Ex-Independent Still Believes “Party System is Broken”
Prince George, B.C. – Bob Simpson said it during his run for re-election back in 2013 and he still believes it today – Canada’s political party system is still broken.
“Not only is it broken, it has broken the back of our democratic system,” says Simpson, now mayor of Quesnel.
Former independent MLA and current Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson
“Our parliamentary system has really become a playground for these political parties to fight with each other, to wag fingers at each other and in order to try and gain power you never get a sense from them what they want to do when they have power.”
He adds party candidates are essentially just a cog in the party machines themselves.
“They just try and say all the things that their pollsters and their political operatives tell them to say to get power, when the reality is we have massive governance issues – climate change, systemic poverty and an economic system that isn’t working, ” says Simpson.
“That requires all of our elected officials to sit down together and try to figure out real ways at governing into the future and parties prevent us from doing that.”
He says he got a sense of how politics can work while he was an independent for two years.
“I found there was a niche there for me to work with the opposition, to work with the governing party, to work with the two house whips and house leaders to try and advance agendas where you could say to them look, if we did something this way or if we tweaked this bill this way, could we make it better?”
He says the biggest challenge in becoming an independent though is getting elected in the first place (Simpson became an independent after he was kicked out of the provincial NDP caucus in 2011).
“In an election unfortunately, the people who vote, and this is a real problem with our system, the people who vote are more comfortable voting along political lines,” says Simpson.
“They tend to be an older demographic, they tend to be more entrenched in the ideology, and they tend to be a lot more prone to find their political party that they’ve been aligned with either historically or that aligns with their ideology.”
So how does he view Sheldon Clare’s candidacy, the independent running in Cariboo-Prince George?
“It’ll be an uphill battle to make a breakthrough to win, but I would argue that the riding he’s running in tends to be a conservative one,” he says. “And in this case the potential is Sheldon becomes a spoiler for the Conservatives by splitting the conservative vote and making it possible for either an NDP or Liberal breakthrough.”
And what of the commonly heard argument that you have to elect a party candidate to have access to the halls of power?
“Well, anybody who’s lived in our area knows that’s not true. We’ve had an absentee MP for far too long,” says Simpson. “We do get money coming in here that’s part of national programs and usually the result of lobbying work by the local government representatives and often in conjunction with the provincial representatives. Not as a result of our MP.”
In fact he says constituents are often better served when they don’t have an MP aligned with the ruling government.
“I would argue that opposition MPs often do a much better job of raising the real issues of their constituents, in both the houses of government and in the press,” says Simpson.
“And so people feel that their voices are better represented often when they have opposition MPs or MLAs. But if you’ve got a good MP regardless of their political party, who build good relationships who help their local governments to apply for the various programs that come down on a regular basis, you’ll find that those ridings are well served.”
Comments
That is why we need to elect the best candidate.
A candidate that will bring our concerns to Ottawa and make sure they are heard and dealt with.
Take a close look at our local candidates and pick the best person for the job.
We are to elect a representative for our area. After 20 years let’s send someone that cares about our regions, lives here, and will work at making it a more prosperous home for all of us.
Time for change
“Most people assume their MP will go to parliament and stand up on their behalf. But what really happens is decisions are made in back rooms, and caucus and cabinet — these secret bodies — come out with a decision that everyone has agreed to support. Any party that has a majority gets to do whatever they want because everyone is marching in lockstep.”
Why your MP won’t always act on your behalf in Ottawa
http://www.news1130.com/2015/08/28/mp-wont-act-your-behalf-ottawa/
I don’t agree. First a minority government, which many see as keeping a balance, is useless. You need a majority to pass the legislation you promised. Secondly, you have to look beyond just the current rhetoric espoused during a campaign and view it in historical context of the parties overall philosophy. However, as Samuel Taylor Coleridge put it: “If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us. But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern, which shines only on the waves behind us.”
Well he lost me at climate change. Looks like he is sucked into that multi trillion dollar scam so any thing else he has to say lacks credibility.
here is some reading
http://www.friendsofscience.org/
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/
I doubt he will read into these and give it any thought, it would ga against his crowd of followers.
Our present system is just fine. Its the people in the system that are screwed up.
We allow our elected representatives to tow the party line. How many people on this site have ever contacted their elected representatives, and tried to get them to do something. I would say very few. How many have joined a political party? again very few.
Now, how many have done nothing but complain. Hmmmmm. Quite a few?
First passed the post is the real problem . The most prosperous countries have PRs and coalitions . Even Stevie’s favorite country , the one he worships , has never had anything other than coalition . I agree our faux democracy is broken . No other government in Canadian history has done more to damage both the government and it democracy than Stevie .
“if you’ve got a good MP regardless of their political party, who build good relationships who help their local governments to apply for the various programs that come down on a regular basis, you’ll find that those ridings are well served.”
I believe that is very true.
The problem is how elect such a good MP. Not everyone thinks the same way about who will be good. Too many people still vote party and the party leader instead of the local candidate.
Simpson does not address that and I am sure no one really has an answer to that. It is still a crap shoot.
True enough gopg2015,
I’d say listen to what they say in public forums.
And look at their résumés, they are applying for a job after all. That we are going to hire them to do.
Status quo has not work for us the last 20 years.
