I just listened to a wonderful writer on The Power Hour for May 29 - last hour.
He proposes a grass-roots plan for completely revolutionizing the US Congress, and there's no reason why it couldn't work for the Canadian Parliament as well.

The last hour of the programme is really worth a listen. It can be downloaded from the GCNLive website as an mp3, and played in your computer with windoze media player (automatic in any winbox) or bettery yet winamp.

I'd attempt an explanation here, but it's too good an idea just to listen to his presentation. Unless you're ready for another 200 years of Liberal, Tory, same old story, download this and give it a listen. PLEASE! It has a very positive bearing on the possibilities for the CAP to drag itself out of the mire!

Your url is www.gcnlive.com/Archives2010/mar10/PowerHour/0329103.mp3

you can listen online, too, if it's easier for you.

GOOOH is not the answer for Canada but it does have some interesting ideas.

GOOOH is a political party, non-partisan but still a party running candidates in ridings and putting them on the ballot. It's vilification of politicians require it to state that they are not politicians but they are. CAP can learn from that, Avoid mis-statements of facts.

The Non-partisan part is key to breaking the two party system that the US uses.

Basically GOOOH wants to open the process to everybody. Everybody can put their name forward to be a GOOOH candidate, even if they are already a member of another party. Hopefully at least 500,000 everybody.

Then through a series of meetings each person gets to be judged by all the others who will accept those who would move onto the next round of meetings. Eventually only one person will be selected to be the GOOOH candidate for that riding. That person will, hopefully, represent that district the best. So a lefty person would likely be selected in a riding that normally votes Democrat and a righty selected in a Republican district.

Then when it comes time to mark the ballot the people will have a choice, they can vote for the GOOOH Candidate who represents change and promises to shake up the system when they get to the House.

Nice idea but hugely flawed even for America.

The two party system has such a lock down there that they would never let such a plan work. They would lock up the best candidates and not allow them to attend any GOOOH meetings. Then they would just out spend during the election and the mindless masses would, as they always do, vote as they are told.


It particularly would not work in Canada as riding candidates need their papers signed by their party leader so it has to be a partisan political party. Why would any party leader agree with GOOOH objectives and allow their candidates to be involved?

The result is yet another independent party without the support of the system. As for critical mass membership, why would they think that only works for them? The other parties have that membership plus the power to change the system.

But there are nice ideas about voting out career politicians, making those elected accountable by legally binding contracts, and trying to change the system.

I do think there are bits and pieces that would work in Canada and would help but GOOOH is not for Canada, I don't think it is for the US either but I wouldn't mind having this post come back to haunt in in 2012.

I wish them the best of luck.