Recall of MP: anybody heard of it?

[myata]

"The Recall of MPs Act 2015 (c. 25) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that makes provision for constituents to be able to recall their Member of Parliament (MP) and call a by-election. It received royal assent on 26 March 2015 after being introduced on 11 September 2014."

We have an amusing situation here, don't we? There is a ruling duopoly and no other party has ever or will, ever (my bet) be in power. Of the two, one has evolved (or degraded, depending on the perspective) to the condition of a natural thing at the trough (and little, no make it nothing) else matters. The other are steadfast and principled proponents of transparency and accountability of governments except then they happen to be in power.

Interestingly, both trace their proud roots to the oldest and venerable democratic tradition that is (the claims, not the tradition) quite far from the observed reality. Well, to the matter, the Act was introduced in the UK almost ten years ago (2014) probably discussed at length before. Anybody heard about it in Canada? Anyone interested? This is your proud ancestry people! What could be the problem?

Little hope for the Liberals but what about our great champions of transparency and accountability? Could be a real issue to distinguish themselves, voters would love it maybe a vote winner? Interested? Why not? What could be the problem?

Unless... the democratic system here is a facade, an illusion. Unlike the real thing back there, often cited. A tacit contract between the political elites and the populace you don't bother us much we let you rule complete with obscene compensations out of our pocket and ever engrossing culture of entitlement. A real  instrument of real people democracy could be a real problem for the idyllic picture then.

How else could one explain such a case of persistent blindness?

[CdnFox]

16 minutes ago, myata said:

"The Recall of MPs Act 2015 (c. 25) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that makes provision for constituents to be able to recall their Member of Parliament (MP) and call a by-election. It received royal assent on 26 March 2015 after being introduced on 11 September 2014."

 

And?
 

Quote

We have an amusing situation here, don't we? There is a ruling duopoly and no other party has ever or will, ever (my bet) be in power.

There are 4 major parties in Canada, three of which could easily form gov't.  All of which have formed opposition.  If layton had lived we'd have seen our first ndp gov't by now federally. 

It's easier to count if you take your mitts off.

 

Quote

How else could one explain such a case of persistent blindness?

Voters make bad choices and are frequently stupid.  They become tribal and forget that their duty should be to canada, not to a political party. They start to view political parties like sports teams -  "Well i've always rooted for the home team so of course i'm going to continue".

Speaking of stupid - your rant had nothing to do with your headline.  Did you have a point or did you manage to chew through the straps a little early this morning and got ahead of yourself?

Edited July 24, 2023 by CdnFox

[myata]

18 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

And?

Righ. And what's a democracy? And why would anybody need it when we could chant all hail our great government for like ever... or more like it, the hard stop.

[myata]

23 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

Voters make bad choices and are frequently stupid.  They become tribal and forget that their duty

That's a true politician talking, hear, hear. You can't be trusted anywhere near this wheel Joe now stick your finger here and get you lost to watch hockey and beer as f***ing fast as you can. And that's the one, real reason why you will never see any real meaningful change in this country. Just watch us. What?

Edited July 24, 2023 by myata

[CdnFox]

1 minute ago, myata said:

Righ. And what's a democracy? And why would anybody need it when we could chant all hail our great government for like ever... or more like it, the hard stop.

Just out of curiosity - have you ever considered making sense? 

You can't really be as weird as you come across in your posts, why not just actually say what you mean and quit being a freak about it? I always get the sense that there's some interesting things going on in your thoughts but nobody will ever know because you insist on acting like a nutjob.

As for what a democracy is - i'm sure you can find the wikipedia page explaining it.

As for why you should have one i'm sure a search comparing democracy to dictatorships will clear it up for you.

As for chanting and hailing - i can totally see you doing that.  I fully expect you  own your own set of goat's horns LOL

 

Make sense man. You post often enough, just be normal.  Because we can! What?

[myata]

26 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

Voters make bad choices and are frequently stupid.  They become tribal and forget that their duty should be to canada, not to a political party.

Oh the tough burden of the governance. We heard it sung in songs. Those mindless little children see far below, they need constant parental oversight and a modest compensation coming with it, who should mind? And a ton of prerogatives please don't forget, to not answer any questions the important one! Now good to go, tie your eyes, cut the ropes and you're bound to arrive... somewhere.

[CdnFox]

9 minutes ago, myata said:

Oh the tough burden of the governance. We heard it sung in songs. Those mindless little children see far below, they need constant parental oversight and a modest compensation coming with it, who should mind? And a ton of prerogatives please don't forget, to not answer any questions the important one! Now good to go, tie your eyes, cut the ropes and you're bound to arrive... somewhere.

If you read the back of the cough syrup bottle you'll notice there's very clearly a maximum amount you're not supposed to exceed.

 

[CdnFox]

In a probably vain attempt to actually address the topic headline (instead of the insane rambling).....

 

Recall legislation is an interesting and controversial topic. You rarely see it historically because it was feared it would be used to constantly fight over an election and never let it end  - and the idea of our democratic system is that a gov't or political body  of any level, once elected, should be free and unfettered to do what it was elected to do and to then be accountable at the next election.

The other argument of course is that it gives government free reign to break its promises and break the law for 4 years.

