It always seems strange to hear people talking about our democracy in Canada. You get the impression that our democracy is some sort of spectre. We talk about it but nobody has ever really seen it.
And democracy is such a simple concept. It is based on recognizing the value of the human being. It reflects that human right to assembly, to participate in society, to vote, to protest, to petition and to live in that clean, healthy and caring society that we all seek to achieve.
But we fail to understand democracy if we think the majority rules. It is something of a convenience in making decisions but having one group in society making decisions for others imposes serious responsibilities on the group chosen to make the decisions.
The literal meaning of the roots of the word ‘democracy’ is that the people rule. Obviously we do not. We get around that by calling Canada a representative democracy. And that is an idea that slipped and fell on the ice a long time ago.
It is a worry though when we hear people talking about the extended honeymoon they are enjoying with the Trudeau Liberals in Ottawa. Whether it is their honeymoon or not, these well meaning people are just as capable of making mistakes as anyone else. Take that really stupid assisted suicide bill they passed. It was not only wishy-washy and inadequate but it missed the point entirely. It did not satisfy the needs of the people it was supposed to address. We can only hope the Supreme Court rejects it.
But mind you, our unimaginative Prime Minister has come up with another elitist solution to a problem he does not want. He appointed an elitist group to choose candidates for our elitist senate and now he has appointed an elitist group to pick elitist Supreme Court candidates. It is enough to make you wonder if he knows what democracy really means?
It is like his foolish promise to end first-past-the-post voting in Canada. Here he has people wasting this beautiful summer weather listening to a bunch of elitist political scientists, who have no understanding of the voters, telling us how to reform our voting.
The Minister of Democratic Institutions can come to the committee and smile and obfuscate all she likes. There is no hue and cry in the land for a change in how we vote. We have much more serious problems with our purported democracy than that.
-30-
Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]