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Submission HARTWELL-0044 (Online)

Submission By Stephen Hartwell
AddressToronto, Ontario,
Organization
Date20040106
CategoryDemocratic government, Other
Abstract
To achieve democracy in Canada, citizens should vote directly on the issues and not elect politicians. [2 pages]

Submission Content

I'm 53 years of age. My first vote was for Pierre Trudeau.  I have basically not voted for anyone in any government since 1988, because Brian Mulroney won that election with a majority of seats despite not having the support of what's called "the popular vote".

Canada is called a young country despite having one of the oldest so-called democracies on the planet.  Democracy is supposed to be government by the people, for the people, who have chosen a common set of moral beliefs and goals. Democracy is supposed to be about politics.  Politics is about issues, conflict about issues, and finding mutually agreed compromises for living together.  Politics help to find the ways in which all citizens are accommodated and included in our society.  This needs to be done now, not next century.

But, Canada is not a democracy, never has been. Why ?  After many years searching for an answer, I have concluded that it is because democracy as we have known it, is not about politics.  It has been, and is, about politicians.  Politicians do what they do because their job is to get elected, which means they basically do nothing else except find ways to get elected, and re-elected.  They campaign to obtain the mandate to govern, but, never govern, except in the interests of the very few, who pay the bills for campaigning and getting elected. 

To get elected, politicians must campaign, and campaigning costs a lot of money.  Basically only the candidates with the most money get elected, and that means they must surrender their mandate to govern to those who pay the campaign bills. Which is who-ever has the most money.  That is why politicians never keep their campaign promises, except the ones we never hear about which they make to those who pay the most money.

Most everybody knows this, after personal experience with a few decades of so-called elections.  The question is how to fix Canada's democracy so that it really is democratic, and can be depended on to remain so for the long term.My answer is to get rid of election campaigns, get rid of politician elections, and get rid of politicians.  Citizens must vote directly on the issues, every day, or at least every month, do not vote for politicians once every 3 to 5 years. voting once every 3 to 5 years on politicians is the worst enemy of democracy.

What to do instead of electing politicians ? Those people who are chosen to see that our wishes are carried out, as far as possible, must be chosen in much the same way as is done in the private sector.  They must train for the job, learn the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to do the jobs required, and submit their resumes and applications to the citizens, the people of Canada, to be chosen by vote.  If they fail to carry out their responsibilities, they are fired by month's end, not in 3 to 5 years time, and no life-time pensions, or golden parachutes, either.

This is my submission to the Assembly.

Thank you for considering it.

Stephen Hartwell,
Toronto, Canada


 

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