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Welcome
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6 Responses to “Welcome”
May 26th, 2005 at 8:20 am
Let’s get this bitch rolling. Which way are we headed first? Might I suggest an article in the recent edition of Policy Options, by Robin Sears, entitled “The Decline and Irrelevance of Canadian Political Parties.”
http://www.irpp.org/po/
I enjoyed Sears’ writing. I think this article raises a sentiment that many pundits have echoed in recent days. Political brands are becoming very fluid entities in Canada.
May 26th, 2005 at 9:00 pm
A direct link to the article:
http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/may05/sears.pdf
I just finished it, it’s quite lengthy and takes some time to read, but it’s interesting. He talks a lot about the lack of democratic participation in Canada, especially in federal parties, and how this is a poor indicator for the health of our democracy and even for Canadian unity (a memorable quote: “In a political construction under such constant centrifugal pressures as Canada, any weakening of the strained exoskeleton of national unity is a real threat.” He sums up nicely what we can all see for ourselves, which is that Canadian parties are in trouble – they are corrupt, disconnected from the public, ineffectual, broke and addicted to attack ads. Which is a bad thing for our democracy, from his perspective.
He makes some interesting points, including that voter participation has declined from 4 out of 5 voters to barely 3 out of 5 in just a few years. And he points out the relative vibrance of provincial and local political organizations, saying that Canadians increasingly feel more connected to their local parties than to the federal parties. I can see that where I live as well.
What’s interesting is what to do about it, and here I found his ideas to be less compelling (something he admits himself, to be fair, saying “A conference of thoughtful political hacks, real world academics and experts…could no doubt enhance and tweak these small party building ideas.” Powering a successful political party requires that people believe in it, and it’s easy to be cynical about the parties that are around these days.
I’m actually tempted to join the NDP and help canvass for them. But it’s also tempting to promote the disintegration of national parties – could a non-party system work? Could a parliament composed of independents function? He asserts that Canada needs a strong national party with a strong national vision to hold it together. Perhaps it’s utopian (or communist) of me but I wonder if what he wants to happen politically – strength, unity, cohesion – could be accomplished socially, by helping foster new ways of living with each other, by developing a different sort of society, one that reflected what Canadians really want.
Is our country too big, are our citizens too different from each other, to accomplish that?
May 27th, 2005 at 9:29 am
Ade, you could start a utopian commie party. Propose the disintegration of the current national party brands, and the rise of a free-share individualistic parliament: from each according to her skills, to each according to her needs – whatever that means. Alas Ade, thing are too complicated for us to turn back now. The parties are here to stay. While Sears is light on solutions, he does underscore the problem of internal party democracy (which you also highlight in you response). What to do about it? Not much you can do it about it outside the party structures, and maybe this is the bigger point Sears fails to make. I will get back to you an this one, I think it might be a good tie in for writing on the recent Tory woe of so-called “Christian” single-issue candidates.
August 27th, 2006 at 8:06 am
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