Canada Watch: Delusions of Democracy and Broken Promises

by Damian Piper, Political Columnist

There seems to be a very big misunderstanding over the role Canada is playing in Afghanistan. According to popular belief (I am simply referring to those who support "the mission") we are there to allow children to go to school, to protect women’s rights and to instil democracy.

This I find interesting; how blind are we, so that we may be persuaded by lies? Little is taken into account how broken the Canadian Democratic system really is. If we are to forget about how ancient our first-past-the-post electoral process is; and how it is discriminatory to third parties, women, minorities and to anyone else who may vote any other focus, but the popular way, they fail to consider whether the majority of the country votes for anyone other choice than the governing party.

On getting past all of that, we find ourselves with some form of elected legislature which, in theory is supposed to in some way, represent those who voted for them. However, we find ourselves governed by a party which only represents a very small section of the population, together with the large number of corporate and special interests.

On putting representation and poor policy making aside, assuming certain bills do make their way through the Commons by winning the majority of the vote from our elected officials, they may still arrive at blockades; and the most under reported and clear sign of what is not democracy begins to surface. There is an entity which holds the power to block whichever motion or bill was passed through our House of Commons.

I am talking about the Senate.

Right now Canada has a prime opportunity to take a leadership role in foreign aid. Right now there are many problems with aid, such as the Canadian government’s irresponsibility to live up to the promise of a .7% of our GDP made by a previous Prime Minister. Now even in light of the ambiguity as to what comprises "aid" we currently commit only a lot less than half of what was previously promised.

This is very shameful. Indeed, our recent actions in Bali have come to show up Canada’s poor leadership and extreme negligence in conducting itself on the world stage. Critics point out that Canada was previously committed to the Kyoto Accord. But now our government puts most of its energy towards blockading progress in that direction.

Critics point out, that every time a government changes over, as in the form of an election; a government cannot simply break its international commitments that were made by previous governments, every time there is a turnover in legislature. It is circumstances like that which leads us into having a shameful, embarrassing and untrustworthy reputation on the world stage.

In conjunction, with the lack of aid we currently give, we are breaking promises and doing little good for the world. Not to mention that the majority of our aid is “tied”. This means that most of the goods and services which are supplied to that aid must come from Canada, even if that is not logistically feasible. In addition we do not get the aid we intended to the desired destination -- the impoverished.

Also, Canada’s current aid plan is not currently set within any clear and strategic focus. This also results in hurting the very people we are trying to help. An example of a particular bill that was passed by our elected representatives and that is currently being stalled and on its way to being killed by the Senate, is bill C-293, better known as the Better Aid Bill.

C-293 would ensure that Canada’s aid becomes guided by a clear focus, and will ensure that our aid is not tied, therefore getting to where it is most needed.

The world’s poor.

We currently have an unelected faction, blockading what our elected legislature has voted for; what a previous Prime Minister promised; and what every Canadian who believes in Making Poverty History, stands for.

It is time to make a change, write to your MP and write to the Senators. Tell them that you support foreign aid. tell them that you support democracy.

About the writer:

Damian Piper is an activist currently residing in Windsor, Ontario. He is an active member of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG). Mr. Piper is also the local chapter co-ordinator of Results, a grassroots organization dedicated to creating the political will to end hunger. He is also the host of "The Shake Up" a radio show dedicated to social justice, human rights and environmental concerns; as well as the evening News Director at CJAM, a non-profit community radio station.

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