Independent’s Day

As we wait with bated breath for the election call by a) associate Prime Minister Layton; b) the Gomery report; or c) the Duceppe / Harper coalition non-confidence vote, we ought to be thinking of some alternative to the present party system.

So many electors are disenchanted with the two old parties – the Grits and Tories – that they no longer trust any politician. The Liberals have had simply too many ‘scandals’ in their recent regime, while the new Conservatives are an unknown in their right-wing wanderings. The NDP are unelectable because of their dismal provincial records, except maybe in Saskatchewan, that would-be voters in any province other than Quebec have little choice.

Politicians are fast catching up to our favourite most-disliked people (lawyers and dentists), however most people think their local MP is trustworthy – it is just that when they get caught up in the party apparatus that they become tainted goods. What that says to me is that we need to clean out the backrooms of the political parties: get rid of the Old Boy’s Club and the spin doctors, the party lobbyists, the bankrollers, the string-pullers.

One way to do this is to elect many more Independent members of parliament. We need candidates who will tell us that they are liberal, conservative or socialist in their thinking but that they do not belong to The Party. It would be refreshing to be able to say you supported a fiscal conservative with liberal social ideals who had a green thumb, but that would take some type of proportional representation and there isn’t going to be time to modernize our electoral system before the election call.

At present the Liberals steal platform ideas from the Conservatives and the NDP in some kind of a reciprocal hodgepodge of plank-swapping that leaves the electorate wondering just what political philosophy they do support coming polling day.

As for electing a member who is not in the majority and the riding suffering because of that, isn’t it about time our members looked after the best interests of all of us? Partisan politics only hurt us all in the end – look at the money that went into Shawinigan for no other reason than it was Chrétien’s riding. Idealism aside, we are likely headed for another minority government and a number of Independents could hold the balance of power – thus gaining attention for their ridings.

Could we elect representatives without the party connections and apparatchiks? Could the House function without the party hacks in the background? Could candidate campaigns be funded by other than party contributions and patronage-seekers? Could we run a national election without ‘voting’ for a Prime Minister? The answer is yes.

Suppose all or many candidates ran for election as Independents, stating their philosophy as being liberal, conservative or socialist or whatever other governance theory they hold, would that make it easier for the electors to cast their ballot? Would you find it easier to vote for an Independent (liberal) knowing that on any issue they would vote their own liberal-thinking way instead of what the Liberal Party decided was the philosophy of the moment? Could you vote for an Independent (conservative) knowing that the fiscal policy he or she would follow would be truly conservative, not a policy defined by what the Conservative / Reform Party reads from polls?

It would be refreshing have an election campaign where candidates discussed their own stance on issues, not some watered-down party pap that is designed to be a comfortable pill that traditional Liberal or Conservative voters will swallow because it is The Party line. No more national debates, only local debates between people you might know. We might miss the pre-election handouts but it would be worth it just to avoid the Party Leader’s hyperbole that we must endure now.

At first glance you might wonder if your candidate Joe or Jane knows anything about foreign trade, defence, health and education, etc., but if you have voted for someone who knew nothing of these weighty topics before, did you do the right thing? Or did you send someone to Ottawa who would only follow the Party line on these matters? And did that Party line change after the election, as it did in Ontario?

Imagine a gathering of newly elected MPs selecting a Prime Minister after the election. They could wear different coloured hats like the Cardinals in Rome and hold a conclave to select the various Ministers based on quality, not team membership. The liberal thinkers could wear red hats, the conservatives blue, the socialist orange and the environmentalists green. Instead of the pointy hats, Down-Easters could wear yellow sou’westers and the Bloc could wear colourful toques. This would make for good television.

It would be refreshing to see a cabinet selected from the best politicians in the country rather than from the ranks of a party that may have at most half a dozen brilliant people. One only has to remember the problem Bob Rae had in filling cabinet posts when he surprisingly won an election to see where selection from outside a Party has merit. In fact, one has to wonder if either Martin or Harper will have enough quality members to fill cabinet positions after this election. Maybe Layton will end up as Associate Prime Minister again!

In the House, the Independents could sit in alphabetically arranged seats to discourage yelling across the floor at other parties and thus spend more time doing some serious work, voting on legislation based their own thinking, not blindly following a party line. Since there would be no such thing as a non-confidence vote we could move to a four year term and end the chaotic mess we seem to be headed for now.

Having a large number of Independents sitting in the House would indeed cause some confusion with the lobbyists as they would not know whose pocket to pad, or posterior to pat in their efforts to get federal funds or contracts. Perhaps we would have grants awarded on merit instead of party loyalty, judges appointed by their record of service instead of party membership, and contracts awarded on cost performance instead of backroom favours.

Inevitably, the Independent liberal thinkers and the Independent conservative thinkers would gather together for support and form an alliance, but with an election every four years these alliances would never attain the status of the old Party system with its attendant pork-barrelling and corruption.

Perhaps hoping for a large group of Independents running in the next election is unrealistic but I have to wonder how many ‘Liberals’ or ‘Conservatives’ would feel better voting for an Independent candidate whose views are either liberal or conservative rather than holding their nose and voting The Party in this next election.

Electing a number of Independents could lead to much needed election reform in Canada. We could mark the occasion as Independent’s Day. June 20 would be a good time for a Holiday – a great way to start the summer! Besides, we can’t wait until winter for an election – Layton and Martin will have the country bankrupted with pre-election giveaways by then.