[Newsbot]

Title: Former MPs say party system ruining Canadian politics
Category: Political
Posted By: DrCaleb
Date: 2011-04-18 15:04:46
Canadian

[andyt]

Surprise, surprise.

[martin14]

andyt andyt:

Surprise, surprise.

From a bunch of has been Libs and Dips ?

No surprise at all.


Seems the leftie strategy of making it all 'Harper this, and Harper that',
rather than criticizing CPC policy, is responsible for this.

[andyt]

Guess we read different articles. The one I read didn't mention Harper once and said the MP consulted were from all the parties. You're not going frothy mouthed partisan now, are you?

[PublicAnimalNo9]

The party system seemd to work just fine until Moosejaw and the Cretin got a hold of it and corrupted Parliamentary procedure. Moosejaw stripped MPs of most of their power and the Cretin made a mockery of Question Period by limiting questions AND answers to 35 seconds each. Makes for great sound bites but it also makes for lousy government.
Both assholes showed how little regard they had for the voters. And I don't see the current crop of idiots giving a shit either.

[martin14]

andyt andyt:

Guess we read different articles. The one I read didn't mention Harper once and said the MP consulted were from all the parties. You're not going frothy mouthed partisan now, are you?

$1:

The former MPs, who left office between 2004 and 2008....
They spent more than a decade in office on average. Nearly one-third served in cabinet.
One, Paul Martin, was prime minister. Another, Ed Broadbent, led the NDP.

I'll predict majority of these MPs are Libs and Dips.



Nobody was ever this rabid about Martin, Chretien or Trudeau, its not the
CPC leading the attacks against Harper.

The rest of the article, talking about MPs work.. well that's a problem
generated by a minority government, where all MPs need to stay close to the
Hill in case of a vote, called frequently cause the parties cant get along.

Under majority governments, there was always room for a few to play hookie.

This won't change until we get another majority government, and one
with a comfort zone as well, not 1 or 2 seats.

[Zipperfish]

martin14 martin14:

andyt andyt:

Surprise, surprise.

From a bunch of has been Libs and Dips ?

No surprise at all.


Seems the leftie strategy of making it all 'Harper this, and Harper that',
rather than criticizing CPC policy, is responsible for this.

What the heck are you talking about? The CPC ads targeting Iggy started way before the election and way before any Liberal attack ads.

Try to have a memory going back longer than three weeks, OK?

Sheesh.

The party system seems a natural outcome of a representative democarcy. Hard to imagine an alternative system. The sense that it isn't that constructive probably has more to do with the fact that botht he major parties govern very close to the centre. There's usually not a whole lot of difference between them.

I think politicians lying during elections is a bigger problem myslef.

[Dragon-Dancer]

Get used to minorities, this is the new face of Canadian democracy. It's the way it should be. Majorities only create near dictatorships when ruling parties can push through anything they like and the opposition can't do a darn thing about it. This isn't a partisan issue it's about there being a larger variety of opinions represented so resulting policy is balanced.

[andyt]

Ultimately you can't just blame the leaders. The only reason the leader stays in power is because the MP's vote with him. MP's make themselves nobodies, because with few exceptions they just vote how they're told to because they want to remain within the party apparatus and have a good chance of getting elected. If more MP's were willing to run as independents we'd have a more democratic parliament.

[QBC]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

I think politicians lying during elections is a bigger problem myslef.

You mean that politicians tell the truth between elections? Who knew?..........

Nah, I don't believe that. You know a politician is lying because their lips are moving.

[Thanos]

Anyone entering Canadian politics knows that this is the way it's done. Whining about it after-the-fact is kind of a chickenshit thing to do.

[martin14]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

What the heck are you talking about? The CPC ads targeting Iggy started way before the election and way before any Liberal attack ads.

Try to have a memory going back longer than three weeks, OK?

People have been going after Harper personally since 2006. Now I know that
was elementary school for you, so you can be excused.

[DrCaleb]

martin14 martin14:

The rest of the article, talking about MPs work.. well that's a problem
generated by a minority government, where all MPs need to stay close to the
Hill in case of a vote, called frequently cause the parties cant get along.

Under majority governments, there was always room for a few to play hookie.

This won't change until we get another majority government, and one
with a comfort zone as well, not 1 or 2 seats.

Therein lies another benefit of minorities. They all must earn their paycheque.

[Prof_Chomsky]

If only we could institute Mixed Member Proportional Representation. Then my vote would actually count... and maybe then we could outlaw all political parties.

[Dragon-Dancer]

Prof_Chomsky Prof_Chomsky:

If only we could institute Mixed Member Proportional Representation. Then my vote would actually count... and maybe then we could outlaw all political parties.

While I don't think you could ever really get away with banning parties/factions/etc since people will be people and people like to be seen as part of a group, proportional really is the way to.