There has been recall legislation in British Columbia that attempts to block that fine line between those two issues. And I have to say it's done so fairly well. A number of recall campaigns have been started and while none were successful they all forced the government into a position where it had to reconsider its actions and correct the problems. So even though the individual mps were not recalled it did force change successfully.

 

I actually believe Canada would benefit from recall legislation that was similar. It should be very hard to start, it should be very hard to succeed. But there should be an ave whereby the people can hold the government responsible or even opposition members responsible in between elections in extreme cases.

[myata]

1 hour ago, CdnFox said:

But there should be an ave whereby the people can hold the government responsible or even opposition members responsible in between elections in extreme cases.

That's the word, "should be"! Nailed it. The best peasants could hope fore. What "democracy"?

[Queenmandy85]

When the Social Credit Party was in power in Alberta under Bible Bill Aberhart, they brought in recall legislation. When a recall petition was nearing the threshold in Aberhart’s own riding, the legislation was abruptly repealed.

[CdnFox]

1 hour ago, myata said:

That's the word, "should be"! Nailed it. The best peasants could hope fore. What "democracy"?

You probably have access to some free therapy through your health care. Look into that.

[CdnFox]

21 minutes ago, Queenmandy85 said:

When the Social Credit Party was in power in Alberta under Bible Bill Aberhart, they brought in recall legislation. When a recall petition was nearing the threshold in Aberhart’s own riding, the legislation was abruptly repealed.

LOL - well that's always the risk

It did come close to going all the way and forcing a vote in bc a couple of times and the legislation is still in place.

I believe alberta has a new recall legislation as of last year if i recall. Hasn't been tested yet as far as i know.

[herbie]

A stupid and seemingly obligatory process to let malcontents blow off steam. Useless and ineffective in practice.

[myata]

2 hours ago, Queenmandy85 said:

When a recall petition was nearing the threshold in Aberhart’s own riding, in Aberhart’s own riding, the legislation was abruptly repealed

You bet! The best answer

Edited July 24, 2023 by myata

[myata]

1 hour ago, herbie said:

A stupid and seemingly obligatory process

That would be about that ancestral and venerable democracy everybody so loves to trace their roots to? Good to know.

[myata]

3 hours ago, CdnFox said:

You probably have access to some free therapy through

Are you in an alternate Canada? How are you communicating, from another Universe?

[CdnFox]

20 minutes ago, myata said:

Are you in an alternate Canada? How are you communicating, from another Universe?

All you need to do in order to be in my univese is NOT sniff the paint thinner.

[WestCanMan]

13 hours ago, CdnFox said:

If layton had lived we'd have seen our first ndp gov't by now federally. 

Maybe, but if he didn't get as sick as he was then maybe he never would have become so sensible. 

The guy was around for a really long time and he always seemed like a jughead until 6 months before the last election that he ran in. His sudden interest in common sense defied logic, and then he just seemed to die right out of the blue. 

Would the NDP even keep a guy like "suddenly making sense Jack" on as leader? No one before or since was anywhere close to that. 

[myata]

8 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

Would the NDP

Should and would is the best chance of meaningful change the country can hope for. That much is clear enough.

[CdnFox]

8 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

Maybe, but if he didn't get as sick as he was then maybe he never would have become so sensible. 

The guy was around for a really long time and he always seemed like a jughead until 6 months before the last election that he ran in. His sudden interest in common sense defied logic, and then he just seemed to die right out of the blue. 

Would the NDP even keep a guy like "suddenly making sense Jack" on as leader? No one before or since was anywhere close to that. 

He was the same jughead in the end always was - but the fact is people who disagreed with his politics still tended to vote him as 'most likely to want to have a beer with'  as far as politicians go.

I don't think he'd have been a great PM particularly (tho i bet better than trudeau). But - he was definitely electable.

If the ndp got serious they could win an election. But they're not serious, they're fine with third place.

[WestCanMan]

2 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

If the ndp got serious 

?

Can you imagine if the NDP and Greens became serious? I honestly can't. 

If AOC was Canadian she'd probably unite those two parties and win 2 seats. 

We're basically a two-party system here, like the US, we just have some comedic relief on the side. 

[CdnFox]

1 minute ago, WestCanMan said:

?

Can you imagine if the NDP and Greens became serious? I honestly can't. 

Well we got a glimpse of it with layton, and it's obvious that with the right leader and platform they could do it but the fact is  think most of their supporters LIKE them being the 'third party of reason' in the house. THey don't want them to win - then they'd have to DO things they want them there to agitate for social changes and to virtue signal.

As to the greens - that's the lizzie may party, they couldn't even survive one election without her.  And the only thing she ever gets serious about is chardonnay

 

[myata]

21 hours ago, CdnFox said:

with the right leader and platform they could

"With a right and if maybe we could". In place of the daily reality of a vast majority of functional democracies. No there's no good exits from a one-way spiraling tunnel. But of course you can sing yourself a cute lullaby, on the way down... for a while.

[myata]

On 7/24/2023 at 3:05 PM, Queenmandy85 said:

When a recall petition was nearing the threshold in Aberhart’s own riding, the legislation was abruptly repealed.

Why did it remind me of something? That famous.. in, "election reform" maybe? Oh would apply to us too?!!! .. on a second thought then

Sounds like a recurring theme in the best democracy.