Elections...Just Some Thoughts From Another Bitchy Canadian

THIS BITCHY CANADIAN

Man, everyday I wake up thinking...what would I do If I were, the mayor, the PM, or just any old elected official? There are thousands of answers available to that question, but deciding which ones are the most important to the electorate is the real dilemna. Every individual would most certainly come up with something a little different than their neighbours, but the primary concerns, you can almost guarantee would be similar in many respects amongst all peoples.

Part of the problem is the way we elect our representatives, and the manner in which they finance their election campaigns. Undoubtedly, the first major overhaul would have to be in the methodology of electoral campaign finances for all elections; federal, provincial and municipal. (municipal elections..I suspect harbour the most corrupt electoral systems in the country, and are responsible for the election of some of the most corrupt people in the country)

1/Institute the right of recall across the country in every election. People need to feel secure in the knowledge that there is a way to remove corrupt or non-performing officials instead of waiting for another election to happen to judge that individuals' performance. This should be done only on a majority vote of the populace.

2/ Stopping the government subsidies to political parties in the form of payments for the votes recieved in an election. At present, the federal system only finances a few political parties, putting those parties at an advantage as they have tax dollars to finance their campaigns. It is a discriminatory practice of our government to leave the smaller parties out of the financing mechanism that is afforded larger parties.

3/Putting into place federal election rules that would oversee all elections in the country, versus the regionally unique electoral programs that now exist. All elections should become a federal responsibility, although each region will perform its' own electoral duties, they should all be accountable to operate under one set of rules and report all results through this one singular body which in turn would hold responsiblilty for certifying the votes.

4/Donor limits to all candidates for any election should be limited to $200.oo . These should not be considered for tax credit purposes. There should be no financing permitted from groups, organizations or businesses. There should be zero tolerance for foreign donations.

5/A complete listing of all candidates' assetts and liabilites should be made public prior to their assuming office and should be certified by a public accountant. Upon leaving office a former member should have his assets and liabilites examined for a period of no less than 5 years, and be certified by a public accountant.(this may help to reduce influence peddling, and insider lobbying) These details should be made public at all times.

6/There should be a two term limit on all publicly elected officials. They may sit one out, and try again if they wish.
7/All first tier bureacrats federal,provincial, as well as CAO's of all municpalites should be elected, and covered by integrity and accountability laws that are all encompassing. There needs to be a method to examine these peoples' actions while in office put into place.
8/All closed door meetings of any elected official or upper tier management personnel (department heads etc..) should be recorded electronically to ensure that the public is receiving 'value" for its' investment.
9/All contracts and purchases through every government department in every tier of government should be monitored for performance, should have stringent tendering procedures in place and should be subject to third party monitoring at all levels.
10/ All elections(unless acclaimed...and even they should be looked at) should be automatically recounted to ensure the integrity of the system at all times.


Well, considering the chance of me getting anywhere to make any changes is really slim...I guess that all I can offer as a suggestion is arm yourself with a pitchfork, and a book of matches 'cuz we're all going to need help.