You're right, they don't have to, but what happens when 10K turns into 20K, 100K, or 1 million. What happens when they decide that they are no longer represented by the government, and do whatever they please? The government doesn't have the forces to enforce the law on 1 million disobedient people, and even if they did, would that country still be Canada afterward?
If they do whatever they choose they need to face the consequences of doing that. If the break the law, they face legal repercussions. If they want to protest, let them protest, within the framework of legal protests in this country. If they want to organize and work within the system, let them do that as well. But the government has zero obligation to sit down and negotiate with a protest group, none.
Politics is about getting people with different ideas to work together for a common good. If the leaders of the country can't figure out how to keep the 10K people in the fold peacefully, there are consequences. What makes for good election politics doesn't make for a good way to run a country.
There are consequences, for those 10k people.
Again, 17m voters, we cannot just listen to those with the loudest horns.
Remember the CPC won more votes than the LPC, they were just less efficient with their votes. Not winning a seat doesn't mean those people's opinions are irrelevant.
They certainly did, and they certainly have a voice within parliament, and even they are not (or at least their last leader was not) for taking down all mandates. There was only one party that wanted that, the PPC.
In your favourite example of the PPC, there were ~800K Canadians that voted for them. That's close enough to a million people who feel as though their government is actively working against them....
Again, slightly less than 5 percent of the electorate voted PPC and their views. Why does the government need to work with that group as opposed to everyone who voted LPC, everyone who voted NDP, everyone who voted BQ and everyone who voted CPC?
The government cannot be all things for everyone, that's not how it works. The will of the people as a collective is how parliament works, and sometimes that leaves groups on the outside looking in. The Left dealt with near 10 years of Stephen Harper in power, that's just how the system works.
Changing the voting system might fix things, but less antagonistic politicians would also go a long way toward fixing the issues we are facing. To be clear, Canada is far from the only country dealing with these issues, it's just the one we know best.
I'm all for changing the political system, more PR for example. Let the PPC into parliament, let there be more collaboration.
But I don't think adding the PPC to parliament makes any great changes, anymore than the Green Party currently drives government policy now.
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