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Our system is better

December 10, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Tom Claridge

The United States and Canada have the same “parent,” the United Kingdom, and over the years have been great neighbours, with their inhabitants enjoying two forms of democracy, one as the result of a revolution and the other a consequence of evolution. 

The fathers of the republic opted for a unique form of government. Tired of their colonial status and the behaviour of George III, the British monarch who was responsible for taxation of the rebellious thirteen colonies, they determined to have a republic with a president, a two-house Congress and an independent judiciary. 

Unfortunately, the emergence of political parties has led to situations where little or nothing was accomplished unless one party won the presidency and both the Senate and House of Representatives. That was one reason why president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was able to pull the U.S. out of the Great Depression and another, Dwight D. Eisenhower created the Interstate highway system, and why Barack Obama failed to accomplish much despite being perhaps the most brilliant occupant of the White House. 

Today, two runoff elections in Georgia will likely determine whether Mr. Obama’s vice-president, Joe Biden, will succeed in accomplishing much in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant high unemployment and lack of a universal health care system. If the Democrats win both runoffs they will have the same 50 Senate seats as the Republicans and will pass legislation only with the support of Vice President Kamala Harris. Otherwise, anything passed by the Democratic-controlled House will have little or no hope of being adopted by the Senate. 

Ironically, the last four years has witnessed a president who acted much like a monarch, passing executive orders that pulled the U.S. out of the Paris agreement on climate change and the agreement forcing Iran to at least pause their plan to develop nuclear weapons and diverting funds budgeted for the armed forces to start building a massive wall at the Mexican border. 

Undoubtedly, U.S. history has been much more dramatic than Canada’s, with the debate over the slave trade, the civil war, wars with the American Indians, national Prohibition and the movie industry. 

But we think much can be said in favour of our parliamentary form of government with an appointed governor-general, an elected House of Commons and an appointed Senate with severely limited powers. 

For one thing, the government of the day can accomplish much even if it has a minority of seats. A classic example is the Canadian and U.S. dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Both federal governments have spent huge amounts, but the failure of Donald Trump to deal with the virus has led to nearly 270,000 deaths, compared with 11,000 deaths in Canada, mainly in Ontario and Quebec long-term care facilities. 

It will be interesting to see what Joe Biden will accomplish in his two key objectives, curbing the pandemic and restoring the U.S. economy. If, as expected, the Republicans win at least one seat in the Jan. 5 runoff, Mr. Biden’s main task will be winning over a few Republican senators for sorely-needed measures like infrastructure spending and improvements in health care. 

In Canada, the same problems exist, and it will be interesting to see how the Trudeau Liberals will avoid losing a confidence vote of the budget expected in the spring, when vaccines become available and the end of the pandemic comes in sight. 

The Liberals’ best hope is that the budget will have enough spending promises to win support from the NDP or Bloc Quebec, who both 

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