Monday, October 15, 2007
CASEY CONTINUES TO STAND AGAINST PM
I very much doubt that in a legislature elected on a list-based proportional representation system Bill Casey would have opposed his leader, nor would his riding association come to his defence (would he even have a riding association, if say, he was a list-member under Ontario's defeated PR-scheme?).
The first needed step in parliamentary reform is to take away the leader's power to appoint and confirm candidates in ridings. We can work from there on enhancing the independence of our elected representatives.
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Experience in Germany and New Zealand shows that MMP generates far less stringent party discipline. Parties and politicians have to be more flexible in a consensus-based environment. It is the presence of phony majority government that brings about rigid party discipline and centralized party control under our current system. As long as the government imposes rigid party discipline, nothing bad can happen to them, so that is what they do. This is not theory or speculation, it is observed reality.