Proportional representation. The tired panacea for losers.

 It is pretty standard that we see people howling and demanding that we need proportional representation after an election. Those demanding this change are essentially admitting that whatever group or movement that they support will never garner more than a small fraction of electoral support.

 People calling for proportional representation usually do not look too terribly deeply into the actual system itself, they simply are trying to find a back door for whatever fringe movement that they support.

 One irony I see is that those who howl for PR are often the same whiners who come out of the woodwork whenever an election is called and scream that Canadians neither want nor need at election at this time. Well, have a look at Italy for a second. They have PR and have enjoyed some 61 governments since 1945. Do we really want to go to the polls annually as a dysfunctional pizza-parliament stumbles along? Rest assured, many people would look back wistfully to the stability our current spate of minority governments.

 Our system is far from perfect. There are many democratic improvements that I would like to see come about. Legislated fixed election dates, binding citizen’s initiated referenda and more free votes come to mind. Those steps would help empower the electorate and locally elected representatives.

 Speaking of locally elected representatives, we can say goodbye to having those any longer in a PR system. The parties will choose who gets a seat in the parliament/legislature after an election, not you. These people will most likely be appointed to their seat due to internal party issues as opposed to any kind of merit they may provide to the constituents. If there is some sort of local issue that is pressing in your area, you will not have a member chosen by yourself and your neighbors who can address that issue for you.

 Many people complain about partisanship. Well rest assured you will see hyper-partisanship like never before if we had a proportional representation system. People seeking seats will no longer have to appeal to the electorate in order to win a seat, they will have to appeal to party brass. Is that more transparent?

 How much voice will the fringe really have in a PR system anyway? Hell, if the system were PR in Alberta in 2001, I likely would have gotten myself a seat as leader of the AIP. Would I then have been able to make any real progress or changes? I would be stuck in a corner of the legislature with a handful of other notables such as the old Natural Law party or the Marijuana Party or FSM knows whatever other fringe bands will be able to scrape together enough support to get a seat.

 When yowling for PR back in 2004, Jack Layton also proposed that seats be set aside exclusively for aboriginals. Perhaps we would go further and divide up the entire parliamentary seats exclusively based on race. The certainly would do wonders for unity in general. Some women’s groups have demanded seats based on gender as well. The proponents of PR seem determined to remove all elements of real democratic choice from the system. If we tear down our current system, we put ourselves at risk of such kooky notions as mandated racism that the NDP supports. It may be difficult to get that toothpaste back in the tube.

 While the fringe movements will have gained a little more of a voice, governments still will be dominated by a coalition involving the top two or three parties. Essentially things will be much the same as they are now except that we would have lost local representation while we were at it.

 There is merit in pursuing political change from outside of the mainstream parties. I certainly have dedicated enough time to that. Even though we won no seats in the last election, we still had an impact. Leading candidates could not completely ignore Green and Wildrose Alliance candidates particularly in constituencies that were close races. The best way to counter such spoilers is to embrace some of the policies of those outside contenders. Candidates were forced to address “green” issues as well as fiscal conservatism more than they would have were there no candidates pushing those issues from the “fringe”. The current government still has to keep those issues in mind while in power or risk the election of Green or WAP candidates in the next election.

 The Wildrose Alliance and Green parties did not win any seats in the last provincial election because they failed to inspire enough electors in any constituencies. I do not see the efforts as failed as issues were raised and candidates were influenced. To claim that the system screwed them is simply sour grapes.

 If a party wants seats in an election there are steps to get them. For one, the candidate must have policies that reflect the views of the largest segment of that constituency (one would think that speaks for itself but PR supporters want to bypass that). The candidate must work effectively and hard to contact those electors and gain their support. Whether it is through convincing the electorate of the merits of their policies, or modelling policy to reflect the views of the electorate the bottom line is that a candidate has to appeal to more than a fringe.

 It is a hard route to follow in order to win seats and it should be. It takes a strong party and strong candidates. PR would eliminate the need for either to a degree thus weak parties with weak candidates want it.

 Stelmach decisively won the last provincial election. The PCs won the right to govern Alberta fairly. I do not agree with many things that the PCs are doing and will continue to strive to replace them. I will not cry at the sidelines for some panacea such as PR in hopes of bypassing the work required to gain the support of a larger share of Alberta’s voters.

