I will try my hardest not to mention anything concrete about political news in Canada on this blog, so don't be scared of the title. The media went crazy over the coalition and there was a big back and forth of support for the Coalition and the Conservatives in the media. I found CBC started out very much in favour of the conservative position, but then loosened its grip as the days past. The ultimate question to be asked from this crisis, is "what is responsible government?"
(im making these quote up myself, but they are very accurate...no doubt
Harper: "responsible government is getting the most votes in the election... its a parliamentary convention."
Dion: "Responsible governmet is having the support of the house of commons... its actually in the constitution...or maybe its not i forget.
The next big debate will surround responsible government. why on earth is 'responsibility' the word we use? Resp gov has been the most important value of the Canadian parliament since 1867. But what does responsibility mean? The Canadian government thinks responsibility means having the support of other people. From the eyes of the Canadian parliament, responsibility stems from ones ability to hang onto power (or grasp power) with the support of others. Other people need to have confidence in you (thats why they call it a confidence motion). But why does responsibility necessarilly mean that other people believe you? In order to be a responsible parent, must i force my children to believe that i am responsible, that i can be a good parent throughout their childhood. If other people believe that i am an unresponsible parent, they can rat me out to Child services and take my kid away. Does responsibility have to stem from 'the other' having confidence in you. or could responsibility stem from having confidence in yourself. Was Brian Mulroney being irresonsible when he introduced the GST even though all of Canadians hate it. Or were CAnadians being irresponsible for not wanting to help the economy by being taxed more?
If the Canadian government and the institutions of Canada are framed in a way that teaches Canadians values, then i think they are misteaching us the value of responsibility. The current capabilities that the Canadian media has at their disposal, does not allow the news to capture a valuable understanding of 'responsibility'. I think now is the perfect time to rethink what responsibility is, and how our government can offer it to us.
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2 comments:
What is this labels thing at the bottom.. is there a way to tag your articles so when people put in a search word, your stuff pops up if it has the same label?
I think you may have gotten off track here in discussing what responsibility means with regard to the Canadian government.. Canada has both representative government and responsible government. It is representative because the people are 'represented' by elected members in the House of Commons and it is 'responsible' because the executive branch, aka the Prime Minister and his cabinet and the civil service are 'responsible' to the people through their elected representatives in the house of commons (HOC).. Responsible in this case is synonymous with 'accountable' in the sense that the executive branch is held to account by the legislative branch. However, because I haven't been following the media much on this subject, I can't imagine how Harper and Dion are trying to redefine this word. At any rate I don't think responsible relates to having good judgement, I think it simply relates to a relationship of accountability, and the coalition could really shake up that relationship given that the executive branch which includes cabinet will contain members from multiple parties.. You may want to ask how the cabinet – as part of the executive branch –, which typically contains members from only one party, could be held accountable to the people in a coalition. What kind of people will comprise the civil service? How will party caucus meetings change given that certain members from multiples parties will hold seats in cabinet as well as within their party caucus. I don't have a definitive answer to any of these questions but at this point, Harper has to go.
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