The 1,211 people who regulate (or ruin) your life

443 of them sit in the commons and senate seats in parliament.

The other 768 sit in provincial and territorial legislatures.

They are collectively responsible for our nation and her people’s health, safety, security, and welfare. We elect them to represent us in our federal or provincial governments, but they quickly turn to representing the political party they joined. 

The term “party whip” is more sinister than it sounds. When a vote is due, it is the whip’s job to ensure all the people affiliated with the party vote the same way. The representative is not allowed to think for himself and vote against a law, policy or regulation he intensely dislikes and feels is not in his constituents’ best interests. He is not allowed to abstain as that might upset the final vote tally.  

Most of us have heard the term “pairing” without really considering what it means. The party whips work together. If the governing party has a member who must be away for a vote, they look to opposition members to find one of their members who must be away to maintain the balance. Our representatives expend much time and energy forming into herds and ensuring each herd’s numbers are balanced. None of this results in better governance; it is about jockeying for power.

There is no valid reason for public funding of political parties. The 2019 election figures are not available yet, but following the 2015 federal election, we reimbursed political parties for $60.655 million and their candidates for another $42,574 million. Taxpayers funded political parties for over $103 million, so they can continue to abuse us by telling our representatives how to vote on issues before parliament.

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Political parties are so intent on wresting power over us they have forgotten who they serve. Once they are in control, their decisions are based on getting re-elected rather than on people’s needs. The 443 people who sit in parliament are directly responsible for the public debt and federal taxation levels. We have high debts and high taxes because our politicians want it that way.

None of them have to vote to pass a budget prepared by the Finance Minister. They can demand changes or vote the budget bill down. An opposition party voting in favour of more debt to try to wrangle something else from the government is not in our best interests.

If we stop mandatory funding for political parties and they have to appeal to us for donations, they will be more open to representing us rather than themselves. We also have to stop public subsidies of political contributions. Politicians should not provide a more generous tax credit than a registered charity. We need charities. Political parties are not useful.

Throughout this past year, none of the 443 has stood up for the people and hardships they have endured at government hands. The same holds true for the 768 people who sit in provincial and territorial legislatures.

We have allowed politicians to create a class of their own apart from the public they serve, which is not compatible with democratic principles. The people we elect are from our communities and are our voice in parliament or the legislature. Interfering with their representation is unlawful (CC 119.1).

We elect people to represent us, not join a political party to engage in combat with other political parties. Our parliament and legislatures have become arenas where political parties engage in a verbal battle with the sole objective of winning the most seats in the next election. Political party wars are not compatible with democratic representation; they are replacing democratic representation.