Just Brilliant!

With the unfortunate lack of opposition in the legislature of Alberta (left or right) we can look forward to many ill-conceived schemes sliding under the radar.

Anybody who has even peripherally been watching the news has observed that we are in the midst of a global disaster in the financial markets. One of the key elements in the financial collapse was the American sub-prime fiasco. Under the misconception that home ownership is a right for all individuals. With the government subsidized entities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buying and guaranteeing mortgages from lenders, lending institutions were encouraged to expand into the market of people who normally would not qualify for mortgages.

Lengthy terms, low interest and a low bar for qualification encouraged by these entities led to a boom in the real-estate market that lasted for years. Alas, what goes up must come down.

Reality came crashing down and the USA financial market discovered what lending institutions sort of always knew; there is a reason that some people do not qualify for mortgages. Some people simply do not make enough money to properly repay a mortgage, some people are too irresponsible to pay other bills and thus their credit is too poor to qualify for a mortgage. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buying and backing these high-risk loans however, banks were encouraged to keep lending this money out.

Low and behold, a tremendous number of people began to default on these mortgages that they never should have had in the first place. Foreclosures skyrocketed, real-estate values plummeted and banks were left owning a great deal of real-estate with negative equity. This of course has rocked the entire American market which in turn has rocked the entire world market.

The sub-prime fiasco is not the entire reason for this massive world market correction, but it is the main factor involved with it. It really does not seem that complex. Leave lending institutions alone. They want to make money. In order to do so, lending institutions create their own standards for loan qualifications so that they reduce the risk of people defaulting on their loans and the banks can continue to enjoy profits from loan interest. Due to that, some people will simply not qualify for credit. Get over it!

Even while we are in the midst of such a brutal lesson in basic economics, one idiot in our legislature has cluelessly proposed that we walk down the same disastrous path.

Progressive Conservative MLA for Lethbridge West Greg Weadick has tabled Bill 208; the Alberta Affordable Mortgage Protection Act. This bill explicitly states that the government should guarantee mortgages for people who would not normally qualify for one. WTF!!!!!!

Even without the current world financial crisis as an example to learn from, this concept is so stupid it should not even hit the legislature floor. Government is good enough at finding business losers to back financially an piss our money away (Magcan, Nova-Tel, Gainers). Greg Weadick wants the government to actively seek out losers with low incomes and bad credit so that the government can back their loans. If ever I have seen a recipe to waste Alberta tax dollars this is it.

The real frightening part of this is that while Weadick is clearly utterly clueless as to basic finances, this has not stopped him from taking on economic roles in government. Weadick is currently chair of the Cabinet Policy Committee on the Economy and sits on the Standing Committee on the Economy (the duplication of committees in the PC cash-cow committee system is fodder for another post). I almost fear that Ed Stelmach is gearing this twit for a position as finance minister considering his committee appointments.

Weadick is an alumni of Alberta civic politics. Few people are better at wasting tax-dollars and showing less grasp on reality than municipal politicians. Nuts like Tooker Gomberg and Brian Pincott come to mind.

Weadick came from Lethbridge city council, the place that spawned the Queen of crazy councilors: Dar Heatherington I know many are trying to forget Dar and her imaginary kidnappings and such. Heatherington should still be held up as an example that the voters can be rather mistaken in their choices of representatives at times.

Perhaps Weadick and Dar rubbed off on each other  a bit during their years on council. There has not been any proof yet that insanity is contagious, but I see this as evidence.

With any luck, this bill will die a swift death on the legislature floor as MLAs recoil from such an idiotic idea. We had best watch closely though. if Bill 208 passes, we may look forward to our provincial government absorbing billions in bad-debts.

Greg Weadick had best be watched closely as well. Clearly he should not be near any position where our tax-dollars or economy are involved (though that is already too late) and should be relegated to the deepest of back benches.

There is a reason for such things as credit ratings. Home ownership is not a right. If more people had grasped those two simple concepts in the last decade or so, we would not be seeing the current financial mess. It is almost unbelievable that some elected officials can’t read that rather stark writing on the wall.