I'm presently taking a Utopian fiction course in university for which I read Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. I wanted to share a scene and image which really stuck with me.
"That evening the swarm of helicopters that came buzzing across the Hog's Back was a dark cloud ten kilometres long. The description of last night's orgy of atonement had been in all the papers.
'Savage!' called the first arrivals, as they alighted from their machine. 'Mr. Savage!'
There was no answer.
The door of the lighthouse was ajar. They pushed it open and walked into a shuttered twilight. Through an archway on the further side of the room they could see the bottom of the staircase that led up to the higher floors. Just under the crown of the arch dangled a pair of feet.
'Mr. Savage!'
Slowly, slowly, slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east ..."
I find the imagery amazing and its depth unending. If you have never read this book please do so.
***
I'm presently reading George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four for class. I had read this about 8 or 9 years ago and had been impacted by the work as so many others have throughout the years. I came across the following the other day which sort of echoed to me my first blog entry. Of course this is done with extreme talent and I think has a haunting impact.
"He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear. But so long as he uttered it, in some obscure way the continuity was not broken. It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage."
***
I was recently asked by a younger co-worker who they should vote for. They said that they had no idea what the different parties stood for or what the main issues of this election were. I encouraged them, like I do everyone, to vote their conscience as that is how democracy works best. However, I couldn't help but talk about the notions of 'strategic voting' which is a reality here in Canada. With so many parties running the simple A or B voting patterns get thrown out the window.
In my humble (at the very least I would project it as such) opinion it is time for electoral reform here in Canada. We currently live under what is called a 'first past the post' system which in reality rewards parties with majority governments while getting a minority of the votes. I understand that this has been an evolving system and one that we inherited from our forefathers in England but it is now time that democratic notions rose to the fore and reform occured.
I would propose a 'proportional representation' system. Over the last century as literacy rates increased, education levels increased and the average citizens access to political information has increased many of the 'safe guards' inherent in the system are now antiquated. It is time that the people's voice is truly heard as it is voiced. According to the latest polls, support for the main federal parties is as follows ...
Conservative party - 37%
Liberal party - 30%
NDP - 18%
Bloc Quebecois - 10%
Green party - 4%
This could end in two ways if the poll numbers are the same as election results. First it could provide a Conservative majority government or a Conservative minority. But as the bottom three parties support remains fairly constant the number of seats that they will receive in the upcoming parliament will most likely remain about the same, as follows ...
Bloc - 54 seats (17.5% of the seats with 12.4% of the votes)
NDP - 19 seats (6.2% of the seats with 15.7% of the votes)
Green - 0 seates (0% of the seats with 4.3% of the votes)
Liberals - 135 seats (43.8% of the seats with 36.7% of the votes)
Conservatives - 99 seates (32.1% of the seats with 29.6% of the votes)
Now the Liberal and Conservative numbers have flipped since the 2004 election which could simply provide a similar parliament except the Liberals and Conservatives would flip their number of seats. Of course in 2000 the Liberals won 172 seats on 40.8% of the vote, a majority government.
As you can see the popular support for a party does not equate to their parliamentry power. The NDP had greater support but less power than the Bloc, for instance. Under a proportional representation model the next parliament would break down as follows if todays poll numbers were election results.
Conservative - 114 seats
Liberal - 93 seats
NDP - 56 seats
Bloc - 32 seats
Green - 13 seats
Now obviously this would result in a minority government nearly every time unless one party gained the majority of the popular vote. But isn't that what democracy is about? This system ensures that the people's voice is heard as it is uttered. Of course it would require that the parties work together more closely than they do now under their partisan banners. It would also require an improved relationship between the provinces and the federal government as local governmental representation would be done through the provinces as opposed to both federally and provincially. It would also help to end this notion of strategic voting which skews support and power in the country.
I would also add a stipulation. The party with the most seats elects the Prime Minister, the party with the second most seats would elect the deputy Prime Minister and when their cabinet is appointed the proportional reprsentation model must be upheld as well. For instance, currently there are 42 cabinet positions, where 1 is held by the PM and 1 is held by the dPM. So with 40 positions each party would hold the following number of positions ...
Conservative - 15
Liberal - 12
NDP - 7
Bloc - 4
Green - 2
This woudl ensure that the parties work together to get things done and that each party has a voice at the table as that is what Canadians want. In reality isn't this supposed to be about serving Canadians rather than maintaining or gaining power? If a traditionally powerful party refuses to relinquish seats in an effort to ensure better democracy, what does it say about them?
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