Dear Editor:
Re: Will teacher take a pay cut to help cover costs?, Letters to the editor, Burnaby NOW, Feb. 14.
I just finished reading Larry Melnyk's comedy of comparing Canada to a democracy, and I felt it necessary to respond. In a real democracy a party would have to achieve 50 per cent plus one to claim a majority, and any result less than that should result in either a minority, or a coalition government. This is another one like those words from the Red Rose Tea commercial, that used to say; "Only in Canada." Even the U.K., which our government is supposed to be based on, is usually a coalition government, because no one party has a majority.
In the last federal election the Conservatives claimed a majority government even though only 39.6 per cent of those who voted cast ballots for Conservative candidates, which means under Canada's flawed electoral system 61.4 per cent of the electorate had their votes virtually voided and are not represented by the Parliament of Canada..
The same scenario happened in B.C. last year with only 44.1 per cent of the electorate supporting the Liberals, while the majority at 55.86 per cent had their ballots voided, and are not represented in the place of government that is supposed to be our house.
Stephen Harper, with his so-called majority, dislikes Elections Canada so much for their oversight that they basically gutted the powers of the chief electoral officer to keep things remotely honest by investigating wrong-doings by those running for office.
Democracy? Yeah right, you just keep telling yourself that. But the rest of us know that what our veterans fought and died for, their lives were wasted with what we now have governing this country for their corporate masters, while Canadian workers, seniors and children are worse off every day.
Wayne McQueen, Burnaby
