Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Chamber of Sober Second Chances

Harper's reappointment of two failed candidates to the Senate calls for a police investigation.


Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s quick reappointment to the Senate of two senators who resigned to run for the Conservatives in the recent federal election raises serious questions about whether the senators were guaranteed in advance that they would be reappointed if they lost the election.

Larry Smith and Fabian Manning had resigned from the Senate to run in the May 2 election, but both lost. A third Senate appointee, Josée Verner, is a former Tory cabinet minister who lost her seat to the NDP.

Section 119 of the Criminal Code prohibits anyone from offering, and any MP or senator from accepting, “any money, valuable consideration, office, place or employment in respect of anything done … by them in their official capacity.” And Section 124 prohibits resignations, or appointing people to offices for a reward or profit.


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