The PenOpticon

I was quietly (for a change) optimistic that Elizabeth May might carry the day for the Greens in last Monday’s London North byelection. Although Liberal candidate, Glen Pearson won, the Green’s second place showing represented a dramatic increase in support relative to past elections. But in our first-across-the-post electoral system, “relative” is all that really matters, isn’t it?  The fact is, only 42.8% of the riding’s voters even bothered to show up to vote, despite the fact that this was one of the most hotly contested, broadly covered byelections in recent memory. Every party, including the Greens ponied up in a big way to try to get the vote out. What, pray tell, did those 50,000 North Londonites do while they were not voting last Monday?

By staying away in droves, the election was handed to Glen Pearson with just 15% of the pool of possible votes. While the Greens are making hay out of the fact they garnered 25.9% of the tally, the reality is that only 9% of the riding actually cast a vote for Elizabeth May, despite the fact that the GPC mounted a good strong fight, with volunteers spread across the country phoning London North voters while an army of canvassers criss-crossed the riding.

I’m as cynical about our majoritarian electoral system as anyone, but this is all we’ve got right now. Since the people we put in power occasionally send us to die to “protect our way of life” and to “guarantee our freedom”, the least a person of voting age can do is to show up and mark an X when the time comes.

Clearly, it’s time we changed the election act to require our citizens to vote and to levy fines against those who don’t bother. Australia has such a system and averages a 95% turnout. It has been noted that mandatory voting results in a larger number of spoiled ballots and may actually skew the results in favour of liberal-leaning parties by bringing out larger numbers of “the poor and disenfranchised” [Slate].  So what! At least after voting, the poor will no longer be disenfranchised. Mandatory voting won’t necessarily give us better government, but everyone will share equally in blame for whatever government we elect.

I keep telling myself not to dwell on the doings of the Honourable Member of Halton, Ont — but everyday I find myself clicking on garth.ca for his latest rant and for the latest news on how the CPC is thwarting the will of the Halton Conservative Riding Association. To paraphrase a character in Don Delillo’s White Noise — the art of getting ahead in politics is based on learning how to express dissatisfaction in an interesting way. Mr. Turner has learned that lesson exceedingly well. And so, last Friday, when he happened to be speaking at York University, what choice did I have but to go?

Garth wants parliamentary reform. He talks in glowing terms about digital democracy and virtual parliaments. Essentially he wants to use technology to bring constituents closer to their representatives, to push more decision-making power into the hands of voters through referendums. These may be lofty ideals but there are lots of nasty details to work out. He’s starting with two practical ideas, however: fighting for the right of independent MPs to issue tax receipts for campaign contributions and pushing for a reform that would allow independent MPs to sit on parliamentary committees. Anything that can be done to put independent MPs on an equal footing with established parties is worth fighting for and Mr. Turner’s efforts are certainly getting noticed. We learned that his website is garnering some 1500 emails per day from all across this country. We also learned that the PMO has created a full-time position to monitor the political whereabouts of Garth Turner. Talk about your Fear and Trembling in Ottawa (by Harper S. Kierkegaard?).

The room wasn’t particularly crowded but a number of York professors monopolized the floor and peppered Mr. Turner with questions on the minutiae of digital democracy and referendums. When the Honourable member suggested it would be better to let voters decide issues such as stem cell research, abortion and gay marriage, one prof demanded to know why populist politicians only wanted to allow referendums on “divisive, right wing issues”. Why not ask the people to weigh in on economic issues as well, he demanded, and then asked the audience: “Who wants to raise the minimum wage to $10/hour?” As you might expect, the room erupted with applause and Garth was a little taken aback — but only a little. Why not hold a plebiscite to legalize astral flying, I muttered to myself. To me, the problem with radical populism is that it heightens the tension between the easy answers that we all want and the hard choices that have to be made. We saw this when Mr. Turner “went to the people” with a series of town hall meetings to see what he should do after being ousted from the Conservative Caucus. He could not get a clear and decisive answer from his constituency and he wavered for for days before deciding to sit as an independent.

Anyhow, I did manage to get one question in edgewise. I reminded Mr. Turner that although many in his riding wanted him to sit as an independent, a large number also wanted him to become a Green. Then I asked if he would consider accommodating both camps by joining the GPC while continuing to sit in the House as an independent. Sure, it would merely be a symbolic gesture, but one that just might help Elizabeth May win the London bi-election. He merely smiled and reminded us that his grandfather was a “Liberal Conservative” MP who traveled to Ottawa on horseback twice a year and that he’d like to see more crossover between party lines in Ottawa. Sure. Whatever. Even if Mr. Turner was unwilling to commit to the Greens as a card carrying member, he deserves full marks for spending quality time campaigning with Ms. May in London last week. I wish him well, but that’s enough Garth for a while.

Garth Turner held his Ottawa news conference today to announce his resignation from the Conservative Party of Canada. Many were predicting he would drop some sort of big juicy scandal bomb on that party, but it was not to be. Neither did he announce his intent to join the Green Party as some have hoped. His situation illustrates perfectly how the rough edge of party politics seems to grind away our ideal notions of democracy.

The arbitrary fashion in which the the Conservatives denied Turner the right to run as a CPC member in the next election — despite being nominated by the local party twice in the past 18 months — is scandalous. Turner deserves credit for opening a debate on parliamentary reform. Why shouldn’t independent MPs have the right to issue tax receipts for campaign contributions just as full-fledged parties do? To that end, Turner announced he is taking the following actions:

1. I resign my membership in the Conservative name.
This is not easy to do after being a Conservative MP twice, a cabinet minister, a national leadership candidate and a Tory my whole life.

