iPolitics Attempts to Fix Democracy

Our brothers-in-digital-arms take on the task of putting the power back into the people's hands.

The indefatigable folks over at iPolitics.ca have unveiled a great new project called Fix The Way that's dedicated to rejuvenating Canadian democracy. Among the undertakings is a list of 78 ways to fix Canadian politics as suggested by everyone from interim Liberal leader Bob Rae to the rock band Hollerado. Among our favourites (for a variety of different reasons):

• Tony Clement: Put Canadian citizens in direct communication with the people who represent them. (Now, if only the people who represent them choose to listen...)

• Basically anything Tory MP Michael Chong submitted, including: Restore the right of an MP to question the government; Make constituency associations the final authority over candidate nominations; Give caucus power to conduct a leadership review vote.

• Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page: Get political leaders to think like statesmen; Require political leaders over 50 to watch The Social Network.

• Rick Anderson: Throw away the talking points; Know history, understand traditions, recognize when they are being usurped.

• Adil Sayeed: Allow voters to rank their choices. (Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes!)

• Sarah L.: Ban Unflattering Suits. (As a corollary, we've harped for a while on getting party leaders to wear a tie on campaigns once in a while.)

• NDP MP Charmaine Borg: Encourage a more open, in-depth and informed debate on bills. (We shouldn't have to, but here we are...)

Anyhow, we heartily recommend you check out the whole site. Thanks to iPolitics for bringing the ruckus, once again.