NEWS ANALYSIS Fundamentalists must add reason to democratic passion SO FAR as the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation (CTF) is concerned, the professional politicians have screwed up this country so much and alienated the people to such an extent, ° that maybe,. just maybe, we amateurs should have a crack at governing it.” By Greg Feiton _ Contributing Writer ‘The CTF is an angry bunch of people, and it’s not hard to see why. Bight years under the elected despotism of Mulroney and the Mecchniks have turned many a docile Canadian into an anti-establish- ment radical, Witness the virtual overnight success of the Reform party. For a citizenry fed up with oppressive taxes, a mushrooming debt, _ and a government that. appears at best indifferent and at worse con- » temptuous of its own. people, self-rule by the people at first blush doesn "t seem all that ludicrous... ° ‘In fact, as West: Vancouver- Garibaldi MLA David Mitchell, and ‘National Citizens’ Coalition president David Sommerville pointed © out, initiative legislation was once part of our political heritage. ‘On March 29, 1919, The Direct Legislation Act was given Royal Assent, but never proclaimed law.. According to Mitchell, all the pre- ‘ mier has to do is proclaim it. But as I listened to speaker after speaker slag Parliament and hold . “a ancient Greece, Switzerland and the West Kootenay town of . Rossland (which has employed a city constitution bylaw. since 1991) as political: models to emulate, the conference took on an increasingly “absurd, other-worldly feel. _It.is one thing to argue for citizen initiatives and recall legislation’ 46 keep our politicians in tine. It is quite another to believe that any- » thing like a pure democracy in Canada is‘even feasible. : ‘The more I listened; the more the. conference looked like a cross ’, between a’ Reform party love-in and | a Moral Majority strategy ses- - sion. | >. “The. mostly over-40. ‘crowd and the. half. dozen or so freshly “scrubbed ‘Michael J. Fox clones had no patience for dissenting opin- ions. . Tf you weren’t an anti- establishment true believer { in populist “democracy, you were nobody. Criticism‘ was treated as heresy,-and” ‘shortcomings of direct democracy were rationalized away as no worse ° than what we already have. *,. . "The tragedy of direct democracy, or - rather, democratic fundamen- ; ~talism, ‘is that it is based on a facile understanding: of government. ~ © «...” - | F suppose some’ amount of ‘rhetorical excess was to be expected. “After all, Mitchell and.company were preaching to the converted, and a little morale botst doesn’ t hurt. - : - * But it is too easy" to heap all the blame on ‘Patliaineptarians for the ‘|. mess we're in, since the bureaucracy hi S more. to. do with the day-to- day workings of government. * ‘Significantly, ‘this problem. was, no ddressed.. In fact, the work- , : _ ings of government were not addressed at all. All the citizens have to do is say what they think, and their elected - puppets in the National Obedience Chamber will. gleefully do their . bidding. ee Yet, how ‘can the average citizen be expected to! offer competent opinions about monetary. or foreign policy if he is too busy.earning a © ~ living to study the issues? Do the members of the public even care? ‘If they do, how long can they be expected t6 take an active interest in political affairs? - ~~ Sooner.or later they’ ll beg for someone to relieve them of the bur- den, and then we’ll be back where we started. ' ., Sommerville has to. offer more of an answer than: “well, politi- _cians don’ 't always know what they’re voting on.’ He has to face the question of how it is possible for citizens to gov- em a ‘heterogeneous geographical, economic, and cultural accident of history like Canada. Extrapolating the example of Rossland over the “whole of Canada just isn’t good enough. It’s not credible. I can agree that reform of our political system is long past due, but _ going back to pure democracy is fanciful and absurd. You can get by with preaching anti-intellectualism and good ol’ " back-to-basics virtue for a while, but sooner or later you’re going to have to account for your rhetoric. Just ask the NDP how that feels. Mitchell is on sounder ‘ground when he said that the people should Serve as a check on the arrogance of Parliamentary power. “But if we had a proper Senate this would not be necessary. That people should have the right to propose legislation and to * hold their representatives to account is a sensible enough idea. At least. worth discussing. To that extent, the democratic fundamentalists -are, making an important contribution to the issue of Parliamentary ~ reform. But before they.can be taken seriously, the true believers will ” ‘have to trade some of their passion for reason. . They must gel over their hatred of representative government. and,: CALLUS: 983-2208 | - Vancouver WV MLA leads charge against party system of gov t “THE PEOPLE are never wrong,” said . Rossland City administrator Andre Carrel. “They may be imprudent or unwise but never By Greg Felton Contributing Writer Carrel was one of 10 speakers the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation (CTF) invited to a conference on direct democracy last Saturday at the Burnaby Villa and Convention Centre to publicize the idea of partici- patory democracy in Canada. Inasmuch as the speakers spoke to the 100 or so in attendance, the convention's real audience was the provincial government. CTF secretary Troy Lanigan said the conference was designed to push Premier Mike Harcourt to honor his piedge to institute initiative and recall legislation. Lanigan said 83% of British Columbians answered “yes”. to citizen-initiated legislation in a 1991 referen- dum. . The overwhelming public opposition to the Charlottetown Accord, the stacking of the Senate to pass the Goods and Services Tax, and the backroom Meech Lake