Wishful Thinking for Canadian Politics

Economics is called the dismal science, and it is no surprise that with politics being so closely tied to it, one can feel rather dismal about our democratic system. Rather than spend time harping on the problems that are visible in our political system that anyone can recognize, I am just going to pitch three aspects of politics that could only ever exist in my dreams.

                First, I would make voting mandatory, and do everything possible to make that mandatory voting easily. There are usually two arguments against this, which I will briefly repudiate. First is the argument that this takes away from individual freedoms, to which I say: so what. Our government takes away our freedom to do many things, and our constitution speaks of “Peace, order and good government”, which to me dictates that we should all be responsible for our government being good. A minor fine, say $100, would get many apathetic voters out of the house and to the polls. Allowing for early balloting, making voter registration easy, giving time off and expanding polling locations would be the government’s responsibility, to ensure that this did not disproportionately affect any group. The second argument used against mandatory voter registration is usually some bullshit about how it would make people with less knowledge of the political system vote, and make the results worse. Again I say: so what. There is nothing in our current system that prevents uninformed voters from participating. Unless you propose some form of elitist “vote test”, we cannot avoid that. I must admit, my personal politics influences this desire, as voter turnout has a known left leaning bias. This system exists in Australia, it would be easy to implement here.

                Second, I would make rigorous fact checking the norm for all aspects of the political process. The media would lambast any candidate who made a statement that could not be proven. Debates would be strictly moderated, with the moderators speaking up if a falsehood is spoken. If facts became the basis of our political process, you would be forced to present your views in an evidence based, rather than “gut” based fashion. The electorate of my dreams would slowly find themselves moving to a position where they vote with their heads, and not their hearts, changing the political process to one which has clearer decisions and less minor changes spun to seem like policy overhauls. Obviously, not everything can be objectively argued, and that is where different viewpoints would battle, rather than through fudging details and drumming up patriotic fervor.

                Finally, I would make it necessary for people to answer questions asked in a way that relates to the question, and respond to critiques appropriately. Essentially, I would remove the concept of “staying on message” which has lead to leaders like Justin Trudeau who spout platitudes, and debating styles like Stephen Harper’s (look only at the camera, and only speak about your policies). Parties would not feel it necessary to hide any negatives of their policies, and there would be fierce debate about the actual benefits and negatives of the policies. This ties into my second point, and could also be achieved with more strict moderation.

                In summary, I would love to live in a world where we had a full electorate, making it necessary to appeal to all groups, rather than just a few powerful ones. I would love if this world had frank, fact based and realistic discussions about policy. But to be honest, I can’t see this world appearing any time soon.