I've been wrestling with a big question lately, one that's come about as a result of the federal election.
Just how democratic, I wonder, does a democracy have to be?
Ironically a political party that, arguably, did more to trample human rights than any other political ideology in the past century has prompted this question. The party is the Marxist-Leninist Party (MLP) of Canada, the electoral name of the Communist Party of Canada.
The Communist Party has never had sufficient pull to be much more than an also-ran in any Canadian election. But nonetheless, the members of the party want to be taken seriously. So seriously, in fact, that in spite of garnering only 123 votes in the local riding in the 2004 federal election, the candidate expects to be regarded on an equal level as the other four candidates.
And perhaps it should be so. After all, we are a democracy. But it seems a tad ridiculous to me that someone who received less votes than there were members of the audience at the all-candidates' forum in Gibsons could, in essence, subvert the democratic process. What I mean by that is a number of people who attended the meeting came because they had not yet decided for whom to vote. And the fact that over 200 people saw fit to head out on such an inclement evening speaks volumes for the interest in this election. Because our MP John Reynolds is leaving parliament, the seat is up for grabs. And because he has represented our area so well, people naturally want to find the right person to fill his seat. That takes some homework, some listening and some asking of pertinent questions. What it doesn't take is a not-even-in-contention rambling candidate from a fringe party taking up a fifth of the time at a public meeting. The time MLP candidate Anne Jamieson took up exposing her thoughts on health care and NORAD meant that several questions audience members wanted to have answered at the public meeting couldn't be addressed. And while the Gibsons and District Chamber of Commerce (host of the event) has volunteered to put the remaining questions and the candidates' answers up on its website (www.gibsons.bc.ca) the audience would have been better served if their questions could have been answered in person. Not only are the words important, but also body language and voice need to be seen and heard to evaluate the answers. I think the audience was robbed of that opportunity.
While I have absolutely no doubt of Jamieson's sincerity of belief in her party (after all, she's run as a Communist in at least four elections), all the same, I have questions about what her involvement brings to the process.
And so you see I'm still asking myself: just how democratic is too democratic?
