General Politics Discussion

[tomh009]

Our system is built on these little fictions... It does not appeal to me to have more party hacks sitting in the house because their name was on a list from their party leader. Who do they work for? I also think that STV style rankings encourage more moderation at the extremes and hopefully makes candidates at least try to appeal across parties in their own riding to get more ranked votes.

The reality is that the current FPTP MPs vote on party lines on nearly every vote of substance: we have party discipline in parliament as well as in the provincial legislatures. So, while your MP may occasionally advocate on a local issue, he or she will still vote with the party. So, one could argue that they are all "party hacks" in the end.

And as for the option of not having party discipline, you can observe the lobbying and pork barrel politics that result just by looking at the congress on the south side of our border.