Most people would rather do darn near anything than stand on a streetcorner or a highway waving a protest sign. Time is a precious commodity and using it to stand jumbled within a crowd while police and many folks passing by are often less-than-supportive of the efforts is a sign of desperation.On Monday of the Easter weekend, thousands of Canadians in dozens of locations went out to protest the latest increase in Trudeau’s carbon tax.So why are more and more people subjecting themselves to the elements and possibly the long arm of the law with protests across Canada? It’s because they feel helpless. They are frustrated and out of options.In Canada’s system, once a person is elected to office, there are no mechanisms for citizens to hold them accountable. No matter how poorly a politician may govern, the people are stuck with them until the next election.Some people will say “That’s how democracy works” and they have a point. People got the chance to select their elected officials and they should have to live with their decisions. At least within reason.What about cases where politicians grossly misrepresented themselves when applying for the job during an election? In Calgary, Jyoti Gondek has managed to become Calgary’s most unpopular mayor in the city’s history and she has barely served more than half of her elected term. Gondek campaigned as a moderate and won the election based on that. Upon becoming Mayor, Gondek pivoted into a crazed woke agenda. She ushered in an insane $87-billion climate change plan, torpedoed an agreement for the construction of a new arena, committed hundreds of millions to an electric bus program and brought in a single use plastic ban which enraged the city when it was implemented. Taxes to fund those plans have spiraled as well of course.Had Gondek campaigned on doing all those things in the first place, some citizens would still be upset when the initiatives came about but would be more inclined to accept it until the next election. Since Gondek deceptively campaigned as something else, people feel they have been misled and that she should be held accountable for that.A recall petition in Calgary was initiated and it has garnered a lot of interest. Alas, the legislation for recall in Alberta is terribly flawed and the bar for successful petitioning is set impossibly high. After months of hard effort, it appears the Recall Gondek campaign will only have reached a little more than 10% of the signatures required to force a recall. That’s not to say the petition has been a total failure. It put an embarrassing spotlight on just how terrible Gondek has been as a mayor and it has shown how ridiculous the current recall legislation is in Alberta. All the same though, if recall was the goal, it was an exercise in futility and many people will feel more frustrated with the failed process.Last weekend at a Calgary Flames game, thousands of attendees booed Gondek as she walked onto the ice for a ceremony. While many pearl-clutchers have been aghast with the disrespect shown to the mayor, they would be better served to try and understand why people are so upset in the first place. Citizens are exasperated and want to show their discontent however they can, even at a hockey game.Federally and provincially, citizens face the same dilemma. There is no way for citizens to remove an elected official no matter how terrible they are.Canada’s Senate is ostensibly the “House of Sober Second Thought” and is supposed to hold parliament accountable. In reality, the Senate is an insult to democracy as appointed members act as rubber stamps for the prime minister’s policies.While the Trudeau government has an incredibly low level of public support, citizens remain stuck with them as they are propped up by the NDP. Jagmeet Singh isn’t widely popular in Canada either but through his ugly alliance with Trudeau, Canadians get to enjoy being governed by two-parties that don’t really represent them.It shouldn’t be easy to remove an elected official from power. Recall initiatives should have a high bar for invocation. We don’t want to live in a world of endless recalls and by-elections. Premiers and prime ministers shouldn’t be removed from power on a whim either. While it shouldn’t be easy to remove an elected person from power, it should be possible at least.A report from Canada’s RCMP warned that civil unrest is growing due to bad governance and upset citizens. The government likely will ignore the warning.In Canada’s system, the lack of accountability among politicians is making people desperate. As desperation and anger grow, people will feel more inclined to take on dangerous or illegal ways to express themselves or pursue change. When a person’s back is against the wall, they will lash out. We are only seeing the warning signs now. It will get worse.We could avoid much of this civil disorder if only there was a reasonable way for citizens to have their voices heard and respected by politicians between elections. Unfortunately, there is little indication that politicians want to change the system in any way to disempower themselves.That means things are going to get much worse before they get better.
