Taking an independent attitude

By Ivan Morgan

Winston Churchill once said, “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…”
In the parlance of younger people, “True dat.”
It doesn’t mean, however, that democracy can’t be improved. People are always promoting better ways of being represented. Traditionally our system has been “first past the post,” meaning the person who gets the most votes in a district wins. So, a person can get elected even though more people voted for other candidates. Not perfect.
Some promote proportional representation, where you get the number of seats in the legislature corresponding to the percentage of votes you receive. The smaller parties, often shut out of the House, love that idea. It too is a far from perfect solution.
The list goes on.
I have a suggestion for improving our democracy. I have written about it here before, but with a provincial election on the horizon I think it’s time to put it out there again.
I think more people should stand for election as independents.
Having worked in and around party politics for decades, I wish more people understood how truly awful this system is. I think party politics are vile.
I have seen many people run for office, win, and then immediately become the lackeys of behind-the-scenes unelected party employees and other assorted hacks. You often vote for a person, unaware of who you are actually giving power to. To my mind it’s undemocratic.
Paul Lane has long been my poster boy for independent candidates. He is making it work. The good people of Mount Pearl – Southlands have seen fit to elect him as an independent three times. He was once elected as a Tory, didn’t like being pushed around by party staff, left, joined the Liberals, had a similar experience, and then left to stand as an independent. He’s been an independent for a while now. My guess is, if he runs, he will easily win again this fall.
Eddie Joyce is another example. Had been a loyal Liberal MHA forever, he then became roadkill on the politically correct highway – the Liberals cast him out – and now he sits as an independent. Whatever horrible crime he committed to not be considered good enough to be a Liberal (oh please) the fine people of Humber-Bay of Islands support him.
Neither district appears to be suffering because they elected independents.
Critics will tell you the party system is necessary to run a big government. St. John’s City Council does okay with no political parties, as does every other municipality in the province. Metro Toronto has almost three million people and no political parties, it’s still open for business.
People say the party system allows people of the same political stripe to work together. Explain to me the ideological difference between the province’s Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives?
I have been told the party system allows for unity. Really? A bunch of retiring Liberal cabinet ministers quietly vote themselves a $48,000 “transitional allowance” on their way out the door and their good buddy the new premier puts a stop to it after the payments were made public. The only unity there is a unified desire not to let us know what’s going on.
As it stands now, parties get lots of funding, independents not so much. That’s easily changed. As it stands now, a political party needs the big bucks to run a slick election campaign. Maybe honest local contact should be preferable to slick ads paid for by supporters with agendas.
An independent candidate serves the people in his or her district. The current arrangement often has many MHAs serving two masters: their constituents and the party.
How would a legislature full of independents work? Who knows? But my guess is a way would be found. It would be nice to see elected people making their own decisions, not being told what to say and how to vote by backroom party staff.
Sure, it would be a new way of doing things, but how’s the old way been working for us?
I want to see more people decide to stand for election as independents, so we can all benefit from their independence.
Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com