On this morning's Bill Good show - right wing talk-back radio here in Vancouver - Mr. Good wonders aloud where all the good folks from Vancouver-Kingsway are on the potential defeat of the Harper government by a coalition. Good implies there may be some sort of double standard in the comparing today's community response to that over David Emerson jumping from Liberal to Conservative parties less than 24 hours after the ballots were counted.
Before responding to Good's challenge, let me first turn the question around.
Where were you, Bill Good, when Emerson ignored the will of the people here?
I'll answer for Good: You were silent on the issue. Sure, the Emerson affair made for good copy on the more pedestrian CTV nightly news show you anchor, but it was clear from your ongoing commentary on talk radio that you never took the side of real democracy and indeed in later times you expressed nothing but support for Emerson.
As for where voters here are on the issue, I imagine there are a mixed range of thoughts and emotions, many of which are bound to be as ill-informed as is clearly in evidence all across this country. The parties, and fairly we can single out the Conservatives especially, are further confusing the public with overheated rhetoric and misinformation as to the nature of our parliamentary system of governance.
Speaking personally, not as a spokesperson for the Campaign to De-Elect David Emerson, I opposed what Emerson did not because he had no right to do it as an MP (he did have the right) but because he violated the trust of voters. Had he sat as a CPC back bencher and voted along the same lines as he had as a Liberal, I'd have had much less of an argument with him. However by accepting a cabinet position, Emerson was duty bound to work against the very campaign platform he was elected upon, and that is a breach of trust. I support anti-floor crossing legislation because more often than not floor-crossing results in such undemocratic flip flops.
As for the current drama, it would be helpful if the media could at least de-mystify the proceedings. What is being proposed is entirely democratic - a majority of members in the House of Commons are not Conservative Party MPs, and they represent a majority of Canadians who elected them from across the country. Thus from a democratic principles perspective, it is easy to support the right of the opposition parties to try to form a government, whether one agrees with the outcome or not.
Whether now is the time for such a move, and whether such a coalition can ultimately be successful in delivering positive results for Canada, are entirely different questions.
When the furore in Ottawa has died, and when the economic issues facing the country have been well addressed, parliamentarians and Canadians should return their attention to one of the root problems in our country: Our first past the post electoral system. In the past my traditionalist tendencies have prevented me from accepting it was time to change our antiquated electoral system based on plurality voting. I'm not so hesitant these days.