No Holds Barred Week 2

What makes a good government? Is it the party? Is it the policies? Or is it the leader?

A lot of emphasis is put into the selection of a proper leader. They need to be presentable and educated at the very least, but what is really necessary in a good leader, is someone who sounds honest, someone the average Canadian can relate to and find hope for the future from.

With all of the talk about a looming election sparked by the Liberals and party leader Michael Ignatieff, accompanied by low voter turn-out in almost every election Canada has had in my lifetime, some understanding of why and what your voting for is long overdue.

Let’s take a simplified look at how parliament works; An election is held across the entire country. People vote for who represents their immediate area’s best interests. The votes are tallied and whichever party wins the most seats across the country is the “ruling” party of Canada.

This is where it gets a little confusing, so minimize facebook and turn down your iPod.

There are two different types of elected governments, there are majority and minority governments. They are just as they sound. A minority is a party that got the most seats countrywide, but was not able to achieve the 40% of seats needed to achieve a majority.

Think of it like this: Two friends want to see A Walk to Remember, but you want to watch Remember the Titans again. Two vs One, you lose. With a majority, you’re the two, and when you’re the majority in government, what you say, (usually) goes.

When you end up with a minority government like our fine country has, things get a lot more complicated, all of a sudden you have more people wanting different movies, but you only have enough money for one. You end up compromising with your friends and you say something like “If we get this movie, I get more popcorn”. Your friends say fine and you all end up crying in the end anyway.

Parliament is like that. Full of compromise. The old you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours is most prevalent in Parliament then anywhere in the world. Smaller partys sometimes decide to support motions they don’t necessarily agree with, in exchange for a motion more representative of their party’s beliefs to be passed.

Right now, the Conservative party has decided they want to put forth reforms for Employment Insurance eligibility. They stand up in Parliament and present their motion, but because the conservatives currently have around 35% of the seats, it’s up to Canada’s other three parties to decide whether or not they want to support their motion, giving it the necessary amount of votes to pass and go into legislation.

Voting on motions is always fun. It is a way for the non-ruling parties to push their weight around. Smaller parties like the NDP and the Bloc don’t have as much weight to throw as the Liberals because of the amount of seats they control, but collectively, they can all vote against a Conservative motion and make sure it doesn’t go into legislation.

Where minority governments get even more fun is where a Vote of No-Confidence comes into play. Which is where we are now. The Liberals can, and plan to put forth a motion of No Confidence against the current administration and force an election this fall, something the failed Coalition government attempt earlier this year.

If the Liberals are actually telling the truth, Canada will be headed for it’s 6^th election this decade, a very rare occurrence in developed countries. With the current state of our economy, accompanied by the results of numerous polls (Maybe aside from the Liberal’s website polls), One has to wonder if now is a good time for an election.

If it does happen though, I’m afraid to see how much money will go into campaigning and advertising alone. Considering Iggy is a threat to Harper (more so than Dion was), the TV and paper advertisements are going to be unreal, both in airtime and cost, considering expenses from last years attack ads on Dion were in the millions! Call me old-fashioned, but I thought conserving meant saving.

So when we go to the polls this fall (or whenever), just remember, a leader is someone you can trust to give it to you straight. Someone who you can listen to and know isn’t just filling you full of bullshit. Remember that when someone tells you there will be no deficit in two years.

Like always, feedback and comments are greatly appreciated, you can reach me at a0m1s@unb.ca any time.