Politics - It should be a Public Service, Not a Career!
With the threat of an unwanted election looming once again, it would be wise for the voters to consider what they really want from their elected officials.
Too many ridings, in too many parts of the Country seem to vote blindly for the person or the Party that they have always voted for. For these politicians the threat of an impeding election holds little to be concerned about and this is very unfortunate for all Canadians. There is little reason for these career politicians to not just blindly follow whatever direction their leader points them in irregardless of how the general public feels about what may result.
The development of career politicians is easy to understand however. For most Canadians, life in this Country is pretty good. It can be hard to find a compelling reason to change much about how they've lived their lives or who they have supported politically. For the more cynical, the government wins every election and despite their incompetence, things still turn out fairly well.
Sadly, Peter MacKay is a classic example of the career politician. Following after his father, Elmer MacKay's 22 year ownership of the riding, the then 32 year old Peter MacKay took the riding back from the Liberal's temporary win after his father's retirement and has owned it since 1997, never facing a serious threat to the number of votes he receives. More sadly, Peter McKay's story is hardly unique in Canadian politics.
The longer a person serves his Country in a political capacity, the less useful they become outside of politics. A politician is in what can only be described as a very unique position. Also, the longer one is in politics, the further one's life experiences get from anything that the average or typical Canadian would relate to.
And thus the need created for long serving politicians to be provided with a generous pension. If politics was considered a public service, maybe the public would habour fewer hard feeling towards these pensions, and maybe these politicians could return to their prior careers while they still had the necessary skills.
If we truly wanted our elected officials to "represent" what Canadians desire from their governments, we need to bring in elected officials who have not been so long away from our "real" world. And if politicians truly viewed their stay in Parliament as a Public Service, they would view it as a short term divergence from their careers so that they could work for the greater good.
At this time our long serving MPs give every indication that they are career politicians. That being a Member of Parliament has become their "job". A job that is closely tied to being a member of a specific Party so they will toe the Party line no matter what. A very few every year prove to be the exception to the rule, but those that do also prove that if you're the exception, you will not be welcomed back.
A change in how Canadians view politics and politicians is long overdue in Canada. If politics truly became a public service instead of a career, maybe politicians could win back the respect of the voters. If politicians viewed themselves as working for the greater good, instead of for a Party, maybe the Parties could work together.
Sadly, if nothing changes we are likely to continue to set new record lows in voter turnout and most sitting MPs will be returned to their seats after each election.
Comments always welcome.
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Low voter turnout
I agree that this is one reason I believe there is a low voter turnout election after election. In most ridings the outcome is pretty much pre-determined. This is definitely the case in most ridings in Alberta for the Conservatives and for the Liberals in most of Newfoundland. Some ridings in Newfoundland have been Liberal since Confederation (1949)!!! There really are very few true swing ridings where different parties have a chance from one election to the next. This is one reason I see recruiting this frustrated non-voting segment as critical to the Green party electing members. Perhaps an overall solution is introducing term limits such as they have in the US for the president?
Term Limits
I did a post suggesting term limits for politicians last year. I believe that this would re-invigorate Canadian Politics.
http://greenparty.ca/node/3526
Stephen Brotherston, BASc., MBA, CBV(retired)
I support term limits for
I support term limits for leadership, much more than for legislators. A good legislator can be an effective public servant.
We need some sort of voting reform, hopefully involving local legislatures being elected via a preferential ballot to increase local competition, and a general principle of some addidive or corrective proportionality across the system.
In Canada, we lack the seperation between executive and legislative branches, which is why we get premiers and prime ministers who can serve for 13, 16 years or even longer. It essentially limits participation. The Liberals, for instance, have a leader appointed by their politicians rather than elected. The Conservatives have a leader who was elected once, and will remain in perpetuality unless he loses an election.
At least the Greens, thankfully, have an open leadership contest every 4 years.
Term Limits For All
All elected officials at every level of government should be subject to term limits.
Virtually every breach of the public's trust happens after a politician becomes firmly entrenched in their position. And every elected position has the ability to breach the public trust.
And in some ways what is worse is the longer a politician holds a seat, about the only way they can lose it is by taking a position an any issue. They can safely keep that seat best by doing absolutely nothing at all.
School boards would have far fewer issues with the hiring and promotion of relatives and friends, municipalities might be able to break their patronage hiring and contracting practices, federal and provincial governments might not be so mired down in internal bickering that progress could be made on real issues.
The comfort that most of us feel in reappointing the same old people to their elected posts - those same people we hate as a group - has been holding our governments back from being able to implement real change for a generation.
All that I am suggesting is that if we want real change - we have to be willing to accept changes to the way things are now. Not an easy task, I know.
Stephen Brotherston, BASc., MBA, CBV(retired)