From: jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca (John Paul Morrison)
Subject: Re: Two/three/four Canadas ? Two Ontarios !
Organization: University of BC, Electrical Engineering
Distribution: can
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 08:20:22 GMT

In article <1992Nov03.142745.24825@sco.COM> rossw@sco.COM (Ross Wetmore) writes:
>In article <1992Oct28.184832.13713@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca> golchowy@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Gerald Olchowy) writes:
>>
>>The problem with our parliamentary system right now is that the choice
>>at election time has been reduced to vote the party in power out of
>>office, and that elected politicians have abdicated their responsibility
>>to obtain mandates for their policies, even though they may be 
>>legitimately in office.
>>
>>This is true of the Tories in Ottawa, who should have sought a mandate
>>in an election for the GST, and for the NDP in Ontario, who before
>>proceeding with their agenda, should return to the voters for a mandate
>>on their policies.  The last election was a vote against the Liberals
>>and not a vote for NDP policies, and it is morally illegitimate in a
>>democratic society for the NDP to proceed with their policies without
>>another election, just as it was morally illegitimate for the federal
>>Tories to proceed with the GST or the constitution without another
>>election, because their previous mandate was for free trade.
>
>  Nonsense ... you should take a civics course to better understand the 
>British system of representative parliamentary democracy we currently
>have.

It's a pointless argument to say "that's the way the system is, so you
can't whine about it"

I already understand the parliamentary system, and I think it is flawed.
But just because the sytem is like this, doesn't mean I can't complain
about it, and try to convince people that it is flawed, misrepresents people,
and should be changed.

Fine, Bob Rae, and Mulroney, and Harcourt and all the other idiots elected
with tiny majorities or even total minorities of the popular vote have
carte blanche to mismanage or even ruin the country. Am I supposed to
sit back and tolerate it while bozos are at the wheel for 5 years, just
so Canadians can be forced into accepting different fools next time around?
All this because "We have a mandate, a RIGHT, to impose our will on the
49% to 60% of the population that didn't vote for us, and don't legitimately
represent them".

No thanks. Take the British parliamentary system and shove it. Funny
how Germany and Japan have proportional style systems, and they are doing
the best while the Britain and the USA are choking on this.

>
>>This is the reason for the disillusionment with the political process...
>>people are forced to vote NO all the time, and politicians believe that
>>once they are elected, even though when the vote was more against the
>>other person than for them, that they can be dictators for five years.
>
>  Voting NO has more to do with the opposition mentality of the electorate,
>parties not currently in power and special interests who feel that whatever
>the merits of something, opposing it is politically expedient (British
>Labour vs Massricht shows this is not just a Canadian condition).

this oppossition mentality is exactly what your hallowed British system 
of representative parliamentary democracy creates and allows to flourish.

>
>  I think we have been training our children to be pro-active in
>anti-establishment, anti-authority civil disobediance, and to feel that
>society owes them a free lunch with no responsibilities on their part
>to consider either supporting the system or to accept not only the 
>possible validity, but the consequences of other viewpoints.

I think you are partially right, but only in a social sense. Politically, you
are 
way off the mark, because you are in fact saying is "do not challenge
the system. respect it do not try to change it. government knows best"
Taken out of context, that paragraph could be coming from Pat Buchannon,
but I don't know if you are intending that.
>
>---- 
>Ross W. Wetmore - (416)922-1937 x259    | RFC822net: rossw@scocan.sco.COM
>SCO Canada Inc, Toronto, Ont, Canada.   | UUCP:{uunet,utcsri}!scocan!rossw
><std.disclaimer>
>----


-- 
__________________________________________________________________________
 John Paul Morrison                     |  
 University of British Columbia, Canada |  
 Electrical Engineering                 |   .sig file without a cause
 jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca              VE7JPM |  
________________________________________|_________________________________
Newsgroups: can.politics,soc.culture.canada,can.followup