machinations of the Mulroney govern- ments were held up time and again as proof that the public is being betrayed by its representatives. “British Columbians — and Canadians as a whole — are growing increasingly angry, frustrated and cyni- cal about their political leaders and institutions,” said National Citizens’ Coalition (NCC) president David Sommerville. “Year after year, whether a PC, Liberal or NDP government is in power, big government just ‘gets bigger, more costly,and more oppressive.” Sommerville said the problem in Canada is there is no institutional check on the. dictatorial power of Parliament, and as a result the people have lost faith in the system. The solution, he said, is direct democracy: “direct : rule by the people.” There is no subject beyond the peoples’ understand= ing and if there were, he said, it would be beyond that of their representatives. . West Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA David Mitchell said Parliament must be-revitalized and brought back to its original design as a ‘place where representatives of. © the people Speak on 1 behalf of the people. PENDING PROVINCIAL leg-'. “islation poses the greatest threat to direct democracy in British Columbia, according to West. , MLA | David Mitchell. By Greg Felton Contributing Writer “It would be much preferable — ~ and far more honest — for the gov- emment simply to admit that it does not believe in these reforms. (of ini- tiative and recall) and never intend- ed to implement them.” Mitchell is referring to the report of the Select Standing Committee on Parliamentary Reform chaired by MLA Ujjal’ Dosanjh. The report was released Nov. 23. Mitchell placed the failure of our political system squarely on the party system of government. . “Because of parties, which are ‘special-interest groups in their own right, Parliarnent has been a haven, a ghetto in my view, for... party machines, bosses and party whips.” Every speaker at the conference expressed uncom- promising faith in the wisdom of the average citizen and a visceral disgust for our present political system which, they said, alienates the taxpayer by conferring all political power on intérest groups, the opinion elites and party politicians. The tone of the conference at times bordered on the conspiratorial, as the image of the virtuous citizen was .. repeatedly contrasted against the nefarious image of. everyone and everything else... Despite the claims of Sommerville and Mitchel! that direct democracy is designed to reform. our Parliamentary system, nobody had anything positive to say about the system or the elected representatives who serve in it. Politicians were ‘routinely condemned as. “liars, ne “corrupt political masters,” “incompetents,” and “dinosaurs.” The only non- -derogatory comments were reserved for former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm: who introduced ‘the 1990 Referendum Act, and former . premier: Rita Johnston who put ‘the issues of initiative | and recall to a public vote, ° When criticism came from the floor i it was dis- patched quickly. Dr. Franz Wolfling, the former 2eform candidate for Surrey-North and a supporter of direct democracy, suggested that giving the people power without preparation might-be a mistake... “Péople have been conditioned for so long, they have given up in a‘state of frustration,” he said. “People have retained the fact that they need to. vote -but have not taken on the responsibility to. be. informed.” included North Vancouver MP Ted, White and B.C. Reformer Ron Gamble.” yd 5, Wolfling’ $ comment met with unanimous “condem- : nation, from the largely Reformist-crowd, which _ Other audience members wondered if direct ‘democ- “ racy would lead toa tyranny, of the majority. ‘ ‘L ' - “Cartel delivered the tersest response: of the majority. is better than. the ‘tyranny of the minori- ty; which is what we have: right: now. ‘The voice of a an: standard, since it could demand ‘a. : higher response than turned out, to. vote in the general election.: (§ There should be ‘spending limits“ during the petition and referendum “ campaigns. :° . : sci The CTF agr ed; addi 2 that.’ . there should be‘a total. ban on ail’ government advertising... - f@ There should be no restriction on | the subject matter of initiatives. < The CTF said that any initiative ihat places an added burden on’ the ‘public treasury be costed out for citi- zens SO they can make an informed - decision. 3] Referenda should be held at stipu- ' ‘lated- times, such ‘as the the first | Monday in October every two or three years, Mitchell said the committee’s ~ recommendations are so restrictive that recall or initiative actions would | be rendered virtually impossible. The cominittee. report addresses” six specific areas, all of which the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation (CTF) criticized in ils own position Paper: ' “ All petitions must contain the sig- natures of 10%, of. all eligible v voters " tricts within 60-90 days. : The CTF said ns province ‘ “WEST VANCOUVER MLA. David Mitchell questions gov- ernment commitment to recall a and initiative. * should be broken up into : seven ‘regions. The 10%, threshold should be obtained in four of them. Also, the time frame should be set at one year. #9 Approval must have a double ‘ ”~"majority of 50% plus one of eligible ‘voters and SO ot 73: electoral dis-' “THIS WEEK’S QUESTION: _ Isthe public being adequately. informed about nati tei province-wide vote bé held within ~ 120 days after being validated by the Chief Electoral. Officer. - : & Any proposed bill accompanying - .a.successful initiative sliould be’- introduced ‘for first reading during” The CTF: récommerided that ay. fe the next sitting of the Legislature. y-:« The CTF said the recommenda tion reduces the initiative Process to. ’ insignificance. It recommended that initiative“ legislation should be passed i into law , forthwith. ive. land claims?