Farcical Federal By-Election in University--Rosedale
How the Liberal Party of Canada has gone about selecting their candidate in the University--Rosedale by-election called for April 13, what she stands for and the purpose she is to serve in the Carney government is very instructive as concerns the corruption of what are called Canada's democratic institutions and the electoral process. Despite their officially stated aim of giving rise to representative government, the more it goes, the more the facts reveal that those in positions of privilege and power exercise the decision-making power which has been usurped by supranational narrow private interests. The pretense that elections are a people's choice has become a farce. In the case of the electoral system which is supposed to be the mainstay of giving the people a say in how the country is governed and by whom, not even vestiges of the participation of the people remain. The decision-making process regarding who chooses what candidate for election and why is not only unrepresentative of the people in whose name it is carried out -- it is as anti-democratic as anti-democratic gets and seen to be so.
Despite this, those with positions of power and privilege are very pleased with themselves as they restructure the state in a manner which rids it of any vestiges of what has hitherto been called democratic governance. This is what the appointment of the Liberal candidate in University--Rosedale reveals. In the case of University--Rosedale, Elections Canada records show that she was appointed by the leader of the Liberal Party. He is no doubt very pleased with himself that he has a "star candidate" who will be a great addition to his Liberal team which is tantamount to a murder of bankers and narrow private interests in which Big Pharma, private insurance concerns, for-profit medical equipment and technology providers figure large. Despite the fact that she was appointed and no consultations or nominations were brought forth from constituents, the records show that the nomination meeting took place on January 31 starting at 4:02 pm and ending at 4:02 pm. In other words, it took less than 60 seconds. Cynical indeed!
The example of the Liberal candidate in the University--Rosedale by-election illustrates very well how decisions also bypass what at one time were local party riding associations through which local party members nominated their choice of candidate to be the MP in their riding. Nomination meetings were held using a democratic procedure to decide the riding's choice of candidate. This process had over the years become increasingly corrupt with candidates and their backers vying for nomination by stacking meetings, compiling fraudulent lists of non-existent new members and the like. Rather than making sure the system was renewed on a modern democratic basis, today riding associations exist mostly in name only, as fundraising machines at best, but mostly in the form of private contractors which run algorithms which target "voters." They have replaced volunteers whose job has always been to "get out the vote."
It illustrates one of the principal features of the credibility and legitimacy crisis facing the democracy and governments in Canada, which is their method of decision-making which is unrepresentative of the people in whose name it is carried out. It also faces the problem of being seen as anti-democratic because today decisions taken bypass parliament altogether. They are made by a Prime Minister and his Cabinet -- with the ministers mostly from the private sector chosen for their role in restructuring the state by literally putting it into the hands of billionaire corporate interests.
Over the years, the decision-making processes, always exercised in a manner designed to keep the people out of power, have become so visibly, blatantly, self-serving and corrupt, their practitioners and advocates are incapable of producing anything which can remotely redeem themselves or justify what they are doing.
This article was published in
Volume 56 Number 18 - April 13, 2026
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/T560181.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca