I think a majority of Canadians are kind, hardworking, and want what’s best for their families, friends, neighbours, and the country.
What does a brand new political party platform look like to appeal to an overwhelming majority of Canadians?
It’s hard to say what an “overwhelming majority” platform would look like. With the recent elections it was minority government. You have to cherry pick the most popular policies from each party and hope they don’t overlap with the least popular from the same. For one person great social programs are a priority and then another a strong private sector.
Super interested to see what more politically inclined folks have to say!
I’ve always been for creating a series of hills across Canada so we can take our bikes and coast from coast to coast…
But, as someone who lives abroad I would love to be able to vote again. Has that rule changed?
Maybe election reform someday would be appealing to a majority of Canadians, and also teaching about elections in school a little more.
My mother is getting old and she feels like old people have a shit deal, so we need to do something about that. Student loan debt needs to be sorted out.
I want more emphasis on the environment. When I move back to Canada, I would pay carbon taxes if there were also carbon freebates (or whatever they want to call them). I would be all for 4-day workweeks or even universal income. Yes, I am a dirty socialist eco-friendly freak. Leave the trees alone, stop maplewashing everything, we have the space to rewild areas, invest in trains and stop charging so much for them (don’t know how that would work), and make sure people can have a retirement to look forward to. Minimum wage should be higher, teachers should earn more, new parents should have MONTHS of paid parental leave, childcare needs to be covered…
Healthcare needs an overhaul: why was my mother on a 9-month waitlist to confirm she had lymphoma? Why is my 72-year-old father still working 16-hour days even though he is sick? Why can’t either of them see their GP?
What does a brand new political party platform look like to appeal to an overwhelming majority of Canadians?
Empty set. The overwhelming majority of Canadians (and voters in general around the world) don’t follow policy that closely, which is why spin, kissing babies and brand loyalty is such a huge part of politics.
Then what’s the spin you want to hear from a politician that would make you vote for them? (That is, spin that isn’t full of racism and rhetoric about the other side.)
So, spin is rephrasing something so it seems more palatable when you don’t have the full context, but if you’re asking for my personal policy wishlist I can certainly give you that!
Basic income would be great, and should probably be about where minimum wage is now. At the other end, a hard wealth cap at 10 million or something is overdue. If you’re a skilled professional and you save heavily you can absolutely save up a few million before you retire, but nobody makes it to 8 digits without being some sort of bigshot, and at that point it becomes self-perpetuating. Not making it gradual should prevent most flight of capital.
I recently learned Norway has a party list electoral system like several other countries, but uniquely doesn’t allow snap elections. If the government loses confidence, they just form a new coalition from the existing parliament. That sounds like it would avoid a lot of the problems we have in both FPTP and proportional systems.
Those are the big two, but there’s other less fundamental issues I have opinions about. We should keep legalising drugs, because they were largely banned for stupid reasons in the first place. Most forms of zoning should probably be thrown out too, because if anything the cities they’ve produced are even more soulless, now with a side of being impractical. I’m glad we have a carbon tax, and I think we should keep raising it.
Edit: Publicly funded elections are up there, too. We don’t have a terrible situation right now in Canada, what with strong donation limits, but it just makes sense to go all the way and leave no ambiguity that could cause problems down the line.
Centre Ice Canadians are building the “Our Canadian Future Party” (real name TBD pending elections Canada approval) – target audience is centrist, with largely reasonable statements so far. In particular, they’re heavily pro nuclear, which is a huge selling point for me…
Heh… I like the idea of a ‘blue line’ ‘centre ice’ party… Every Canuck should know what it means, and it’s a nod to our Hockey heritage, but I can totally see it getting mixed up with the nazi police ‘thin blue line’ bullshit.
https://www.ourcanadianfuture.ca/general-1
Seems fairly centrist.
A labor or workers’ party that unifies anyone who works for a living, whether as an employee or a small business owner. The platform should focus on shifting the balance of power from capital to labor via clearly social democratic policies with strong emphasis on workers rights and reunionization. This party should go out of its way to advertise and educate the public on why and how these policies benefit the majority. Lon-term future policies might revolve around reforming corporate ownership structures or promoting alternative worker ownership structures, among other things.
Seconding a labour party. Focus on affordability for the common person. Make the process to set up employee owned businesses easy, cater to business of all sizes regardless of how much lobbying/influence money provided. Give unions better negotiating tools. Promote democratic reform so individuals can feel more active in giving input to civic reforms (when was our last referendum?), and not just for the well-connected and wealthy. This is different than a policy by Twitter-poll (what populists like Premier Doug Ford tend to do) but a visionary party to reinforce the notion that the government is us. Not a team sport to be played.
