“Those who take a stand based on the view of their constituents should
not be punished by their party”
I’ve had that thought many times … but those words were not written by
me. They are part of the headline (or story
lead) in an opinion / editorial piece written by Maxwell A. Cameron. He is director of the Centre for the Study of
Democratic Institutions at UBC.
I would encourage you to read
his full comments … but if you only have a moment right now, here are a
couple of comments that he made in his article:
… Parliament is a place for
deliberation and legislation. It is the one branch of government whose supreme
duty it is to make the general rules by which all citizens shall abide….
… sadly, parliamentarians
increasingly do what party leaders tell them rather than what they think is
right. Subordination to the party begins with the nomination process, a
typically opaque and poorly regulated affair. Individual candidates often come
out of the process more beholden to the party machine than to constituents.
… our system is built on the
principle of parliamentary supremacy. In practice we have a partyarchy — the
rule of political parties at the expense of our constitutional order. We need
politicians with the moral skill and will to restore balance to our
parliamentary system.
These words were written specifically with regards to our parliament in
Ottawa. What he said however is just as pertinent to
the BC legislature … and the role of MLA’s should have, rather than what is dictated
to them by NDP and Liberal party whips.
In contrast to the dictates of NDP and Liberal part whips, here is what point #4 in the Guiding Principles of the BC Conservative
Party states:
Members of the Legislative Assembly are primarily responsible to represent
the interests of their Constituents.
This is backed up in the Policies
of the BC Conservative Party which go on to say that the party has:
… a belief in managing the government to the highest standards of integrity and transparency, and
British Columbians are entitled to full knowledge of services rendered and
their cost
AND THAT … a BC Conservative government will be dedicated to ensuring
expected standards are well defined, delivery performance is regularly monitored
and tested, and those responsible for delivering are held accountable
Those are the standards we should already be receiving from government --- so why aren't we?
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