Message to Greens: You Didn't Get Elected

This past week marked a historical moment in Canada. Well, actually it wasn't that historical. For the first time, in five years, five parties have held seats in in the House of Commons. Its being marked as historical since the Green Party now holds its first seat. Is this a sign that things may be looking up for oft ignored the Greens, who have been pushing hard for representation in public debates and a seat in parliament for the last couple of elections? I say no. There is good reason why this is not a historic event in Canadian politics. Former Liberal MP Blair Willson from BC crossed the floor to join the Green Party. Therefore, the Greens may have a seat but they were not elected to it. The segues into an issue I have with MPs being able to change their party affiliation while parliament is still in session.

I've spoken at length about this before when Halton MP Garth Turner betrayed his voters and crossed over to the Liberals after being booted out of the Conservatives for mouthing off too much. He came close to being booted out of the Liberal caucus for doing pretty much the same thing, showing that he is opinionated but very stupid and arrogant. Studies and polls have shown that the vast majority of Canadians vote for the party and not their MP as an individual. That is fundamentally how Canadian politics works. It's a party-centric system with strictly enforced unity. All MPs are just another faceless vote to counter opposition, unless of course they're part of cabinet. So if people are voting for a party, and their MP changes parties, their representative in parliament now no longer represents the popular choice. Crossing the floor seems to be happening a lot lately. First Stronach, then Turner, then Khan, now Willson. Under our current system, doing so is highly undemocratic since the MP now belongs to a party that is not backed by their constituents. Therefore, I believe this process must be banned from happening while parliament is in session. At the very least, if an MP crosses the floor, it should automatically trigger a by-election in that riding to allow voters to confirm the move or choose another representative. In essence, the Greens have nothing to celebrate from this "victory." They may have their first MP, but his constituents still voted Liberal. Call me back when they actually get someone elected democratically rather than through abuse of the system.