Letter: Pendulum Swinging Between Competing Ideas is Getting Old Fast

Brian Minielly makes a case for proportional representation to combat the constant competition and "winning" mindset he argues is standing between Canadians and logical solutions to what ails us.

Photo by sebastiaan stam on Unsplash

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

It’s a crisis. What does that mean, if we are not being cynical about it? I think it means that ‘people’ — you know, those folks who vote — are suddenly much more prepared to embrace change than they are in normal times.

I am not a fan of our current version of party-defined politics in Canada. I do think that our democracy is worth whatever it takes to preserve it as a positive and functional system of governance. My working definition of that is a system of governance that is inclusive and that values each and every human being in the nation.

I also believe that our ‘social problems’, like poverty, homelessness, and crime, are a result of policy. This small note is just my offering from an old Baby Boomer who thinks voting is not an option for a citizenn who votes every time for the best candidate.

So, about that crisis and change. The pendulum swinging between competing ideas is getting old fast.

We have a bully who is taking the world’s economy apart at the seams just because he can. We have multiple crises to deal with. Trump will pass, but the damage will take more time to repair. Climate change is still an existential challenge for us in Canada and the whole world. The whole world is reeling now from Trump’s flailing about, but that means everyone is experiencing this crisis and having a sudden willingness to change, as well.

What if we decided that we could approach this in a multi-solving way?

That our opportunity in this crisis is to stop wasting our best brains on creating policies that become part of the problems due to being compromised, because it is more important to prevent the governing party from “winning” than it is to govern the country effectively?

That is why we have children going to bed hungry. That is why we have people dying on the streets in cold weather. That is why it takes decades and generations to provide communities with safe water and health care.

Can we imagine having proportional representation so that every vote counts?

The result in many countries where it is used is to have a more civilized conversation in Parliament, and to engage all the best brains in creating policies that work when you don’t have to worry about winning or losing.

It also reduces the electorate's cynicism, so more people are willing to vote. We would respond to all the crises at once with a plan that is longer than four years! It would define a transition to a sustainable and healthy economy that leaves dependence on fossil fuels behind.

It seems so obvious to me. I think our current governance model cannot get over the binary strategy, and so the very word “transition” cannot be considered if someone has to be right and someone wrong.

Imagine using all the best brains in the room, rather than having them just go to war with each other.

I live in hope that there is capacity in our system to evolve and improve in this moment of crisis. If it is true, as has been said recently, that we need to respond to our situation like Canada did in WWII, getting onto a ‘war footing’ quickly, then it is time to take a collaborative approach to our challenges rather than a divisive and conflictual one.

Let’s make Canada Strong a decisive action and not just a nice shoutout!

Brian Minielly
Owen Sound

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Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.