With the campaign slogging on, I thought it might be a good idea to start a discussion between the blogs covering the campaign. Instead of responding for or against what the leaders of the parties are proposing today, I think we need to have a discussion about the state of Albertan democracy.
In the 2004 election, voter turnout was 44.7%. In 2001, it was 52.8%. Taking these numbers into account, in 2004 the Tories won 75% of the seats with the support of only 20.9% of Albertans. It’s time we started discussing what sort of changes need to be made to Albertan society to improve participation in the democratic process, and the legitimacy of our governments.
My challenge to the other blogs is this: What changes (if any) need to be made to the democratic process in this province? New voting systems? New processes for hiring Returning Officers? Redistribution of seats in the legislature? If you think that even with these numbers, our system is A-OK, defend it. I’m interested to see what, if anything, comes up.
report on kim rivera federal court hearing, part one
43 minutes ago
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You should check out the March issue of Alberta Views. Dave King wrote an article outlining party financing, cabinet minister, public service and electoral reform. It's masterfully written.
Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch, writes:
If anyone wants to see the details about the Federal Accountability Act, and a list of the 85 loopholes that remain in the federal government's accountability and governance system, go to:
http://www.dwatch.ca/camp/SummaryOfLoopholes.html
Alberta has as many loopholes in its provincial government accountability and governance system, though a slightly different list, as do the other provinces.
Top 3 democratic reforms needed in Alberta (and in every government in Canada):
1. Enact an honesty in politics law with an accessible, low-cost complaint process to an independent watchdog with the power to penalize misleaders with very high personal fines (including election promise-breakers, and politicians who switch parties in between elections);
2. Close all secrecy loopholes (in the access to information law, as well as in the new lobbying law (disclose all lobbying on anything by everyone), as well as disclose all donations of money, property or services made by anyone to anyone in the government, in any political party, and in any campaign) and close all the closely related ethics loopholes (limit all gifts or donations of money, property or services (especially from lobbyists), prohibit lobbyists from becoming Cabinet ministers and Cabinet ministers from becoming lobbyists for at least 4 years (and prohibit everyone else in government for at least 2 years) and prohibit politicians from taking part in votes and discussions on even general matters if they have even the appearance of an interest in the matter);
3. Require meaningful public consultation before the government makes any significant decision (including establishing an independent appointments commission to advertise all Cabinet appointment positions and to screen candidates based on merit).
Making these changes in these 3 key areas will change Alberta's government in the most important ways it (and every other government in Canada) needs to be changed.
Some may argue that voting system reform is more important, but a different voting system will only elect a slightly different group of politicians who will still act dishonestly, secretively, unethically, and therefore unrepresentatively and wastefully. As well, voting system reform will do nothing to change the behaviour of political staff, Cabinet appointees, government officials nor lobbyists.
The 3 reforms set out above will effectively require everyone involved in the provincial government to act honestly, openly, ethically, and therefore they will act representatively and efficiently.
If voting system reform is implemented, it should be a system in which voters rank each candidate and then the ranked votes are counted cumulatively. This system provides the most accurate results in terms of voter support vs. seats won, and ensures that politicians remain accountable to voters in a riding.
Sincerely,
Duff Conacher, Coordinator
Democracy Watch
http://www.cleangovernment.ca
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