Roundup: Ignoring accountability, again

Posted on by

Samara Canada, the country’s civic engagement organisation, put out a report over the weekend about electoral reform and what the various kinds of systems looked like. And it’s a decent enough report on its own, but what struck me was the fact that yet again, we get a report on electoral systems that ignores the biggest single point of discussion with any electoral system – accountability. While I tweeted this concern, the report author responded thusly:

While the fact that two systems have a correlation between MPs and ridings, it doesn’t spell out the fact there are accountability mechanism, particularly around both nomination processes and in being able to punish an MP at the ballot box if necessary. Why this needs to be spelled out is because with Proportional Representation systems that have lists, the ability for voters to determine who is on that list is a big issue. Is it a slate? Then do you not vote for the slate for one or two bad names on that list? Is it an open list? How does that complicate the ballot process, particularly if you want to punish a bad MP? There is mention paid in the report to parties who want to put more women and visible minorities on their lists as a selling feature, but nothing about where those lists become problems when it comes to holding that party to account, or those MPs when it comes to re-election.

Similarly, one party government does not tell us anything about how we hold a government to account at election time, nor does it spell out the problems with holding governments to account when they are part of a coalition. The ability to punish a government at the ballot box is a feature of our current system, and this needs to be stated as such. Conversely, the fact that in many countries that use PR systems and have coalition governments, central parties can stay in power for decades by simply shuffling their coalition partners around periodically. This is not holding them to account, nor is it actually healthy for democracy if parties stay in power in perpetuity. They actually need to be out of power from time to time in order to refresh themselves, but this is not mentioned anywhere.

While I appreciate that the author had limited space to work in, accountability is a concept that needs to be stated explicitly and discussed in open terms rather than in vague mentions like he did here. As with the whole electoral reform committee process we’ve seen, so much attention is paid to fetishizing the ballot without actually ever mentioning accountability that it’s only having half the discussion. Accountability matters. Being able to punish at the ballot box is just as important – if not more so – than electing someone. Being able to throw the bums out is one of the biggest single features of our current system, and yet that gets mentioned almost nowhere over the course of these discussions. It’s ridiculous and wrong, and we need to talk about it openly and frankly if we’re to have a true and proper discussion about what’s at stake.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau heads off for the G20 meeting in China today, as the country’s ambassador seems to be trying to calm human rights concerns.
  • Paul Martin has advice for Trudeau about the trip, while the former ambassador to China has advice on how to raise human rights concerns with them here.
  • Legally blind minister Carla Qualtrough is drafting the country’s first national accessibility law.
  • Veterans Affairs officials are ready to unveil a new housing strategy to prevent homeless veterans.
  • Energy East hearings start in Quebec this week, and Montréal mayor Denis Coderre plans to testify at them.
  • Here’s a look at how the government is implementing “deliverology.”
  • Documents show that the Conservatives blocked measures to help more Syrian refugees on two separate occasions.
  • Here’s a look at what our other still-living former prime ministers have done since leaving public office.
  • Peter Loewen decries the fact that the electoral reform committee isn’t hearing about the merits of our current system or the problems with PR systems.
  • Paul Wells writes about how in character Harper’s quiet departure from Parliamentary life was.

Odds and ends:

At Mauril Bélanger’s funeral on Saturday, they sang the gender-neutral version of O Canada that he championed in Parliament.