Political / Electoral Reform and its opposition

What this country really needs is SERIOUS dialog on both political and electoral reform. What does that entail you might ask?

First, campaign funding:
Should be from the tax base, and the tax base ONLY. Fair, clean election is of the utmost importance. Currently, corporate funding for political candidates is appalling. If everyone was given the same amount of money for a campaign, we could eliminate some of the corporate influence on the outcome of our elections, taking our politicians out of the pocket of big business. This move is happening right now in the US, where many states are passing similar clean election laws.

Second, Independent Candidates (IC's):
Should be allowed to run for the PMO as they are in the US. Which would mean separate votes for the PMO and local MP's, which makes since because they are completely different issues. This is a serious flaw in our election process. Currently, candidates for the PMO are selected from a pool of candidates in each political party, which means that the average citizen has absolutely no say in who is running the country. These candidates are selected by higher ups in each party, which means the PM is actually selected by roughly 2000 people in each party. So a small fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the population (8000/35000000 = a very small number) are influencing the outcomes of elections, and these people are mostly rich white guys with large stakes in the outcome.

It should be obvious to anyone who knows and follows politics and corporate dealings that these party members will vote for someone who will best represent there needs and wants and not those of the general public. A good example of this is Chretien, in 1974, as Finance Minister he changed the banking rules in Canada and converted the Bank of Canada into a regulatory agency, gaving control of the Canadian dollar to the banking industry, then as you might expect he found his way into the PMO when these men voted for him to be leader of the liberal party for his loyalty. This chance in control of the dollar was the begninning of the Canadian national Debt that has skyrocketed to almost $600 Million, and makes the same Banking Executives billions of dollars a year, stolen from OUR taxes. When you vote, your trusting that the 2000 people that run the party you voted for are trustworthy and are looking out for your best interest, which is a HUGE mistake, because they absolutely do not represent your best interests. They represent there best interests.

Allowing independent candidates with equal tax base funding to run for the PMO would take the power away from the corporate parties and place it back in the hands of the people. Now I know what your thinking, if we let just anyone run for PM we'd have a line up miles long, but there are ways to narrow down candidates with votes starting at the local levels and then provincial levels which I won't get into here, because it is a long discussion. Lets just say, it could be worked out if the political will to discuss it was there. In fact if we actually had a real discussion on this issue we might come to the conclusion that the Office of the PM and the party system as a whole might be ambiguous and unnecessary. Locally funded elections for Independent MP's to the HoC would place the dealing of the House under the control of the people and not the Parties, because the people would have the right to change there mind as to there representatives instead of the party. Something to think about indeed.

Thirdly, Unelected Advisers:
What exactly is the job of unelected adviser to the PMO? We have these men, who are considered the closest part of the PM's inner circle, whispering in his ear, influencing extremely important decisions. Who are these men? Who are they accountable to? Where do they get there information and views from? We need laws to keep these men out, the only people making decision for Canada should be our elected officials. Those are the people the PM should be talking to because they are supposed to be directly representing our concerns (we know isn't the case, but its better then unelected people doing it).

Forth, Lobbyists:
When was it part of the democratic process to allow random people with corporate agendas access to government officials when the citizens of this country can't even get the time of day from our government. We have to go through a maze of secretaries and representatives of our government officials to get even the vaguest of responses from the offices of our elected representatives. Rarely will a citizen get a response from a Minister or from the PMO. Some have a hard time talking to even there local MP's and conveying there opinions and concerns. So to give the heads of corporations and there lobbyist full access to the Ministry and the PMO is really, not just unfair but completely undemocratic. Its certainly part of what is ruining this country.

Opposition to political and electoral reform comes from the party system itself and from those who are comfortable with the current statue quo. It's no surprise that Political Parties don't want Canadians thinking about reform on these issues, they currently have a monopoly on politics. They have successfully kept independents and small party out of the mix and have stolen tax dollars based on the number of votes each party gets in the federal election. For every vote they receive the party gets $1.75. Roughly 60% of the population votes, so thats $1.75 x 36000000 x 0.6 = $37 800 000 straight from the public tax system into the pockets of political parties. Save yourself some money, vote independent.

I would love to hear opinions on this.
please comment.