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Dear Members of Parliament, Leader of the Green Party of Canada and Pontiac Riding Candidates,

Please consider my wishlist for change in Canadian politics:

1. Non-partisan voting by all our voting representatives: If all voting members voted non-partisanly rather than being expected to toe the line, democracy would be better served and Canadians would take greater interest in the affairs of their nation and the world.

2. Give Canadians and opportunity to vote for their best candidate and their best party: Canadians would no longer have to be in a never-ending position to vote strategically for someone they didn’t want.

3. Proportional representation: Better reflected voting intentions would also better serve democracy and inspire greater participation in the affairs of our nation.

4. Do away with our adversarial approach to politics: Canadians need more cooperation from their leaders.

You are our leaders; leaders who have been entrusted to represent us. As such, you all have a responsibility to ensure that what is best for our country and for our world, will take precedence over partisanship.

Thank you in advance for your consideration in these matters.

I have no faith in our adversarial political environment.

Sincerely,

Raymond St-Martin

Note to readers

This open letter has been submitted to: Stephen Harper (Leader of the Conservative Party), Michael Ignatieff (Leader of the Liberal Party), Jack Layton (Leader of the New Democratic Party), Gilles Duceppe (Leader of the Bloc Québécois), Lawrence Cannon (Pontiac Riding MP), André Arthur (Independent MP), Helena Guergis (Independent MP), Elizabeth May (Leader of the Green Party of Canada), Mathieu Ravignat (NDP Pontiac Riding Candidate), Cindy Duncan McMillan (Liberal Pontiac Riding Candidate), Louis-Philippe Mayrand (Green Pontiac Riding Candidate), Maude Tremblay (Bloc Québécois Pontiac Riding Candidate)

Some electoral abstainers holler the pointlessness of voting; some are apathetic; some couldn’t care less; others are far too busy surviving life’s many stresses; while others still, decry the lay of politics and all things related.

These methods uphold personal liberties such as the right not-to-vote and the right to expression; they also call attention to numerous flaws, abuses and injustices, however, they don’t bring about changes that address concerns.

This post is to offer a suggestion to move Canada a step forward on the road to responsible democracy so that our representatives will not be in a position to undermine the democratic will of the peoples of Canada: A petition to ensure that all of our representatives vote their conscience rather than vote partisanly.

If all Members of Parliament, Senators and Cabinet Ministers were obligated to vote their conscience rather than toeing the line for the government of the day or for the leader of their party, our system of democracy wouldn’t be so dictatorial, stunted and so beset by factionalism, regionalism and cronyism^[1].

If all of our Members of Parliament, Senators and Cabinet Ministers were obligated to vote their conscience rather than toeing the line for the government of the day, Canada would have a more mature representative government, and inspired Canadians would recognize the  benefits of becoming more involved in the affairs of our Country.

Canada’s government would then better reflect the interests, aspirations and needs of all voting Canadians rather than impose a partisan agenda.

Later, I intend to provide more details regarding a petition to ensure that our representatives vote their conscience rather than vote partisanly. If you would like to become involved with various aspects of the petition (resources, guidelines, wording, signatures, etc.) please e-mail me.

References

1. See Our benign dictatorship by Stephen Harper and Tom Flanagan

Further reading

• Stephen Harper on “Our benign dictatorship”

What if I said that only 25% of Canadians (only 1 in 4) voted-in a majority government with a mandate to govern all of Canada. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? Well, that’s apparently what happened in the 2000 Canadian Federal Election that brought the Liberals to power with only 40% of the votes tallied from the 61% of Canadians who took the time to vote for the future of their Country, and by way of our relationship, the future, of our World.