The breaking point

How long can this farce some people choose to call democracy be allowed to continue?

It was bad enough when it was just the Senate leaching off Canadian taxpayers. Now a sizable portion of the House of Commons is doing the same, thanks to Stephane Dion and the Liberal party.

Look first at the Senate.

It is a deeply entrenched level of government in a nation that is supposed to be a pillar of democracy. It's not an elected body and it does not represent citizens.

The Senate is nothing short of a high paid political retirement home where party faithful are rewarded with six-figure salaries.

Each Canadian Senator collects what's called a basic sessional indemnity of $125,800. And Senators who occupy certain offices or positions get a little more.

That costs this country over $13 million each year.

There have been calls for Senate reform for decades but until Ottawa develops the political will, it won't happen. As a result Canadians are forced to endure this most undemocratic tradition.

Now the country is faced with another bunch of political seat fillers getting paid for doing nothing.

Worse, it's in the House of Commons.

For the third time in the past month Liberal MPs, en masse, have abstained from voting on a Parliamentary motion.

Their first abstention was on the Speech from the Throne, the second on the vote to reduce the GST. Last week they remained in their seats during a vote on a Bloc Opposition motion.

Perhaps Mr. Dion hoped the third time would be the charm and the fairies of Parliament would rise up and anoint him as the savior of Canada; a Liberal leader the likes of which this nation hasn't seen since Pierre Trudeau.

Dion is no Trudeau and he is a leader in name only.

He has been completely emasculated by Harper and the other real opposition leaders, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe. And the Liberal MPs who fall in with the practice of abstention are an outright embarrassment to the people who elected them. They are wounded as a party and ineffective as MPs.

What's worse, they are quick to stand in the House and criticize the Conservatives but when the time comes to vote on those same issues they sit silently.

There has to be more accountability in the Canadian political system.

What the House of Commons needs are the same rules which govern municipal councillors in Newfoundland and Labrador.

According to the Municipalities Act (206.1.h) The office of a councillor becomes vacant where; he or she fails to vote on a matter before the council when required to vote.

If a town councillor wants to pull a Dion and sit on their hands in abstention, their seat is declared vacant and the public has the opportunity to replace them with someone who will actually represent them.

Unfortunately, the Canadian public doesn't have those same rights when it comes to replacing an MP.

While the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the democratic rights of every Canadian, it does not guarantee good representation.

Any person elected to any level of government in this country has an obligation to represent, to the best of their ability, their constituents.

The Liberal party has failed miserably in that duty.

Unfortunately, the House of Commons is no longer about representing the people. It has been reduced to a childish game of one-upmanship where political parties are more interested in digging up the dirt and smearing the reputations of the people on the other side of the House.

Dion is brimming with excitement at the revelations coming out of the Mulroney-Schreiber affair. Christmas came early wrapped up in an affidavit from Karlheinz Schreiber.

Is this the scandal Dion's gang are hoping will knock the Conservatives down a notch and help raise the Liberals above the lingering stench the Gomery inquiry has left on them?

Don't count on it.

A major Conservative scandal won't make the Liberals look any more attractive as leaders of the nation.

With the Gomery inquiry, the Mulroney-Schreiber affair and a seemingly inept and imbecilic opposition that has allowed a minority government to do what it wants, is it any wonder the level of cynicism in the country has reached a pandemic level?

Again, it highlights the need for some level of accountability in the Canadian political system. Without it, the damage done to the public trust can never be repaired.

- Reprinted from The Packet,

ksquires@thepacket.ca