This is interesting: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Canada.
… Foreign Minister Makay [sic] in his message said Canada remains committed to strengthening the relationship between the two countries.
“India and Canada have much to offer to one another. Over the decades, we have built on our shared values of democracy, rule of law and commitment to the Commonwealth, and created a strong partnership.
“And India’s expanding role as a global player means the time is ripe for Canadian Businesses and investors, from a range of sectors, to become even more active in this immense market,” David Emerson, Canadian Trade Minister, said. (emphasis mine)
What India could offer Canada is its own floor crossing prohibition legislation. India – a democracy with a long and rich history – takes preserving its democracy very seriously indeed. Even as far back in the 1960’s Indian legislators recognized that floor crossing threatened to erode people’s faith in parliamentary institutions.
Mr Gaya Lal, was instrumental in the introduction of the coinage “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram” in the political vocabulary for describing the practice of floor-crossing by legislators. In 1967, Mr Gaya Lal, the then MLA from Hassanpur, changed his party thrice in a single day. Mr Gaya Ram’s feat was immortalised in the phrase “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram”. The Tribune >
Clearly India is way ahead of Canada on this issue, and has since passed specific legislation that requires members to resign and run in a by-election if they wish to regain their seat.
That’s all we are asking Emerson to do – the right thing, instead of continuing to treat voters with contempt. Follow India’s lead and resign now.
No doubt “Emerson”, like “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram” will become a noun of another colour in Canada over time. And to be “emersoned” is sure to turn into a catchy local alternative for being wronged.
April 6 (Matthew Burrows, The Georgia Straight) Teen decries party defection
Two months have passed since Vancouver-Kingsway MP David Emerson defected to the Conservatives, but Zoë Miller is still mad as hell.
At 17, Miller may not be voting age, but on Sunday, April 2, the Grade 11 student at Kitsilano secondary school showed up at Norquay Park and delivered a speech on-stage. She had just marched past Emersons Kingsway constituency office with several hundred citizens in what was billed as a March for Democracy.
As a young adult, soon to be a young voting adult, I am absolutely appalled at Mr. Emersons blatant disregard for Canadian democracy, Miller said at the rally. Mr. Emerson has taken my whole belief system and turned it upside down
I challenge you to resign and run in a by-election. So, Mr. Emerson, come out and face the people.
Watching in the crowd was Paul Orlowski, who told the Georgia Straight he teaches Miller and other students in a Civics 11 class at the school, helping get young people into the democratic process. Orlowski was pleased to see Miller on stage but warned that young people will get discouraged if nothing happens as a result of the ongoing protests against Emersons actions. Millerwho lives in NDP MP Libby Daviess ridingtold the Straight she concurs.
Emerson and his handlers have no idea of the scope of damage that opening this box of Pandora’s is causing. Stay tuned.
Media coverage of the Emerson Affair for Thursday April 6
Updates to come as the day rolls on
April 6 1:00pm (CFML) Interview with Kevin Chalmers
April 6 (Matthew Burrows, The Georgia Straight) Emerson tops 20K
Liberal-turned-Conservative MP David Emerson has garnered more protest-petition votes than he did official federal-election votes. In the January 23 federal election, then-Liberal Emerson won with 20,062 votes43 percent in the Vancouver Kingsway ridingbefore crossing the floor to the Conservatives. NDP candidate Ian Waddell was second with 15,470 votes, with Conservative Kanman Wong collecting 8,679.
Now, in an on-line petition – www.RecallDavidEmerson.com – Emerson has amassed 20,602 votes as of the afternoon of April 4. (The count can be viewed at www.PetitionOnline.com/RDE.) Grand Bend, Ontario, resident David Campbell started the petition on February 8.
David Emerson sets another record. When was the last time a newly elected politician had that many people calling for his resignation within weeks? More people have called for his resignation than have voted for him in the first place. There’s no doubt in my mind at all – if we had effective recall legislation at the federal level, we’d already have the signatures required to oust Emerson.
April 5 (Jim Newton, Woodstock Sentinel-Review) It’s all about the power, period
Tory Cabinet minister David Emerson wonders why there wasn?t an inquiry into the defection of Belinda Stronach to the Liberals, when her vote was critical to former prime minister Paul Martin?s survival.
Why me, he asks, in reference to hue and cry raised by his Liberal constituents, who felt betrayed when he crossed the floor to take a Conservative cabinet post. The answer is simple. Stephen Harper ran on a corruption platform, promising to clean house in Bytown.
The bottom line is that Harper is at fault, furthering the long-held and widespread perception that politics is a shady business all about power. A politician must not only be above reproach but, more importantly, appear to be. This has the appearance of a man, once seated on the throne, thumbing his nose at the 30-something per cent of Canadians who put him there, notwithstanding his assertion that Emerson had sterling credentials for the job. It harms the party system, lending credence to the opinion of many that voting is simply the choosing of the lesser of two evils. Canadians deserved better…
April 6 (Paul Collier, Toronto Star) `Dangers’ not as great as disease
The editors (of the Thunder Bay Chronicle Herald) repeat yet another hollow argument in favour of the status quo. The “guarantee of regional representation” is worthless. Who believes the Prime Minister and his cabinet really pay any attention to their ridings between elections? And what do party hoppers like Belinda Stronach and David Emerson represent except their own ambition? It’s time to wake up to the fact that retaining the present electoral system is like rejecting therapy for cancer. Each treatment has its own “hidden dangers” but not nearly so great as the disease.
David Emerson believes he is serving his constituents, but there is no riding for “BC Business interests”. Like the land of Narnia, such a riding is mythical in nature, playing out only in the heads of Emerson and no doubt more than a few other politicians. What Emerson did is wrong, and clearly is a classic symptom of a chronic disease. Its time to excise this cancer.