The Conservatives are adding 30 more seats to the House of Commons, ones I'm sure they feel they will win, but why?The population of Canada is 33,739,900. The population of the United States over 307 million.
They have 100 senators and 56 governors. We have 105 senators and soon 338 Members of Parliament.
Stephen Harper has 39 ministers and 25 parliamentary secretaries in his executive. President Obama has only 22 in his administration.
His ministers earn over $200,000 a year, a U.S. senator with more responsibility, $174,000. Governors on average $125,000.
How are they able to run their country with so few, when we need more than three times as many, with 1/10th of the population?
I thought the Harperites were for smaller government. Apparently not.
In the United States senators and governors vote independently. In Canada all parties are now leader driven, and more often then not, vote the way they are told to vote.
Seems pretty screwed up to me.
STEVE HARPER IS UNTOUCHABLE ♣ LEAVE HIM ALONE ♠ HE'S TEFLON STEVE ♣ HARPER'S TOO BIG TO FAIL ♣ LIKE THE US BANKS ♣ TOO PHAT TO FAIL HARPER
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When Canada was created, we had around half the number of MPs but only 3 million people. And since (if I recall) only landowning men could vote, the actual voting public was even smaller. So each politician now represents around 20-30 times as many people as she or he used to. In my opinion this change doesn't go far enough. With much smaller constituencies, the pressure not to vote according to party line would also be a lot weaker, which would be a big plus.
ReplyDeleteIn the Canadian system, party discipline is stronger because everyone's job is dependent on the leader liking what they're doing. Barring expecting leaders to be really nice for a change, we can change that by (a) taking Cabinet appointment decisions out of the hands of the prime minister, or (b) making ridings small enough that it's realistically possible for local groups to make demands of their MP. B seems like the best option.
I know creating hundreds more MPs sounds expensive. However, my last apartment in Hull was within a 10 minute walk of about 16,000 civil servant jobs. I'm pretty sure we could find the money. Especially if we capped the ridiculous ballooning of Parliamentary salaries while we were at it.
An awesome breakdown of the facts. Thanks Emily!
ReplyDeleteAlex
Very screwed up, Emily. Just another case of Harper stacking the deck in his own favor.
ReplyDeleteLook at the picture or google the young lady's name http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-canadienne/201106/03/01-4405888-discours-du-trone-un-page-sort-du-rang-pour-denoncer-harper.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_BO2_quebec_canada_178_accueil_POS2
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