CFN – Randy Hillier’s fall as PC Labour Critic this week has highlighted the problem with Partisan politics. As some viewers of CFN may be aware I myself have elected to become Hyper Non Partisan. No more party allegiances or memberships.
In my political life I have been a Liberal and a Green, but after working for nearly five years now in the media I have become alienated from the Party system and seen upfront and personal how damaging it is to our world. For me I will vote issue by issue and candidate by candidate regardless of which party they are in.
Essentially right now if your party is in power you’re sorta fine as long as you don’t deviate from the party line. That truly defeats the purpose for many elected officials and puts their loyalty to party policy many times against that of the needs of their local constituents.
We in Ontario will be facing a Provincial election soon. There seems to be a magic storm of all three major party’s being distasteful to all but the most partisan of voters.
The ruling Liberals scandals beg for a turfing, especially after placing Kathleen Wynne in power which essentially embraces the status quo of the McGuinty government.
Tim Hudak is reviled by many in his own party at this point. His leadership numbers are not the things that inspire people to bet the farm on a win. His election record is not something to be built on. IF the PC’s somehow manages a minority win in the next election it would be most likely inspite of his leadership and the push back from the public to either the Liberals or the Liberal Lite (NDP).
Andrea Horwath has strategically done a good job of navigating the current political malaise in Ontario. She’s done most of the right things; but has she shown she has the stuff to be madame Premier? Only the voters can answer that question but so far she’s pretty much buffeted the Liberals and who can blame her at this point? She has not really stood out or built any political momentum.
As for Ms Wynne, her very brief honeymoon is over, if it ever existed, and the public has not warmed to her. There are no warm and fuzzies for our new Premier and so far she has done little to nothing to change the status quo or lead away from the scandals of Mr. McGuinty.
The question for you my dear viewers of CFN is whether it’s time for more Independents to run for office?
Here is Mr. Hillier’s statement after his ousting this week by Mr. Hudak.
It was with much disappointment that I was informed yesterday that I had been removed from my role as Ontario PC Labour Critic. It is a role that I have held since 2009 when Tim Hudak took over as Leader of our Party.
For years I have fought tirelessly against what I saw as wrongdoings and my constituents have always known that they could trust me to stand up for them regardless of the consequences.
Yesterday I was forced to face those consequences personally.
Three months ago I sent a private email to my Caucus colleagues sharing my concerns over a proposed piece of Legislation. Recently that correspondence was the basis of multiple news stories after it was leaked to the press.
In a call yesterday, Tim Hudak demanded that I both apologize for allegedly breaking Caucus confidentiality and to publicly retract the comments I had made in the aforementioned email.
I have never broken Caucus confidentiality and I have no doubt that any one of the reporters I spoke to regarding the recent news stories can corroborate just that.
I made it clear to Tim that under no circumstances would I retract the comments and concerns that I raised three months ago and that I still stand by to this day.
While I remain disappointed that this was the ultimatum I was forced to choose between, I would rather accept this demotion than sacrifice the integrity that my constituents have always expected from me.
Mr. Hillier, labelled a maverick by some, has been a strong community activist and advocate. He earned support in his local community. Has he really benefited as a politician and has his riding benefitted by him being a PC?
Would his impact and ability to accomplish things be that different if elected as an Independent rather than a member of a party caucus in a minority government that isn’t in control?
Probably not as he would not be shackled by party politics?
Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for a party of Independent candidates where they can work together on common ground while still not having to capitulate values for party rhetoric as I was as a Green candidate Federally when I stated that I supported the Death Penalty in certain situations.
We Libertarians are a voluntary association of independent autonomous individuals who seek greater liberties and responsibilities from any central authoritarian administration. Yes, we are a political party and we ask our representative members to adhere to our policies. Our goal is to persuade our governing agencies to protect our rights without taking control of our freedoms. We apply this ideology within our own political party. We accept individuals as they are and we respect or at least offer tolerance of our differences. Individuals are free to accept or reject our Libertarian political party association as they choose for themselves. We endorse, support and promote individual Rights & Freedoms. We are an association of independent individuals.
Libertarians are not independents. They’re still a party, and I thought they didn’t believe in government? As for Hillier, he has some serious personal problems, and shouldn’t be in politics, even as an independent.
