GG Suspends Parliament, What Should Come Next

This week, I find it vary difficult to be proud to be a Canadian. Our Parliament has threatened to tear the country apart over $28 million, which is peanuts in the grand scheme of things. It represents a historical low for responsible government in Canada, in which none of the three major parties has acted with dignity and decorum, more like childish shouting and personal vendettas. Today, Prime Minister Steven Harper visited Governor General Michaelle Jean and asked her to suspend Parliament until the new year. He was granted this wish. Right now, I believe this is the best thing for the country since it gives both Parliament and Canadians a much needed cooling off period. What is happening in Canada now is unprecedented and nobody really knows how to handle it. It was done in Ontario with a Rae/Perterson coalition in the late 80s but then, there were only three parties and the NDP and Liberals held the majority of the seats. It is not the same in the federal case, where a localized separatist party that the majority of Canadians cannot vote for now holds the balance of power. I've already discussed my feelings on that at length. The big question now is where to go next.

The right to form an opposition coalition if non confidence is declared in minority government is constitutionally legal in Canada and has been since 1867. The question we should ask as a people is whether this law still applies today. We inheritted out constitutional law from the UK, and like theirs, there are numerous unwritten traditions, norms, and conventions within the Canadian constitution. One such convention is that the governor general only acts on the will of the Prime Minister, despite her power to do otherwise. If this were broken, it would lead to a constititional crisis despite it being unwritten, as happened in the King-Byng Affair of the 1920s. A norm is how we elect our representatives. Canadians expect that in our first past the post parliamentary system that the party that has the most seats is the ruling party. They also know that there are three federalist parties. The Bloc is usually left out since they are only focused on Quebec interests and not Canada as a whole. Now that they hold that balance of power, it creates another crisis as interests that would undermine the entire country are now rolling the dice. This is why a substantial majority of Canadians oppose this coalition. I believe that since this is what Canadians expect, we should amend the constition to remove the right to form coalitions at the fedeal level. Canadians expect one party to form the government so our constitition should reflect that belief. This does not mean that opposition parties could not band together and declare non-confidence, it would simply mean that the final decision of the motion would automatically be transfered to the citizens of Canada via an election. Opposition rights to coalition opens up the doors to backroom deals without public consent and is far too paternalistic. If parties want to run in an election as a coalition, that is fine with me. However, the final word on who rules Canada should be up to the citizens, and only the citizens of this country. People may tire of the elections but it is far better than the alternative, which is authoritarian in nature, especially in this particular situation. The idea that voters are incapable of voting in ther best interests is an archaic one, born out of the imperialist 19th century, and should be put to rest for good.