If I can put my finger on one unique characteristic of the
Canadian form of government, it is that we constantly reinvent the
wheel. For example, Canada
adopted two different Bills of Rights in 22 years, one signed by
John Diefenbaker and one signed by Pierre Trudeau. Both
applied to the Federal government, but only one applied to both
federal and provincial governments. No wonder citizens
are confused by government. Why do we waste so much
time and financial resources in trying to come up with a
“born in Canada” solution to our electoral
problems and other problems of government operation when we could
benefit from the experiences of other countries?
Look at Great Britain, which has an electoral system operating
within Parliamentary rules. This ancient system is the
basis of Canadian and almost all other democratic provincial and
federal legislative and electoral systems in the modern
world. But it has been said by wise and learned people
in recent times that the Parliamentary system results in an elected
dictatorship.
One of the greatest problems that many modern democratic nations
have, particularly Canada, is the problem of low voter
turnout. An extreme example is that of a recent local
government revenue referendum in B.C. that passed with a 12% voter
turnout! They might as well have saved the cost of the
polls and drawn a YES or NO out of a hat. So whatever
technical solution(s) we come up with to the electoral process
problem it must significantly increase citizen participation in
getting to the polls and voting.
One suggestion to the perceived problem of fringe parties not
having any representation in the legislative assembly is to adopt
proportional representation. Would more eligible voters
vote if we had proportional representation? Is it
really in the interest of democracy for any wingding party that can
drum up a few thousand votes to have representation in the
legislature? I hope that is not what we mean by proportional
representation.
Aside from apathy, a lack of personal commitment to
the responsibilities of being a citizen, and just plain laziness,
there are more serious reasons why people don’t go out
of their way to vote. These include feelings of
powerlessness and hopelessness, of living a long distance from the
seat of government, of confusion over issues and what
the parties and candidates stand for, and a general
mistrust of government, to name a few.
In order to get more voter participation at all levels of the
electoral process I suggest we consider the following, gleaned from
the experiences of other countries
-
Reduce the cost and complexity of holding plebiscites by using
new procedures that are available through new technology.
-
Establish Voter Quorums at all levels of the electoral process,
which any plebiscite that did not produce the minimum voter
turnout, say 90%, would be overturned and a new plebiscite
required. Qualified voters should learn that abstention
from voting is not an option in a democratic country. A
spoiled ballot sends a better message than a “no
show”.
-
As a requisite for high school graduation, all students must
pass a course in basic Canadian federal/provincial
government. This may already be included in some of the
social studies courses that our schools offer, with a little
beefing up on the responsibilities of a citizen, and must be taken
in the same year that the student becomes eligible to get a drivers
licence.
-
Make minimum voting age and minimum driving age the same
age.
I hope that these ideas and opinions will make a positive
contribution to the Citizens’ Assembly review of the BC
Electoral Process.
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