future Canadians as a whole. A Liberal leader who knew the odds were against him after the sponsor-ship scandal caused many to loose faith in the Liberal party, who was the underdog coming into this party, instead of waging a platform of false beliefs to ensure a win, stood by making Canada a leader in environmental issues knowing full well this will also drive our economy in the future more then any other plan that could be implemented at this point of North American lifestyle.

I have always stood by carbon taxing since reading the book Heat-How to Stop the Planet from Burning and stood by limitations over the past year when I realized how much junk I accumulated over many years and how much was unnecessary and felt horribly guilty from my contribution of wasteful junk, just because I could buy it, because I wanted it, because going to the nearest mall, building center or one stop shopping felt good. I realized after emptying my house, what I needed...and that was to limit and teach my children to limit themselves and find a way to help instead of hurt. I also had an epiphany of my own life...I needed to help fix my part in the destruction of the earth with all this junk now sitting in a dump somewhere emitting off toxic pollution while it slowly decomposes, I need to add my two cents everyday starting with learning limitations.

So many Canadian voters hear the word Carbon Tax and are duped into believing it is a bad tax but it is so important Canadians do their bit of homework and read what the potential it has for our future in economics and the fact is we all will be learning to limit our spending, one way or another at the given moment of what's brewing.



According to TD Canada Trust's report released today on "Time for a Vision of Ontario's Economy" that can be found on their website under Economics, Don Drummond, SVP and Chief Economist and Derek Burleton AVP and Director of Economic Studies, Ontario itself will benefit all around if they took a closer look at BC implemented Carbon Tax:



Ontario has already indicated an interest in cap-and-trade

in partnership with other North American players. One

challenge with the cap-and-trade option is that it may be a

fractured market and could take a while to mount. For

that reason, the Ontario government might want to take a

close look at what the B.C. government has been doing,

which is essentially a mix of all three options.



The tax begins at $10 per metric ton of CO2 equivalent and will incrementally

increase to $30 in five years and will raise close to

$1.5 billion per year in revenues when fully implemented

That will be recycled back to taxpayers in the form of lower

taxes. For Ontario, the driving force behind a carbon tax

is not merely to generate revenues for government, but to

effectively achieve behavioural change. Moreover, it could

create a source of funds for other elements of a sweeping

economic plan. Pg 16 of report.

This being said, I picked out some very important paragraphs from the report but there are many more to be made and I encourage all Canadians to read it even though it is based on the Ontario economy, the carbon tax and what it can do is explained in much economic detail and when Mr. Harper puts down the plans of this and throwing money only to those who he believes he can win votes is doing a great injustice to Canadians especially knowing what our future is potentially looking at.

I urge everyone to read as much as you can before this election, as Americans are now determining what President will do the best for the people based on the lies and deceit that has been happening and Barak Obama who was an underdog at one time, don't dismiss Stephane Dion so quickly because you hear the word TAX in his very heavy French accent. We need a Prime Minister in this term who fly's Red and White...and keep the blues for our southern friends.