This week on Facebook and on a couple of news sites there
were comments, suggestions and discussions about the newest attempt to thwart
the Canadian Government's Bill C-51. It was suggested that everyone should
contact the nearest Liberal M.P. and ask
them to not support the proposed act. Everyone knew that even if all Liberals
sitting in the House did vote against Bill C-51, the Bill would still pass, but
at least it would send a clear message to the government that the majority of Canadians
do not support this piece of legislation. I thought that was an interesting strategy
and perhaps one worth considering. I then realized that normally I would have
written to my M.P., knowing that it would be a waste of time, to inform him
that he did not have my permission to vote for this unneeded and intrusive law.
This time however, I could not write such a letter because I do not have a
Member of Parliament. I have not had one for five and half months.
On November 7, 2014 Dean Del Mastro submitted to the Speaker of the House of Commons his resignation
as the Member of Parliament for the federal riding of Peterborough. He did so
because he had been convicted of breaking multiple federal election
laws. While he had been elected as a member of the Conservative Party and had
in fact acted as a spokesperson for the Prime Minister, he had left the party
to sit as an independent shortly after being charged.
The Elections Act requires that the Speaker of the House
must request the Governor General to call for a by-election not sooner than 11
days after the seat is vacated or not later than 180 days. That means that a
by-election must be called in the Peterborough riding by May 6, 2015. In
reviewing when other by-elections have been called since 2011 (Elections
Canada), there is a significant variation as how soon by-elections are
called. In a few cases the election has occurred within two months, but the
general trend appears to be five or six months. There does not appear to be
rational as to why it takes so long to call a by- election.
Given that the House of Commons traditionally does not sit
for the three summer months, and given that we are within six months of a
Federal election (which means the House may not sit in September) it would seem unlikely that the government
would want to have a by-election in mid June. I would suspect that most
citizens would think that that would be a waste of the public tax dollar to
hold such an election. It is a fair bet that the three ridings in Canada who
are without a Member of Parliament will continue to be without one until next
fall, after the election. I understand the logic - I just don't like it.
A democracy functions best when the citizens of a specific
area or riding believe that the elected representative reflects the values,
moral and needs of those citizens. Of course the Canadian electoral system of
"first past the post" ensures that at any one time it is likely that
perhaps more than half the citizens believe that their preferences have been
ignored. A democracy can function, albeit less effectively, when there is at
least a warm body in the chair helping citizens deal with the federal
bureaucracy and on occasion carrying forward at least some of their concerns. In
spite of the fact that the previous Member of Parliament rabidly supported his
Prime Minister (the press referred to him as the Tory attack dog(National
Post)) and that so many of his comments in the House were an embarrassment
to the citizens of Peterborough, at least there was a warm body who probably
had a reasonably effective office staff to assist with the federal bureaucracy.
He would never have listened to my concerns, but there were perhaps others who
would have had more luck. Now we have nothing and by the time of the next federal
election, we will have had no one for almost 11 months.
Democracy cannot function, voters will not believe in the
system and citizens will not participate if it is clear that their basic rights
to representation in a parliamentary democracy are not held to be
important.
The election could have been and should have been called
five months ago.
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