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.]

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Voters outraged over NDP MP's decision to join Liberals

MONTREAL - Voters in Lise St-Denis’s Shawinigan riding expressed outrage yesterday after learning that their New Democratic Party MP crossed the floor to join the Liberals.

“It is completely ridiculous,” said Pierre Huot, director of the student association at Collège Shawinigan. “If she wants to join the Liberals, she should run in a by-election.”

Eight months after being elected as part of the Orange Wave that swept Quebec, St- Denis announced Tuesday that her political leanings are more in line with the Liberals.

Huot, who voted for the Bloc Québécois in the last federal election, said St-Denis was rarely present in the riding during the campaign.

“She stayed in Montreal,” he said.

“We invited her (to speak with the students), but she never answered us.”

St-Denis acknowledged on Tuesday that her constituents voted for Jack Layton, but added “Jack Layton is dead.”

Huot said the comment shows “a lack of respect for a great man.”

Huot said he doubts voters will follow St-Denis to the Liberals.

“Not at all,” he said.

The NDP received 39.1 per cent of the vote in the Saint-Maurice-Champlain riding in the last federal election, with the Liberals receiving only 11.9 per cent of the vote. The riding was held by former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien for more than 30 years.

Other voters posted messages on the websites of local newspapers slamming St- Denis’s decision.

“It is an insult to people who voted for her thinking that she represented a new way of doing politics like Jack Layton,” one man wrote.

Original Article
Source: Montreal Gazette 

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