Mess at the federal level

According to May 24th Citizen, http://bit.ly/12TpY9z, we now have confirmation that electoral fraud did happen for the purpose of diverting other-than-conservative voters from the polls last election day, but that the Conservatives would have won the targeted ridings regardless of electoral fraud. The expected reaction from the Canadian public is ‘no harm done by this sophomoric, silly prank by overzealous volunteers in the local conservative campaign office’.

The reaction of Prime Minister Harper to the Senate scandal may be a ‘day late and a dollar short’, but the expected reaction from the Canadian public is ‘no harm done because the Senate is going to police itself more carefully in the future, and a head rolled out of the PMO’.

Foreign workers to mine coal in northern Alberta are required because the need for Mandarin-speakers with the required mining skills can only be filled in China. The expected reaction from the Canadian public is, ‘the requirement to speak Mandarin is no doubt essential for safety in the mines, and there is no need to concern ourselves about the pollution from burning the coal because it will be in China’. Nor, on a related issue, should we concern ourselves about the cancer-causing effects on the people in India and elsewhere who are the end-users of the asbestos mined in Quebec for export only.

The list goes on and on, and when questions are raised by Canadians through the media or by the opposition in the House of Commons, we hear talking points prepared in the PMO from which the speaker may not deviate regardless of the relevance of the script to the actual question asked.

I consider myself to be an average Canada: I read newspapers, magazines and online, listen to radio, TV and online, and I comprehend and retain most of the information that I glean. I have watched John Baird get promoted from talking head to being allowed to improvise the core message to more or less answer the specific question posed. I am aware that Pierre Poilievre is moving through the same process. Now the woman (whose name I can’t recall, but whose voice I can’t forget) who is an ‘orthopedic surgeon’ and therefore presumably to be trusted to tell the truth is following in the footsteps of John and Pierre.

The power that is in the PMO is growing to an alarming extent to the detriment of Canadian society and governing structure. The Conservatives have been in power long enough that blaming the Liberals is no longer a valid excuse for continuing the climate of graft and corruption. However, the party that proposes electoral reform with a comprehensible and comprehensive plan to replace ‘first-past-the post’ with proportional representation and promises that the legislation to achieve the change will be the first order of business upon election will get my vote and, I suggest, the vote of most of the majority of Canadians who usually do not vote. If that party actually carries out their promise, I will probably vote for them again, especially if the local candidate appears to be honourable.

An additional benefit from the resulting reduction in the power of the ruling party will be to reconstitute the Senate. We have only to look at the grid-lock in the United States, with their two elected houses, to know that an elected Senate is not viable. Obviously appointing political hacks is not viable either. The purpose of a chamber of ‘second sober thought’ is best accomplished by non-political Canadians. People who have been honoured with the Order of Canada seem to be likely candidates. Senators would then be independent of political party affiliation and would be able to fulfill their mandate to Canadian society.