A Democratic Deficit: How much is your ballot worth?

In Canada we read, watch, listen how democracy has been under a relentless attack in recent years by the machinations of current government from the MSM, 'select' academic experts and political opponents . The truth we rarely hear is the attack is from within from political parties who stand to lose the MOST in the redrawing of our electoral map in Canada. The political machinations from the Bloc, Liberals and NDP in blocking the rebalancing of Canadian population and demographics in our parliamentary democracy is the REAL threat to our Federation. The coalition parties will fuel the forces of inertia to resist the change and foster more cynicism. I will make this case by including a few tables and graphs. The information is available to online at some great sites.

Canada’s Parliament consists of three parts: the Queen, the Senate and the House of Commons. They work together to make the laws for our country. The executive branch consists of the Queen, the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the departments of government. They implement the laws. The legislative branch makes the laws, and the judicial branch — which is not part of Parliament — applies them.-The Canadian Parliament


My contention is the current makeup of our legislative branch that is made up from members of parliament does NOT reflect an equal voice for Canadians.

The numbers don't lie the West has won. The economic engine, population growth has been redrawn to reflect the Ontario - West shift. It is replacing the Ontario - EAST for Quebec and Atlantic Provinces for the keys to 24 Sussex. Statistics Canada has noted in 2001 Canada had a population of approximately 30 million. In 2006 Canada continues to add new Canadians to our population for over 31.5 million.(Links below)

Here's an a Table highlighting how the electoral MAPS shows a serious imbalance in making up the Federal Government.

Prince Edward Island sends four Member of Parliament to reflect their interests and has a population of less than 35,000 per riding being represented.The total of PEI is 135,851. 

PEI had 108,211 electors eligible to cast a ballot in the General Election October 14, 2008. A total of 74,396 participated for an outstanding participation rate of 69%.-Pundits Guide

P.E.I. with 75,000 votes sent four members to the legislative branch.

(Screen Capture is from Pundits Guide) 

Please visit site directly for an excellent non partisan source of Canadians Politics.

Table Statistics Canada

British Columbia has three times the population of Prince Edward Island and in almost every riding. BC sends thirty-six Members of Parliament to Ottawa to represent their interests. British Columbia with nearly 1.8 million voters sent only thirty six member of parliament to the legislative branch in 2008.

Screen Capture Pundits Guide

Table Statistics Canada

Saskatchewan who has twice as many people within the federal ridings as P.E.I., SK sends a total of fourteen Members of Parliament.Saskatchewan will NOT be expected to gain any additional representation in our Parliament in the near future. Is this fair?

Screen Capture Pundits Guide

In 2008 715,291 voters were eligible from Saskatchewan and 419,600 participated in sending fourteen Members of Parliament to Ottawa. 

Table Below highlights the National disparity of a vote per MP per province.

We are being missing the addition of thirty-five or thirty-eight* members of Parliament from Ontario (23), British Columbia (8) and Alberta(7).

Table manually tabulated from Pundits Guide, Elections Canada

Are Canadians aware of the democratic threat from our political parties who have delayed having the adult conversations in reflecting the population and demographic shift in Canada?

Every Member of Parliament gets one vote to represent their riding and their party in the House of Commons. Our Parliamentary democracy should be adapting to reflect the population and demographic changes but several political parties are choosing to play political games than presenting the truth.

The example I used illustrate the imbalance in our system in not adapting to the necessary changes of population and demographics and it NOT intended to highlight or attack P.E.I.

The participation of P.E.I of nearly 70% of the eligible voters reflects their dedication to an active participation in our democracy.

The opposition parties will continue to suggest the governments' attempt to add seats in seats in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberata is dividing Canadians. Will our MSM report the hypocrisy of these political parties?

For those who enjoy a good video ribbing a political party. Great channel Here!

* or 38 updated left out

Amateur Hour Extended: Liberal Party

When the CBC and Jane Taber calls out the Liberal Party
as being desperate trying to keep this story alive.
Rock bottom can't be far behind! 

Wayne Easter’s stunt to embarrass government MPs today misfired. Instead, he embarrassed himself. - Jane Taber

Top Liberal attack dog's pawprints are all over this one

Party is getting way too much mileage out of that dumb cheque gaffe

Liberal MP David McGuinty, not known for understatement, declared: "We believe this is probably the most massive propaganda effort of any kind seen at the federal government level in Canadian history."
His memory is either short or selective. There was something called the sponsorship scandal, that grew out of the Liberal government's effort to show the Canadian flag in Quebec after the near-death experience of the 1995 referendum.
Another Liberal MP, Wayne Easter, held up a door knob to  illustrate routine maintenance, as opposed to new infrastructure dollars, on a federal building in Prince Edward Island. He should be careful about having his picture taken with a doorknob--it invites comparisons.

On a day when the Liberals could have loaded the bases, they never even got to first.

Cheque scandal just partisan smoke

That such subjective analysis can pass for serious journalism is a testament to the 24/7/365 multi-media news model that favours headline grabbing content without context over the most basic research necessary to pass a high school civics course.

Yes, a few Tories took a justifiable hit for party logos on photo-op cheques last week. It was wrong, period. It serves as a reminder to elected officials at all levels: It is not your constituency, it is the constituency that you represent. And it’s never mythical government money, it’s taxpayers’ money (often from future generations via deficits) that is being spent.

But to assert that a cabal of government ministers and senior officials is doling out federal funds by riding name and postal code is ludicrous. What’s next: Elvis to the Senate?

Nik Nanos Oct 10-18, 2009

www.nanosresearch.com/library/polls/POLNAT-S09-T393E.pdf

The CPC increased the gap in Ontario.The Liberals are dropping in Quebec and British Columbia.The Liberals are continuing to lose support EVERYWHERE while the NDP have gained except the Prairies.

EKOS Seat Projection

In terms of regional strength, the Conservatives would be able to claim that they were a national
party, representing every region with a significant number of seats, including Quebec, where we
estimate they would hold 10 seats.

The Liberals, in contrast, would hold just 10 seats west of Ontario, almost all of them in British
Columbia. They would trail the Conservatives in every region in the country except Quebec,
where, despite having similar popular support to the Conservatives, they would win a few more
seats due to a more efficient distribution of votes.

Speaking at an Ottawa daycare centre, Ignatieff said he wouldn't support the Conservatives on confidence motions, but added that he won't actively pursue attempts to bring them down.

Liberals will not cooperate and will trigger an election on confidence votes. Liberal Senators stop blocking some legislation that was supported unamiously in the HOC.

www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/10/21/ekos-polls-conservative-liberal-ndp-green-bq.html

Hey Libs: Pick one and go with it!

Running communications for a political party is a trying task at the best of times. Even more so when you're competing with...yourself.

Angus Ried Poll

In mid-October, the Liberal leader has seen his standing drop dramatically. A majority of Canadians (51%) say their opinion of Ignatieff has worsened over the course of the past month, while only six per cent report an improvement. The Grit leader's momentum score is -45.