Tom Velk wrote a column on May 24, 2005 that tried to open a discussion about constitutional reform in Canada to readers of the CBC website. He ends the article with suggestions of changes that mirror to a great degree the style of government in the US to our south.
Unfortunately quite a few of the commenters on the article feel that if one wants to adopt a system that is closer to a “US style” then s/he should simply move to the US. People are so conditioned to think that being Canadian means “not US” that they are unwilling to even open their thinking to examine whether or not parts of the US system would be good for us. I happen to think that we could successfully adopt parts of the US system – perhaps most importantly a Senate with teeth and power, and a Supreme Court where justices are vetted and not simply appointed by the Prime Minister.
And so, to that end I wrote a letter to the CBC giving my comments on the Velk column. I am not sure if it will be published, so I am posting it here.
I am a little disturbed by how quickly my fellow Canadians dismiss the discussion Tom Velk (”Time to take the House off the market” May 24, 2005) opened in his column as “too American”. A few people asserted that anyone who supports his ideas should move to the US.
While I don’t like all of his ideas, I do think Canada is in desperate need of serious and substantial constitutional reform. The “not withstanding” clause undermines the whole constitution itself. I see no problem with advocating a system that forces more accountability onto the government. The Governor General is supposed to be our executive branch, but no longer functions (realistically, politically) in that function, and hasn’t in a long time. This is especially true considering the Prime Minister basically appoints the position.
The PM also appoints the Supreme Court justices with no vetting process. Within the next few years there will be three more appointments to the Supreme Court of Canada. If a Liberal PM makes those appointments, then the whole Supreme Court bench will have been appointed by Liberal PMs with no vetting. I would like to see a vetting process that requires the approval of a joint House and (reformed – see next paragraph) Senate, or some other method that doesn’t put the placement of the highest Judiciary in the country into one political office.
I don’t know that pulling a complete blueprint of the US’s political framework up here would be the best for our country, but I do think that the Senate needs to be completely reformed into a body that has teeth and power. I think the executive branch does need to be split out and made to be an elected position. This does not mean that we need to have a political system exactly like the US. There are other political systems that are hybrids of parliamentary systems, and I think we as a country need to look abroad and borrow ideas from where ever we find them (including the US if appropriate) in order to improve democracy and accountability in this country.
I further think the Auditor General should be given more power to investigate everywhere the parties in power are channeling public money – if it is taxpayer money, then it should all be accountable – including $9 billion in trusts that the AG cannot currently exam that is listed as spent, but still sits in the accounts.
I don’t need to move to the US. What I need is to help effect change in my own country, and continue to help it become the great nation I believe we once were – again!
Sincerely,
Keith.