Agreed. The party system is not a democratic system. It’s impossible for any thinking individual to fully accept, support and tout every policy of any particular party. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an alternative workable system. I guess the idea is to join party that closest reflects your views, and work within that party to change or modify the policies you don’t agree with. These days, that’s a bit pie in the sky considering how hyper-partisan things have become, and how every party member is forced to read from an approved script.
Isn’t that an oxymoron “a Party of Independent Candidates”?
In this age of minority governments the Independent MP can have a lot of power. The ruling party has to cater to the independent to get their legislation passed and the independent can negotiate benefits for their riding without having to deal with partisan agendas and the odious party whips.
ADMIN one of the hypocrisies of our political system is the simple fact that we can elect a representative who can be forced to vote the party line and not necessarily his conscience or commitment to his constituents. This hogtying seems to have become a greater issue as I have aged with the times or perhaps I am merely more cognizant of its seeming presence. Regardless I have found myself more drawn to individuals who, like Mr. Hillier, take an unwavering stand without compromise to their personal ethics. This earns not always my vote but it does earn my respect.
I would wager to say that if representatives displayed more regard to their constituents than merely towing the party line that the public would react positively and perhaps a few more would step up to the ballot box more confident that they were being fairly represented.
We may well be on the precipice of political change where Independents carry more clout or political reform occurs within party structures themselves. Change would be welcome from the current state of affairs.
Canada like the US has always been a two party system and there was no way at all whatsoever that the NDP would be allowed to rule in federal politics. Big business is what runs politics and not we the little people. Unfortunately this has always been that way. The politicians are the political puppets of the powers that be.
Ron Paul rep. of Texas couldn’t get in because he was not mainstream (lamestream) and always has a lot of libertarian views even though he was with the republicans. Most of the people who voted for Ron Paul were the very young (mostly university students) whereas older people voted for more conservative ways.
I am mighty conservative in my ways of living in belief systems and there is no way that I could bend. I do not believe in “Hudat Hudak of Ontario” or any other of the crappy politicians even for Winnie of the liberals-fiberals at all nor the NDP whoever is in lead in that branch. Not one of them are any good. It would take a miracle to turn Ontario around and whoever would be elected in the next election will have their work as a “miracle worker”. We are in deep doo doo of trouble financially and there is no end in sight. All I see coming is a world economic collapse and WW3 and like they always said that when the economy sours they take us to war. There is no way out of this mess. Alberta has all the jobs and some are in Saskatchewan and such places because of the oil and rents and home ownership is beyond approach.
Funny how we are so critical of our economy yet apparently we are five times richer in equity than we were as a country 20 years ago, despite having considerably more debt.
Go figure. Check recent government states or any economy magazine.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CGcQqQIwBg&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffullcomment.nationalpost.com%2F2013%2F09%2F13%2Fandrew-coyne-canadians-arent-getting-the-whole-story-on-the-economy%2F&ei=BgM1Ur-POcjyqQHuhoDYCg&usg=AFQjCNHkvMIYlDKykPy_wkSmKZtI0GYMiw
An oxymoron is sometimes a formula for potential success. Both the Post-it Notes and Velcro are successful applications of temporary permanent. We require successful applications of temporary permanent governments.
David Oldham September 14, 2013 at 11:43 am
So very well said !
I believe democracy in Canada would benifit from more independent MP’s as they would represent thier constituents rather then a political parties agenda .
@ Highlander. At last we agree about something. My MP, Gord Brown, will never do a news conference or take or answer questions from the press or public. His real boss, Stephen Harper, forbids it. In fact, earlier this year, Harper ordered all of HIS MPs to not attend or publicly support any gay events this summer even if they wanted to. They all complied. All my MP is allowed to do is praise his leader and mug for the cameras at ribbon-cutting events. The sad thing is that in my ultra-conservative riding of Leeds/Grenville, Mr. Brown will be elected over and over until he decides to retire and start collecting the fat pension.
When I worked in the federal government back in the 70’s and 80’s we were all told that we could not stand up for a political party meaning to get involved in party politics. We could not go out and help make speaches, etc. for certain candidates nor get involved in any way.
I do not like Harper at all but what he is “dictating” to his ministers is part of the government policy and it doesn’t matter if it were Justin Trudeau of the liberal-fiberals, NDP or any other that you can think about. I am conservative in my homelife and ways of thinking.