The decline of democracy

Re: An Anti-woke Awakening — Jordan Peterson, March 1; and Why Canada’s PMS can be dictators — Tom Curran, Letter to the editor, Feb. 10

The two recent commentaries referenced above highlight some of the reasons for the sad decline of western democracy.

Jordan Peterson’s assurance that there appears to be a glimmer of hope for us lesser mortals that western societies are finally getting fed up with woke dogma is good news. I appreciate his positive coaching to conservatives in the Canadian political scene and hope that politicians will heed his advice.

There are huge flaws with our Canadian-style democracy. Tom Curran’s letter to the editor exposed the fact that Canada’s “bastardized version of Westminster parliament allows a prime minister to be all but dictator.” Our constitutions from 1867 and 1982 and the Charter of Rights really need to be modernized.

Another major flaw in our current democratic process appears to be the lax qualifications to become nominated as a candidate for the larger federal parties. This process should be similar to any other job application. Both major parties make it very clear that the most important factor to become a successful candidate depends on how much money you can raise for the party coffers. And the next step for the candidate is to win the nomination ballot, which then depends on who you know. No educational requirements, no work experience, no need to prove maturity or responsibility or accountability or how your values align with the party values. The hapless voter now has the answer to the question of how in the world did that MP ever get chosen to be on the ballot and get elected?

If the federal Conservative party does manage to win the next election, the first issue it needs to address is electoral reform. Without that, democracy will continue to wither.

Glynis Van Steen, Burlington, Ont.