A piece tepid toward McConnell and genuinely admiring of the US system of government? I commend your bucking of the usual Canadian media tropes, Rahim. (I am assuming this is not satire.)
Canada is unusual (?unique) among federations: US, Australia, and Russia all have robust regional representation. Canada does not. This goes back further than the Reform Party and right back to confederation. If you look at who put together Canada's constitute, it wasn't exactly a stellar cast when compared to the US founding fathers a half-century earlier. (For example, look up how many in each country had completed university education. ) Also, there was a tendancy of our constitution's framers to look more towards British style of parliament (not a federation) and snub the Yankees when it came to looking for ideas on how to make this thing work.
The friction of representation by population vs. region was already well underway by the mid- to late-19th century; and, well, NB and NS got screwed. They knew it at the time and they know it now. (Southern) Ontario and Quebec have been driving the bus since then.
Fast forward 150 years (including the Americanization of our economy, culture, and politics) and we are left with the worst of both worlds...less regional representation than ever, a presidentialization of our prime minister (who, in this country, is also a member of the legislative branch), and policy making mostly being in the hands of two or three elected representatives and a clandestine cadre of folks of make up the upper echelons of the PMO.
Ask a backbench member of the liberal party how much power they have in Ottawa over a beer. To the state that representative democracy has any meaning at all, it is exclusively limited to a small ring around Toronto and La Belle Province. And they're no more likely to give that power up now than they were in 1867.
I don’t see how one can witness the paralysis of a dysfunctional polarized US government and wish for that here. It boggles the mind. Who has gotten more financial support from their federal government? A “disenfranchised” Albertan or a small-town Kentuckian with their own S.O.B.? How many months of disagreement is the US going on about COVID relief cheques? 4 months?
A piece tepid toward McConnell and genuinely admiring of the US system of government? I commend your bucking of the usual Canadian media tropes, Rahim. (I am assuming this is not satire.)
Canada is unusual (?unique) among federations: US, Australia, and Russia all have robust regional representation. Canada does not. This goes back further than the Reform Party and right back to confederation. If you look at who put together Canada's constitute, it wasn't exactly a stellar cast when compared to the US founding fathers a half-century earlier. (For example, look up how many in each country had completed university education. ) Also, there was a tendancy of our constitution's framers to look more towards British style of parliament (not a federation) and snub the Yankees when it came to looking for ideas on how to make this thing work.
The friction of representation by population vs. region was already well underway by the mid- to late-19th century; and, well, NB and NS got screwed. They knew it at the time and they know it now. (Southern) Ontario and Quebec have been driving the bus since then.
Fast forward 150 years (including the Americanization of our economy, culture, and politics) and we are left with the worst of both worlds...less regional representation than ever, a presidentialization of our prime minister (who, in this country, is also a member of the legislative branch), and policy making mostly being in the hands of two or three elected representatives and a clandestine cadre of folks of make up the upper echelons of the PMO.
Ask a backbench member of the liberal party how much power they have in Ottawa over a beer. To the state that representative democracy has any meaning at all, it is exclusively limited to a small ring around Toronto and La Belle Province. And they're no more likely to give that power up now than they were in 1867.
I don’t see how one can witness the paralysis of a dysfunctional polarized US government and wish for that here. It boggles the mind. Who has gotten more financial support from their federal government? A “disenfranchised” Albertan or a small-town Kentuckian with their own S.O.B.? How many months of disagreement is the US going on about COVID relief cheques? 4 months?
In Canada, don't the premiers play a similar role?