Being an opposition MP or MLA is the easiest job in the world as you can offer pie in the sky solutions to every problem without a practical plan to implement said solution. For example:
A lady stubs her toe on the boardwalk in the ancient forest, spends an hour limping back to her car another hour driving to the hospital and a couple more waiting for an x-ray. When asked how to amend this deplorable situation a member from the opposition would say it is painfully obvious that PG needs large increase in the number of ambulances on the road with crews trained in advanced life support. Further the ER at the hospital should be made a level one trama center staffed 24/7.
Just once would like to see a follow up question on his plan to fund construction, operation, staff recruitment and retention, etc,etc.Likely response would be a blank stare followed by a bad case of the ummmm’s
As for the best candidate good luck with that. In our riding the NDP has chosen someone who was 2500 votes short for the 8th and final seat on council and will now have to compete against 4 or 5 others for a single seat up for grabs.
In Prince George north the way the other potential candidates were pushed aside to allow for the coronation of Dickie makes a mockery of the whole democratic process.
There are 6 people running in the Cariboo riding. Sparrow.
Often very electable smart candidates run to be elected, but they may represent a party whose ideology I do not agree with. No way am I going to vote for that person when I do not want that party to get into power.
The PM has too much power. If a MP speaks his/her own mind it is game over! The system must be changed! It is so screwed up that MPs. after being elected head to Ottawa where all they are allowed to do keep the seats warm. And they know that ahead of time! Heck, we do not even get to elect the Prime Minister, the one with all the indisputable power! He is elected by delegates who have shown that they too toe the party line come hell or high water! Check the news: Certain candidates have been ORDERED not to participate in all-candidate forums or speak to the media!
How does one determine what they stand for in an open discussion with pointed questions? How does that jive with the concept of democracy?
The people may be fine, but the system is broken.
I am trying to come up with a list of projects and programs which were initiated by the federal government and primarily funded by the federal government. I am not interested in projects and programs which were initiated by the province and/or the City and have received funding from the federal government as matching funds. I am looking at REAL initiatives by the federal reps for both PG ridings.
Needless to say, I am having a difficult time to come up with anything meaningful.
I know they have regional offices here, so there are some federal jobs. The RCMP does not count since the Province arranges for that and the City pays for the service as well as most of the building.
The McGregor Model Forest was a Federal funded project. Good service in my opinion, but small potatoes.
Let’s go a bit bigger.
1. How about funds to CN to relocate the downtown yard to Fraser Flats?
2. How about relocating the Yellowhead through downtown via First, Victoria and the Gateway and rerouting it away from the current 97/16 intersection as well as Peden Hill?
3. How about a Forestry Canada research centre similar to FPInovations in Vancouver and Quebec to study the Boreal Forests and other projects at UNBC?
None of these is on the “talking list” of a single candidate for either of the two ridings covering Prince George and region.
We can deal with Canada wide issues, but what are the issues which are more specific to Prince George and lie primarily in the Federal sphere of influence?
Others will have some ideas as well. We should start a list and make them talking points by the media, which seems to be silent about such issues, as well as at public forums which will likely have a boring continuation of the same questions they have always had.
Oh, forgot #4. A free trade zone associated with YXS similar to the one in Winnipeg. We need more than just one for Canada.
To your #4 point gopg2015 I see the airport has a decent website to help raise awareness that they have all the pieces in place and are open for business.
pgairportlogistics.ca/
Would be nice to hear Todd’s take on this given his history with YXS.
Sour grapes, still trying to relive the days in the house. “No one voted for me as an independent so there is a problem with the system” is what I get out of the story. Just trying to think of anything he brought to Quesnel from his time in the house, he says it is better to be in opposition and he has experience with that. No mention on the net of anything other than working on election reform, they even have to guess on his birthdate on wiki, shows a little on how effective and up front he was as an MLA. More on the net about him being mayor for a year than an MLA for 8 years.
I agree, it would be nice to hear Todd speak on that topic. However, it is starting to look more and more that Todd may not be allowed to speak.
I did not include the airport as a project which the feds initiated because by implication I meant initiated as a positive injection of funding into this region. I do not see it as such. I see it as a divestment of their 100% responsibilities by turning it over to a city operated venture. The money invested by the feds, the province and NIT is a repayable debt.
So far no one has done anything to make such an investment even to begin reaching its potential. A Foreign Trade Zone would be one way of doing it, in my opinion.
centreportcanada.ca/free-trade-zone
Then again, it looks like the chances are slim to none if one reads this
canadasgateways.gc.ca/foreign-trade-zones/faq.html#q2
Does Canada have designated FTZs
No, because businesses can enjoy FTZ benefits anywhere in Canada. For companies involved in international trade, Canada has three of the most business friendly incentive programs available anywhere in the world:
• Duty Deferral Program (DDO)
• The Export Distribution Centre Program (EDCP)
• The Exporters of Processing Services Programs (EOPS
So, Todd could be a person who could speak to that. So could the Airport Authority.
We tried the none party system more then a century ago and it didn’t work so what is the alternative. Who knows but we certainly need democracy in our governments.
Cheers
Possible Saviour of Canadian Democracy? Independents
Sheldon Clare is fed up with the political system. While running solo, he’s definitely not alone.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/08/24/Independents-Saviours-of-Canadian-Democracy/
The solution is the PIC. The Party of Independents of Canada; Parti des Indépendants du Canada.
Credo = we independently speak with one voice. :-)
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