The price of democracy? $300 million
What is the price of democracy? This is not a question about the sacrifices young men and women make on battlefields to defend Canada, our values or any other noble cause. It's a question of whether Canadians should accept, with our usual apathy, the $300 million price tag for a federal election which ultimately resolved nothing.
At a time when unemployment is growing, governments at all levels are planning to run deficits, social ills such as homelessness and violent crimes are spreading and Canadians are just plain worried about their future, should we accept spending this kind of money on a federal election that produced another fractured Parliament?
Let us count the sins of our federal leaders in plunging the country into chaos with a divisive, multi-million dollar, useless election:
$300 million—This election cost Canadians $300 million dollars at a time of global economic crisis. How many units of affordable housing could this have built? How many breakfast programs for hungry kids could it have funded? How many training programs for the unemployed could have been delivered?
Cynicism—Yes, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was cynical in calling an election solely because he wanted a majority government with which to gain a free hand in ruling the country. But the opposition Liberals are already talking about the need to do a better job of fundraising for the next election rather than apologizing for their inept leader and a silly campaign.
Apathy—This was the lowest voter turnout in Canadian history. Canadians are running away screaming from our democratic process, fed up with bickering, visionless politicians.
Unchanged government—The prime minister wasted taxpayers' money all for 16 new Tory MPs. The Conservatives had no mandate from voters before the election, and they still don't. But let us not forget that voters also turned their backs on the opposition parties.
Broken promises—Any election which starts with a broken promise—the prime minister broke his own election law in an attempt to gain a majority—can't be good.
Our representative democracy is really quite a simple concept: Voters elect their representatives; the majority party wins the right to govern; the opposition parties point out the errors of the government and propose better ways to govern. At the end of a set period voters get to pass judgment on the government by again electing MPs to represent them—either giving the governing party a new mandate or empowering another party.
Even if a party doesn't get more than 50 per cent of the votes—which usually happens—our first-past-the-post system usually manages to tilt the balance of power toward one party. It may not be rule by the majority of voters, but it has generally worked rather well. Just ask any new Canadian.
But now Canadians seem to be resigned to a "pox-on-all-your-houses" democracy where no party has anything close to the confidence of Canadians. Even proportional representation—where parties get seats based on the popular vote—likely would not solve our dilemma, but only fracture Parliament even more.
As people of faith, all of this should concern us. First, Christians are to be change agents first in our communities. Parliaments where the politicians are only concerned with gaining an advantage for the next election are counterproductive to the consideration of good laws and good programs.
Second, how are Christians supposed to influence our political system when it is toxic at its core? Good, dedicated people, from the Roman Catholic bishops to evangelical leaders to anti-poverty activists and pro-life advocates, went to great lengths to get their issues addressed by candidates and the media during the election. Unfortunately their voices were drowned in a sea of political cynicism and voter apathy.
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