Trust in our Institutions

[OldSolduer]

The Swiss require a period of service as a conscript before you can vote. How would that go down in Canada?

I can hear the gnashing of teeth and the cries of "woe is me" amongst the so called "elite".

 

[Halifax Tar]

Like SKT notes…even the US, the upper house has equal representation by all States of the Republic. Maybe part of the electrotal reform that Trudeau promised (check watch…) nearly a decade ago, would include an element of equal (at least, and elected?) Senate?

You and @SeaKingTacco may be correct, I just see the senate a wasted, ineffectual, bloated and useless bureaucracy. Maybe that the problem its become a tool of patronage when that was never its intent.

 

[dimsum]

You and @SeaKingTacco may be correct, I just see the senate a wasted, ineffectual, bloated and useless bureaucracy. Maybe that the problem its become a tool of patronage when that was never its intent.

I’m not sure how an elected senate a la US and Australia doesn’t end up being a second HoC with its attendant political party issues.

Then again, I’m not sure how it doesn’t become patronage eventually if the original intent was as a “House of Lords” equivalent.

 

[IKnowNothing]

Careful what you wish for, though, when you consider where half of Canada’s population lives …
View attachment 86752
…and how many votes they’d wield for national-scope “answers” to questions.

For example, don’t know how many people in the “red arrowhead” would vote for, say, looser gun control if that was on a national referendum.

In absolute terms, likely more than Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba combined.

 

[Edward Campbell]

That right there - urban-rural, centre-periphery has been a thing for ages in Canada, which isn't surprising considering it's geography and where people live vs. where decisions are made. And not JUST "everyone hates Toronto/the Eastern bits", either. I'm guessing in different parts of Canada, the smaller communities (500-2,000 population) complain about decisions made in the larger (75K-100K population) ones, too.

It's finding the right balance between not letting a small minority lead the rest by the nose on some issues and letting the majority bulldoze the rest on others. Ah, the messiness of federation ...

That could help, depending on the makeup/powers, for sure.

This political cartoon is over 100 years old (from The Grain Growers Guide, December 1915):

 

[Blackadder1916]

The Swiss require a period of service as a conscript before you can vote. How would that go down in Canada?

Many states in Continental Europe are not such great examples of democracy and freedom if you take some time to look under the hood

I don't think so. At one time, before 1971 when Swiss women got the right to vote, it may have seemed to be so because all able-bodied males over the age of 18 were subject to national service. If you weren't "able-bodied" (i.e., failed the medical and fitness tests) you didn't have to do military service (or alternate civilian service for that matter). Individuals who don't complete national service are subject to a tax (i.e., fine), but it has no effect on voting rights.

Who can vote in Switzerland? Who can’t?

Ahead of parliamentary elections on October 20, swissinfo.ch looks at the third of the Swiss resident population that is disenfranchised.

www.swissinfo.ch

Swiss voting rights in a nutshell: “If you have Swiss citizenship, are at least 18 years of age, live in Switzerland, and are not subject to guardianship due to long-term lack of capacity of judgement (and you are not represented by a proxy designated to act on your behalf for this reason), you can vote at federal, cantonal and communal level and also launch and sign referendums and initiatives.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Please remember that our system of 'responsible' (vs 'representative') democratic government is very old - it does back beyond Simnon de Montfort and beyond even Magna Carta. It has its roots in the Anglo Saxon 'witan' which, eventually, established control over the king's "privy purse,' and controlled him (or very occasionally her) by limiting his ability to raise taxes. Some historians say that some witans even elected their monarchs when there was not a clear and popularly acceptable choice. (Remember, please, that there were many kingdoms in Anglo Saxon Britain.)

De Montfort gave us the idea of a modern parliament in the 13th century (which he lifted from the Icelandic Althing which was established in the 9th or 10th century) in which every 'commune' (or community) was represented by someone other than just the hereditary lord of bishop - by knights of the shire or burghers (landowners or merchants). We still use his term in Canada: the House of Commons in French is 'Chamber des Communes.)

John Locke, in the 17th century, gave Britain (and America) the idea that each individual had certain fundamental, natural (or "inalienable") rights which the sovereign and her for his government was duty bound to maintain but did NOT grant and could not take way.

In the 17th and 18th centuries the British developed the idea that the government, actually the "executive - "the sovereign's "privy council" - was "responsible" to the people by requiring it to have the "confidence" of the House of Commons, of the people's elected representatives. The Americans, and many others, adopted a slightly different system: once elected by a free and fair vote a "representative" government held power for a fixed term.

Canada's constitution represents the first attempt to write a formal, written constitution for a "responsible" ('Westminster' type) parliamentary democracy. It's many flaws, including PEI's Senate seat allocation, for example, were not addressed inter 1970s and '80s when Pierre Trudeau was negotiating the partition and reform of the British North America Act of 1867 because, simply, he didn't care about or even much like "liberal democracy;" his primary interests were: language rights for French Canadians and national management by the political executive.

 

[The Bread Guy]

I can hear the gnashing of teeth and the cries of "woe is me" amongst the so called "elite".

Those who complain can also have the option of civilian public service in lieu of military service like they do in Switzerland - see if they like it any better

 

[daftandbarmy]

I don't think so. At one time, before 1971 when Swiss women got the right to vote, it may have seemed to be so because all able-bodied males over the age of 18 were subject to national service. If you weren't "able-bodied" (i.e., failed the medical and fitness tests) you didn't have to do military service (or alternate civilian service for that matter). Individuals who don't complete national service are subject to a tax (i.e., fine), but it has no effect on voting rights.

Who can vote in Switzerland? Who can’t?

Ahead of parliamentary elections on October 20, swissinfo.ch looks at the third of the Swiss resident population that is disenfranchised.

www.swissinfo.ch

Huh...

I've got some news for a Swiss guy I know then

 

[daftandbarmy]

‘Up island’ often doesn’t speak glowingly of Victoria…

Probably because that's where the 'Big Courthouse' is located