But my Conservative party believes in free speech, diversity of opinion, co-operation, equality of all people, progressive social values, true environmental protection and stands firm against intolerance, bigotry exclusion.

More importantly, though, I have realized that party politics - not just this party - is the problem.

2. Second, in the House of Commons I will support the government only when its actions are consistent with what I have just stated. I may only have one vote, and I may not change a whole lot, but it matters to me. I will try to make that vote count, and you will know it.

3. Third, I will seek out expert legal opinion on how our big national political parties, can be forced to be more democratic - to actually listen to, and obey, members. Right now these parties operate as old boys’ clubs accountable only to themselves. Is it any wonder voter turnout is dropping and cynicism is rising?

4. Fourth, I will introduce a private member’s bill seeking equal treatment in the House of Commons and under the Canada Elections Act for Independents. They should be able to sit on committees and raise money by issuing tax receipts right along with every other MP.

5. And, fifth, I’m not going away. Over the coming months I will travel anywhere people want to talk about democratic renewal, parliamentary reform, the role of our MPs and how citizens can get involved to reclaim this system from the unrepentant, arrogant party bosses and the unelected backroom boys.

Turner’s chances at reform may be slimmer than the Leaf’s shot at a Stanley Cup, but stranger things have happened. And while I hope he succeeds, I’d still like to see him return to party politics as a Green in the next election (There may be hope here: Garth is campaigning with Elizabeth May this Wednesday afternoon (Nov 15th) to support her by-election bid in London North Centre) Sure, we need more independent voices in Parliament, but the times are also crying for coherent, Green voices with the will to ameliorate some of the damage our species has caused.

Go Leafs Go!

Go Garth Go!

As an organization Katimavik is one of the unsung heroes of Canada. Since 1977, Katimavik has brought thousands of young Canadians together and shipped them around the country to volunteer with countless community and non-profit groups. Volunteers receive a token $3 per diem and a $1000 honorarium (after completion of the 9-month program). Katimavik provides a unique and intense life experience and a chance for young people to figure a few things out before they make their next move. Maybe I’ll blog something about my own Katimavik experience one ‘o these days. I could tell you some stories, I could.

But after thirty years of service the program’s days may be numbered. The Harper government has not formally pulled the plug on it yet, but they have essentially put Katimavik on notice. The Treasury Board has approved funding only until August 2007 and have instructed management to “cease any recruitment activities until further notice”.

It may be that Katimavik needs a kick in the pants to help it better fulfill its mandate. In fact, it may be in Canada’s interest to provide additional funding for more participants, to raise the organization’s profile and help it work more effectively with non-profit organizations. Katimavik participants could and should have a role to play in whatever Green Plan Canada eventually adopts.

Given Canada’s daunting geography and the astounding diversity of the people who live here, Katimavik is important because it lets young people live and work with the many faces of Canada. It encourages compassion, cooperation, innovation, tolerance, hard work — and fun. Even if you have never heard of it, ask your co-workers, friends, fellow students, parents or teachers about it. You will very quickly find someone who knows someone who has been on the program — or you may be lucky enough to meet a former participant.

Canada has been described as a provisional construct — an entity that exists by continually questioning and refining its values and aspirations. Katimavik is a small but integral part of that process that builds Canada. We should not let it die.

If you would like to help save Katimavik, please visit their funding status page and make your voice heard by emailing Stephen Harper and your local MP. The Katimavik web folk have built a nice little web application to make this exceedingly easy.

For the record, I’m a Katimivik “veteran” from 1978. So… if you happen to recognize yourself in the picture above, I would be thrilled to hear from you! Salut tout le monde! Vous savez qui vous êtes.

I was walking on air for a couple of days, thinking Mr. Turner would quickly run into the arms of the Greens. Although the constituents at his weekend town hall meetings marginally voted for him to sit as an independent, the Greens in Milton were a strong second place. It would have been a tough few weeks, but he could have convinced his riding that they would be better served under a Green banner. After all, some of the most critical issues in the region– the imminent expansion of Dufferin Aggregates on the Niagara Escarpment and rapid growth demand a strong Green voice. According to the Milton Rural Ratepayers, the community is growing by 8.6% a year and will grow from 47,000 to 72,000 residents by 2009. Sadly, I could find very little on garth.ca on how Mr. Turner feels about these issues, although he recently re-wrote the Garth Turner “Citizen’s Guide to a Better Environment” which contains the following telling statements:

“Canada’s Conservative government has just finished writing the most comprehensive and environment-friendly action plan of the last twenty years, aimed at addressing the serious problems of global warming, deteriorating air quality and threats to our fresh water.

We have made the wise choice not to pursue the path of the Kyoto Agreement which would have seen Canada send billions of dollars to other countries in order to purchase pollution credits. That complicated and flawed plan would have cost taxpayers a bundle, while actually doing nothing to address our own environmental issues.”

Maybe when he wrote the above he had taken a few sips of the Kool-Aid but had not downed the whole glass? I dunno. Hopefully he will at least become a Green-friendly independent while the Harper government hangs on, and in a few months, if things look right maybe he’ll become a Green for real.

What I find sad about this entire episode is that Garth Turner seems to have replaced the discipline and ideology of Harper’s NeoCons with his own ideological faith in “digital democracy” — a misplaced belief that through technology voters will tell him what to do — and that what they say will always be the right course of action. Ha! Don’t get me wrong, Turner should be commended for opening a communication channel with his constituents. But active “listening” should not be conflated with blind obedience to the wishes of the few who choose to bend a politician’s digital ear. Sometimes good old-fashioned leadership is required. Sometimes a leader must articulate both the spoken and unspoken issues of her constituents.

In any case, Green History has been knocking loudly at Garth’s door and so far he has not bothered to answer.