Let the Games Begin
It’s official (almost) – Canadians will be off to the polls to elect a new Federal government. The current government was defeated in a vote of non-confidence today and the Governor General will be asked to dissolve parliament tomorrow. For the next 7 or 8 weeks we will be subjected to the rigors of a Federal election.
I’m happy the politicians finally got it over with. Canadians may grumble about having to go out and vote in the middle of January, but those who actually do take the time to exercise their democratic duty will go and vote despite the weather.
The thing really struck me while watching the coverage of the vote tonight is how simple our form of parliamentary democracy makes it to dissolve the government and call an election. The majority of the elected members of parliament voted that they had no confidence in the ruling party to continue to govern. Now it goes back to the people to decide who will go back in February and try again.
A simple vote, a simple outcome, now the people get to decide again.
Let the games begin.
I’m happy the politicians finally got it over with. Canadians may grumble about having to go out and vote in the middle of January, but those who actually do take the time to exercise their democratic duty will go and vote despite the weather.
The thing really struck me while watching the coverage of the vote tonight is how simple our form of parliamentary democracy makes it to dissolve the government and call an election. The majority of the elected members of parliament voted that they had no confidence in the ruling party to continue to govern. Now it goes back to the people to decide who will go back in February and try again.
A simple vote, a simple outcome, now the people get to decide again.
Let the games begin.
posted by Mike at 8:37 p.m.
6 Comments:
Such an interesting form of government. I bet it reduces the amount of dissatisfaction with politics and provides more representation of the people.
out of curiousity, can people vote in whom was voted out? i mean... can the people disagree with parliament and "out vote them"... or are the people ousted completely out of play now?
Those people can be voted back in. Which is good, since some of them are probably doing a good job. You can tell by my assumptions that the average person here doesn't pay too much attention to politics. Unless something is going horribly wrong, most people are fine with whatever the politicians decide.
I'm just sorry that our tax dollars will be going towards campaigning instead of things like education and health care.
I've always kind of liked the Parliamentary democracy that we have in Canada over the US republic system. In Canada we elect our local representatives to parliament (kind of like congressional districts). The leader of the party who wins the most seats in the election is asked to form the government and is made Prime Minister.
We do have a senate which is appointed and is really more of a rubber stamp to parliament.
The Governor General is the acutal head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. But his/her role is mostly ceremonial. However the GG does have constitiutional powers to dissolve parliament and call elections if he/she feels that it is in the best interests of the country.
It is quite different from the US and is more designed to let people have a more direct say.
wow... i'm just stunned out how relatively easy it is to oust someone. here... even if someone should be cut loose, politics prevent it. how... ironic.
A lot of the forces behind the British Parliamentary style of government wanted to ensure that the politicians were there only as long as the people wanted them.
That doesn't mean that a government which controls the majority of the seats can't do what they want. However there are safeguards in place that they can't avoid facing the electorate at the appropriate time.
If the different levels of government in the US had the same function, then:
- Congress would set and approve government policy
- The Senate would scrutinize each of the bills passed by congress and could suggest changes to be taken back to congress
- The president would have not real direct power over government policy but would be there to ensure that the congress was acting withing the bound of the constitution.
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