Political Conventions. Allan Bonner
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useful weighting system to ensure the smaller states are not ignored, or it can be seen as interfering with the concept of “one person, one vote” and setting up a barrier between voters and their chosen candidates. Ironically, the “winner-take-all” feature that awards all the electoral votes for any one state to a single candidate has led to modern elections in which one state—Illinois in 1960 or Florida in 2000—seems to decide the whole national contest: hardly what the founding fathers intended.
But certainly America has achieved a level of local self-rule that we lack in Canada. Our prime minister doesn’t have the checks and oversight on the office that a US president has. Our members of parliament and even our regional caucuses don’t have the influence of a senator or representative. Realistically, our MPs can’t initiate a bill of substance. They must vote with the party, and for the most part, their committee work lacks influence. Our senate often does excellent committee work and may send the occasional member to cabinet, but in practice it has no power to veto legislation sponsored by the government. Perhaps that’s a good thing, because, if one believes in representation by population, even the American senate is a violation, as is our appointed upper chamber.
The closest we come to legitimate states’ rights is in some of our first ministers’ conferences, where our premiers may serve as a legitimate check on federal powers. This, however, is not required by our constitution, but is personality- and issue-driven. If a conference isn’t called, or strong premiers are not in power at the time, the forum is ineffective. Our mayors also lack the power of their American counterparts, even though several of our cities are more populous than some of our provinces.
It is my hope that this political season will be one in which examination of the US political system leads to change. Nearly 40 million Americans watched the speeches by each party’s nominee, and 100 million watched the debates or post-debate coverage. That in itself is positive, and may be a catalyst for re-examining the democratic traditions in a Union that is well worth continuing to perfect. I hope this book, and my commentaries, will be a small catalyst too.
Allan Bonner
Deerfield, New Hampshire
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