A political earthquake is rumbling across Canada.
ThatB次元官网网址檚 my hunch. Check it out. Unlike the geological Big One that will sooner or later smash into coastal B.C., the country-wide shakeup of government and economy has already started.
Demand is growing for change in the way government manages Canada, handles resources and oversees the distribution of wealth.
The trend arguably shows itself through a quiet, ongoing, half-aware rebuild of political structure beyond the scope of electioneering quarrels, plus the B次元官网网址淥ccupyB次元官网网址� movement and the Quebec student revolt.
Tell me if I am wrong about the options. ItB次元官网网址檚 worth a debate.
Option 1: Prime Minister Stephen Harper feels the anger of voters. He no longer makes such political bully-moves as (a) ramming through an omnibus law-about-everything; (b) weakening environmental protection so as to promote oil pipelines; and (c) making trade treaties on terms that many Canadians oppose.
The benign-change scenario impels Harper to adopt fair-deal tactics B次元官网网址� open, inventive, people-friendly, financially doable and respectful toward the environment.
Option 2: Thomas Mulcair and the NDP win the federal election and move Canada closer to the ideal of democracy, which is government by a well-informed population B次元官网网址� LincolnB次元官网网址檚 imagined B次元官网网址済overnment by the people,B次元官网网址� not dictatorship by a privileged financial elite. A progressive regime pushes and combines already-accepted and soon-to-be-established reforms, step by step:
Step 1: Democratize parliament. New Zealand has shown us how. The Kiwis introduced Mixed Member Proportional Representation, MMP. Their parliament is compounded of local members elected by the first-past-the-post system and members elected from a party list, including minor parties. Governments must make alliances in order to govern. The system has worked smoothly since 1996. Mulcair promises to introduce it here.
Step 2: Launch in-depth policy probes, such as Roy RomanowB次元官网网址檚 health enquiry. RomanowB次元官网网址檚 report confirmed that most Canadians want public healthcare. It showed practical ways to sharpen the systemB次元官网网址檚 cost-effectiveness, such as the Sault Ste. Marie care group created by the United SteelworkersB次元官网网址� Union, with payment to health professionals other than fee-for-service, and superior health outcomes.
A Romanow-type public enquiry into trade policy is overdue.
Step 3: Parliament firms up the hiring and tenure of armB次元官网网址檚-length critics: auditors-general, ombudspersons and advocates for children, the disabled, and seniors. When B.C.B次元官网网址檚 Liberal government made a multi-million-dollar gift to a forestry corporation by arbitrarily removing a tract of Vancouver Island land from forestry use, throwing land planning into confusion and encouraging sprawl, auditor-general John Doyle issued a stinging rebuke.
Step 4: CitizensB次元官网网址� referendum initiatives, graded on a scale from recommendations to binding decisions.
Step 5: Mechanisms for recall of MPs B次元官网网址� including the PM B次元官网网址� by citizen vote. Mike HarcourtB次元官网网址檚 NDP government cautiously legislated initiative and recall in B.C.
Mulcair can do it Canada-wide.
Step 6: A Governor General who can safeguard the continuity of government by naming a new PM when the current leader loses popular and parliamentary support B次元官网网址� a strong governor loyal to the democratic idea, unlike Michaele Jean, who let Harper close Parliament although he had lost the confidence of the House while an opposing coalition was ready to govern.
TodayB次元官网网址檚 moves toward democracy are a response to the destructive financial scheming of wealthy power-groups during the Electronic Revolution. Change is flowing from pain, trouble and visionary knowledge B次元官网网址� just as the loosening of top-down control of BritainB次元官网网址檚 Parliament was forced by the Industrial Revolution.
B次元官网网址� G.E. Mortimore is a longtime columnist for the Goldstream B次元官网网址 Gazette.