Most people would rather do darn near anything than stand on a streetcorner or a highway waving a protest sign. Time is a precious commodity and using it to stand jumbled within a crowd while police and many folks passing by are often less-than-supportive of the efforts is a sign of desperation.On Monday of the Easter weekend, thousands of Canadians in dozens of locations went out to protest the latest increase in Trudeau’s carbon tax.So why are more and more people subjecting themselves to the elements and possibly the long arm of the law with protests across Canada? It’s because they feel helpless. They are frustrated and out of options.In Canada’s system, once a person is elected to office, there are no mechanisms for citizens to hold them accountable. No matter how poorly a politician may govern, the people are stuck with them until the next election.Some people will say “That’s how democracy works” and they have a point. People got the chance to select their elected officials and they should have to live with their decisions. At least within reason.What about cases where politicians grossly misrepresented themselves when applying for the job during an election? In Calgary, Jyoti Gondek has managed to become Calgary’s most unpopular mayor in the city’s history and she has barely served more than half of her elected term. Gondek campaigned as a moderate and won the election based on that. Upon becoming Mayor, Gondek pivoted into a crazed woke agenda. She ushered in an insane $87-billion climate change plan, torpedoed an agreement for the construction of a new arena, committed hundreds of millions to an electric bus program and brought in a single use plastic ban which enraged the city when it was implemented. Taxes to fund those plans have spiraled as well of course.Had Gondek campaigned on doing all those things in the first place, some citizens would still be upset when the initiatives came about but would be more inclined to accept it until the next election. Since Gondek deceptively campaigned as something else, people feel they have been misled and that she should be held accountable for that.A recall petition in Calgary was initiated and it has garnered a lot of interest. Alas, the legislation for recall in Alberta is terribly flawed and the bar for successful petitioning is set impossibly high. After months of hard effort, it appears the Recall Gondek campaign will only have reached a little more than 10% of the signatures required to force a recall. That’s not to say the petition has been a total failure. It put an embarrassing spotlight on just how terrible Gondek has been as a mayor and it has shown how ridiculous the current recall legislation is in Alberta. All the same though, if recall was the goal, it was an exercise in futility and many people will feel more frustrated with the failed process.Last weekend at a Calgary Flames game, thousands of attendees booed Gondek as she walked onto the ice for a ceremony. While many pearl-clutchers have been aghast with the disrespect shown to the mayor, they would be better served to try and understand why people are so upset in the first place. Citizens are exasperated and want to show their discontent however they can, even at a hockey game.Federally and provincially, citizens face the same dilemma. There is no way for citizens to remove an elected official no matter how terrible they are.Canada’s Senate is ostensibly the “House of Sober Second Thought” and is supposed to hold parliament accountable. In reality, the Senate is an insult to democracy as appointed members act as rubber stamps for the prime minister’s policies.While the Trudeau government has an incredibly low level of public support, citizens remain stuck with them as they are propped up by the NDP. Jagmeet Singh isn’t widely popular in Canada either but through his ugly alliance with Trudeau, Canadians get to enjoy being governed by two-parties that don’t really represent them.It shouldn’t be easy to remove an elected official from power. Recall initiatives should have a high bar for invocation. We don’t want to live in a world of endless recalls and by-elections. Premiers and prime ministers shouldn’t be removed from power on a whim either. While it shouldn’t be easy to remove an elected person from power, it should be possible at least.A report from Canada’s RCMP warned that civil unrest is growing due to bad governance and upset citizens. The government likely will ignore the warning.In Canada’s system, the lack of accountability among politicians is making people desperate. As desperation and anger grow, people will feel more inclined to take on dangerous or illegal ways to express themselves or pursue change. When a person’s back is against the wall, they will lash out. We are only seeing the warning signs now. It will get worse.We could avoid much of this civil disorder if only there was a reasonable way for citizens to have their voices heard and respected by politicians between elections. Unfortunately, there is little indication that politicians want to change the system in any way to disempower themselves.That means things are going to get much worse before they get better.
