June 24 Toronto--St. Paul's By-Election
Vote for Democratic Renewal! Vote Marxist-Leninist!
The June 24 federal by-election in Toronto--St. Paul's, with 84 candidates, features the longest ballot in Canadian federal election history -- 90 centimetres long and 30 centimetres wide, with two columns of names. The significance of this by-election is that besides the candidates of the cartel parties, 78 candidates are running to underscore the need for electoral reform. Most of them are running as independents and some are representing small parties but a vote for any one of them is a vote which says No! to the first-past-the-post electoral system which brings a cartel party candidate to power. It gives the constituents of Toronto--St. Paul's a way to make their views about the electoral system which does not represent them known.
The Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada (MLPC) has endorsed Meñico Turcotte as part of the Longest Ballot Project in the by-election. We call on electors in Toronto–St. Paul's to Vote for Meñico Turcotte! Vote Marxist-Leninist ! (seventh from the end of the ballot)
One proposal of the Longest Ballot Project is for the creation of a Constituent Assembly to come up with a new electoral law. This would allow Canadians to decide what kind of electoral system they want. It would certainly not be a system that allows a political party to obtain the votes of as few as 17 per cent of eligible voters and still declare that they have a "majority" and a "mandate to govern." It would definitely not be one where the act of voting is the moment at which an elector hands over all power to unaccountable governments taken over by narrow supranational private interests with no connection to the people they claim to represent.
The political pundits and pollsters of the establishment media have declared that the significance of the June 24 Toronto--St. Paul's by-election is that it will provide electors with an opportunity to show what they think about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. They say Trudeau may be pushed to resign if he is defeated in what has been designated a "safe Liberal riding." Reports tell of cabinet ministers from the ruling Liberal Party and shadow cabinet ministers from the Loyal Opposition descending on the riding to campaign for their respective candidates. If the Liberals are pushed out of the riding, it is said, it will be an indication that the alleged preference of Canadians for the Conservatives in the never-ending polling is accurate. It will supposedly show that the Conservatives are "more popular" and bound to win the next federal election. Their speculation confirms that an election is not about the people of the riding choosing a candidate who represents their interests in any way.
The ease with which so many candidates who stand for electoral reform were nominated is due to the profound discontent of Canadians with all the cartel parties, the House of Commons and the entire political system. The Longest Ballot Project is a courageous and significant expression that Canadians are not only demanding democratic renewal but taking practical steps to enable themselves to make it so, including building their organizational capacity to make themselves heard.
On June 24, Vote for Democratic
Renewal!
Vote TURCOTTE, Meñico --
Marxist-Leninist! (seventh from the end of the ballot)
This article was published
in
Volume 54 Number 6 - June 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54061.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca