Canada PoliticsMichael Ignatieff says top-heavy parliaments spell doom for Western democracies
Former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff believes the tight constrictions placed on elected officials by their party leaders could lead to the downfall of Western democracies.
For those keeping score, Canada is one of those Western democracies and Ignatieff happened to be one of those party leaders as recently as two years ago.
According to Postmedia News, Ignatieff made this comment during a panel discussion aired by the BBC:
I think something really bad has happened to parliamentary democracies all over the world — not just in my country, Canada. What's happened is increasing power to the prime minister, increasing power to the bureaucracy, and the legislature — parliament — is a kind of empty, pointless debating chamber because it's all stitched up in advance by party leaders.
…
Honesty requires me to say I was a party leader once, and my instincts were always to shut those people [dissenting Liberal MPs] down wherever I could. So I'm completely, flagrantly contradicting what my interests were not two years ago.
Ignatieff's political opponents would have had a field day with this flip-flop, likely declaring him Mr. Dithers (had they not already given that name to one of his predecessors).
[ Daily Brew: Father of CSIS, Robert Kaplan, dead at 75 ]
Good thing for Iggy he's not in politics anymore and can focus on saying what is right instead of what will give the Conservatives less fodder for attack ads.
Anyone who has seen a moment of action from the House of Commons knows what a joke it has become.
Opposition members lob pointed questions, knowing they won't be answered. Governing party members lob pointed retorts, both sides hoping their sound bite is just a little snappier.
And then they vote on things.
And they all vote along party lines, making the outcome self-evident.
Enter Ignatieff's complaint: The vote result comes down to the ideologies of the party brass, not the opinions or beliefs of its members.
[ Daily Brew: Gay and lesbian Mounties featured in 'it gets better' video ]
Ignatieff told Postmedia in a follow-up email that the "party leader or prime minister's interest is not always in the interest of democracy."
Aaron Wherry addressed Ignatieff's utopian-esque vision for Maclean's:
If every vote was a free vote, our party system would probably collapse. Maybe that's what some of us desire, but if we'd still like to maintain the basic parameters of the Westminster system, we need to find a balance between the unicorn that is dreamed about and the beached whale we have now.
Wherry's suggested revoking the veto power that party leaders have in deciding who runs on behalf of the party.
It's a move that would level the playing field for party members who don't necessarily fall in step with its leader, and could lead to individual opinion shining through in the House.
For better or worse.
