Twenty Days Left in the Campaign
There are 20 days left in the 44th General Election and the results are not predictable at this time. In Canada there is no such thing as an informed vote. Canadians are told that they elect representatives but it is neither they nor individual Members of Parliament (MPs) who set the agenda. Far from it, powerful private narrow interests intervene in the election to favour a cartel party which they figure will best represent them and claim it has a mandate from the people. The so-called leaders’ debates, which are touted as the crucial event of an election to inform the electorate on what the parties stand for, are a prime example of the violation of an informed vote. Only the parties that the ruling class have decided merit attention are present and the rest are not only marginalized but then, to add insult to injury, this is justified by calling them fringe!
The so-called leaders’ debates will be held on September 8 and 9. Their role is to help the ruling class narrow down who it prefers to form the next government. The questions that are put to the party leaders by the representatives of the ruling class during those debates reveal their concerns and the agenda that they want to see going forward. After that, the knives come out in the form of scandals of one sort or another, innuendo and defamation to discredit this or that candidate or party so as to tip the scales in favour of the horse they want to win the race.
None of it brings credit to this electoral process which brings cartel parties to power, not the citizenry.
The Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada calls on Canadians to use the election as another opportunity to set their own course which favours them, not the rich. Take up the need to renew the political process by voting for candidates who do not create illusions that the process of party government can be made fair or representative of their demands and claims on society. This can be a first step to getting rid of this system which ensconces cartel parties in the parliament whose main role is to keep the people without a voice.
The MLPC advocates the reform of the electoral process in a manner which favours the electorate:
– no election without selection,
– fund the process, not the parties,
– for an informed vote,
– opposition to party government, and
– for the elected Members of Parliament (MPs) to form the new government and elect the Prime Minister and also choose the head of state.
These measures would put some power into the hands of the electorate as well as MPs who could then more readily hold governments to account. By choosing the head of state and assigning the person’s duties and term of office, the colonial vestige of having a foreign monarch as head of state would be ended. Provincial legislatures could do likewise and Canadians could be rid of the medieval relics of governors-general with prerogative powers to sign laws enacted by parliament and perform duties as assigned by the state, not the people. With the spectre of a change of monarch on the horizon, this is the time for Canadians to bring in a new system which eliminates all vestiges of state institutions and practices which are designed to keep the people out of power in favour of narrow private interests.
