Out in the valley...

Yesterday afternoon I spent an hour and a half as a guest on Gurpreet Singh’s open-line show on Radio India, and am very thankful for the experience. Its clear from callers’ responses that the Emerson affair remains a hot topic in the Punjabi speaking community. All but one caller expressed extreme dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Harper’s decision to appoint David Emerson to cabinet.

The tally likely would have been unanimous, but the last caller had instead asked a perceptive question regarding Ujjal Dosanjh’s “crossing of the floor”. Dosanjh, a former provincial NDP premier, joined the federal Liberal party as a candidate for Vancouver South in the 2004 election. His move from the NDP to the Liberal party may have upset some party members, but the situation is not at all similar to the Emerson affair, because Dosanjh crossed the floor before he was elected, and faced his constituents to obtain and win his mandate.

Emerson of course has no such mandate from his constituents, no matter how strenuously he may pretend otherwise.

There was also much interest expressed in floor crossing prohibition legislation, an idea that is past-due for Canada. India, the worlds most populous democracy, leads the way, having grappled with party defections for decades. Over the years, through a number of amendments, India’s anti-defection law has been refined to be a workable piece of legislation that helps protect their democracy.

Its time for Canada to step up and adopt such legislation.