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Reforming our Democracy
Innisfil Enterprise
January 24, 2007
By Peter Van Loan, MP, York-Simcoe
In addition to my new role as Government
House Leader, I have responsibility as
Minister for Democratic Reform. That means
trying to find ways to make our system of
democracy and Parliament work better for
Canadians.
Canada's new Government has an ambitious
democratic reform agenda. Already, passage
of the Federal Accountability Act has
cleaned up political party fundraising,
eliminating the undue influence of money.
Political contributions are now capped at
$1000 per year, and can only be made by
individuals (corporate and union donations
are banned, as are anonymous donations and
trust funds).
A big part of our agenda is Senate Reform.
One proposal is to limit future Senate
appointments to an eight year term.
Currently, an unelected Senator's term can
be as long as 45 years! So far, the Liberal
Senators have blocked this Bill by dragging
out its study for almost a year - incredible
for such a straightforward, hardly complex,
proposal.
Another Bill currently before the House of
Commons provides for Canadians to vote on
who they would like to represent them in the
Senate. The Prime Minister could then be
confident that those appointed to the Senate
had the confidence of the people they were
to represent.
On the House of Commons side, we have a Bill
we are optimistic will make it through
Parliament, to provide for elections every
fourth year in October - fixing that date by
law. Currently, the Prime Minister can
choose a voting date based on how the
governing party is doing in the opinion
polls. The risk of an early vote if a
Minority Government lost a Confidence Vote
would remain, but the politically motivated
opportunistic "snap election" would be gone.
We also have a proposal to clean up election
laws to prevent voter fraud by, for example,
requiring voters to produce identification
to receive a ballot.
In the months ahead, we will be consulting
Canadians on what they think could be
changed in the five following subject areas:
1) The House of Commons;
2) The Senate;
3) Elections;
4) Political Parties;
5) Citizen Engagement.
The last of these is of great interest to
me. In recent decades, we have seen a
decline in all forms of community
involvement across North America. Community
groups have fewer volunteers, and people are
less likely to take time to help neighbors,
and local organizations. Voting turnout in
elections is declining, and the volunteers
who make our democracy work are fewer in
number.
In many ways, we are seeing a shift in
attitude from the Citizen, with rights and
responsibilities, to a society of individual
consumers, simply making choices for
themselves. The loss of community ties and
social capital makes us all a little poorer
in the process.
For decades, as an involved member of my
community, and in the classes I taught at
the University of Toronto, I struggled with
a search for a response to this dilemma of
declining community involvement. If our
consultation results in even one good idea
that helps increase the level of civic
engagement, it will have been a productive
exercise.
As one who has served as President of a
Provincial Party, and a Federal Party, I am
already intimately familiar with the
challenges on the Democratic Reform front. I
look forward to seeing us deliver some
changes for the better - some real results
for Canadians - soon, when it comes to
making our democracy work better.
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