Tuesday, October 28, 2014

A Gentler Time in Politics

There was a gentler time in Canadian politics, where parties respected each other and each others duties.

For example, if the governing party elected a new leader who did not hold a seat in that Legislature or Parliament, usually a member of the government caucus would resign and open up a by-election in a "safe" seat.  The opposition parties would field a "token" candidate in that by-election, and effectively let the new leader run unopposed.  

Other by-elections would be fought tooth and nail to hopefully get the Opposition's message out and increase the number of members on the Speaker's left!  But the opposition realized that if the newly elected leader was defeated in the by-election, the government would have to appoint an interim premier or prime minister while they held another leadership convention, or another by-election. 

The day-to-day business of the government would be severely compromised for perhaps months! 

I believe it is the job of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition to offer legislative alternatives and to criticize the actions of the government.  It is not their job to prevent the government from governing!

In a legislative assembly or parliament, the opposition has many excellent tools in its bag to oppose the government's actions. But I think throwing a wrench into the whole political system should not be one of them. 

But I guess I'm thinking of a gentler time.

1 comment:

  1. I assume this post is referring to the Wildrose Party's "all out" effort to win the recent provincial byelections? I recall reading Danielle Smith's comments about a week before the vote, poo-pooing Jim Prentice's voiced disdain for the whack of negative advertising that the Wildrose was running -- saying that Prentice was 'thin skinned' and that the PCs were 'feeling the heat.'

    She totally dropped the ball on that call -- it looks like voters saw right through that negativity. It's a pretty glaring condemnation for the opposition parties to lose all four of these byelections, considering that byelections traditionally favour opposition parties.

    And for all the money the Wildrose Party threw at these races, they only managed a close second in Calgary-West (within 3%) a distant second in Calgary-Foothills, and a couple of third-place finishes. Money well spent!

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