I lived in the U.S. For 17 years. I too am very concerned about the Americanization of the parliamentary form of government.
Because of fixed elections the Americans spend billions on campaigns, that could be better used elsewhere, and are obligated to those who donate to those campaigns. They are now spending millions for an election that is more than a year away. However, I am equally concerned about choosing party leaders by party hacks, leadership conventions, and $10 membership cards.
Party leaders should be chosen by their caucus, the MPs and MLAs the only people we the people get to vote for. Our current premier is a case in point, there was no need for a convention when Campbell resigned, the caucus simply needed to choose a new leader. The last two Liberal leadership conventions also showed us the folly of this system. Two very intelligent men, academics, but not parliamentary leaders, elected by the party and soundly defeated by the electorate. Should not the caucus, the MPs and MLAs whom we the people actually vote for and who should best know who the best leaders are, choose that leader? That is the way the system is supposed to work, not through party conventions and fixed elections.
I think if Canadians are watching American politics right now they should think twice about mimicking a form of government written by a few men in the 18th century and place more value on a much more flexible form of government that took a thousand years to evolve.
Wes Perkins
Campbell River
