A recent post by Owen over at Northern
Reflections brought my
attention to this
highlighting an “investigation” by
a long time former MP.
Both major parties have made a mockery of Canada’s
electoral system, which was on its sickbed when the Liberals came to
power. It’s now on life support — according to the investigations
of former Liberal MP Paul Szabo.
“According to Szabo, the Liberal Party thwarts
local voters to cherry-pick its chosen nominees. The campaign expense
reports of some of those nominees are often late, incomplete and
perhaps even illegal. Worse, many of the memberships that secured the
nomination for one candidate over others were allegedly fraudulent. “
There is little doubt that the whole system by which
candidates are selected is being 'gamed' by most, if not all,
political partys.
“What Szabo has flagged in the federal system —
the undemocratic and even potentially illegal manipulation of the
nomination process — is raging at the provincial level as well. As
Ontario gears up for its next election, PC leader Patrick Brown is
knee-deep in charges of skullduggery bordering on corruption.
His party’s nomination system has been rife with
ballot stuffing, fake memberships, fake membership forms, people
registered without their knowledge, payment or permission, as well as
cheating so egregious that it elicited a rebuke from one of the
staunchest Tories of them all: former Conservative Senator Marjory
LeBreton.”
The series of (lets be nice and call them) negative
ad's currently being aired in Ontario from various political partys
and their supporters does nothing to make me think that the final
results are not being manipulated by those with the resources to
'buy' our election process.
“Ultimately, what Szabo is addressing is nothing
less than the demise of democracy. From the selection of party
nominees through to election of our public officials, the will of the
people has been reduced to the predatory manipulations of a few.
Whether it’s the PMO pulling strings to get its
cronies nominated, a band of unscrupulous partisan techies
suppressing the vote by robocalls, or a lazy and ineffective
Elections Canada cutting slack when it should be bringing down the
hammer on miscreants, we are not headed to a good place.”
The old adage from historian and moralist known
simply as Lord Acton back in the 1800s comes to mind ....: "Power
tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The ease
with which large portions of our population can be 'manipulated' via
various on line media by those with almost unlimited resources to do
so should concern us all!
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2 comments:
Democracy has indeed broken down. During the Harper years I labeled him a "fractional prime minister" due to his absolute focus on a narrow number of issues - fossil energy, crime and punishment, pecking away at the social safety net - to the utter exclusion of the major issues of the day, looming threats to our nation and society.
Sort of like electing a new captain of your ship to then discover that he only handles shoals, not icebergs.
A few days ago I stumbled across an article in the Financial Times discussing modern politics as a "displacement activity," a term used to describe the infuriating fondness of our political leadership to become absorbed in secondary matters, even trivialities, while they ignore the really pressing problems of the day.
The writer used the example of Trump who occupied most of a week feuding with the widow of a slain soldier to the exclusion of the pressing issues besetting Congress and the White House.
"He’s not alone: politics in many western countries has become a displacement activity. Most politicians bang on about identity while ignoring automation, climate change and the imminent revolution in medicine. They talk more about the 1950s than the 2020s."
Parties, whether in government or opposition, are so focused on their partisan fortunes that the public interest and wellbeing of the nation are often ignored, neglected.
Unfortunately as you say partisan politics has indeed become the focus of our elected representatives, Mound, and those more recently elected soon become part of that mindset despite their best efforts.
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