Long Live Westminster

There’s a prominent Socialist Party member in France called Laurent Fabius. He was appointed France’s youngest Prime-Minister in 1984 by then President François Mitterrand, and was recently in the race for the Socialist Party presidential nomination. Not only is this man the epitome of sleaziness and dishonesty, he was also a bad Prime-Minister. During his tenure, both the Rainbow Warrior and tainted blood scandals took place.

Svend Robinson was an extremely successful MP. Elected six times to ridings in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, he was an advocate for a number of important issues and was the first Member of Parliament to admit his homosexuality. Unfortunately, in 2004 he stole a $21,500 ring from an auction house while he was serving in office. He immediately returned it, but the damage was done. He decided to take a medical leave of absence as he was suffering from bipolar disease, and also stepped aside as NDP candidate for the 2004 election.

In last year’s election, Robinson re-entered politics by running for the NDP in the riding of Vancouver Center. He lost by a large margin. Had he run before his theft, he would have stood an excellent chance, but Vancouver Center voters just weren’t prepared to vote in a man who had stolen an expensive ring.

If we had to compare the positive impact of Fabius and Robinson, the latter would certainly come out on top. Yet Fabius remains an influential politician while Robinson has had to quit public life.

This says a lot about Westminster vs. proportional representation. Had Robinson lived in France like Fabius, he would simply have completed his community service hours and gone on living his normal life, because he would have stayed among the first on the NDP’s list. Instead, he has had to quit politics and get a job working for the BC government.

This really speaks in favour of our current system. Though it is sad that a man like Robinson, who had given so much to his community, saw his political career end, it is still a much better outcome than a crook like Fabius staying in office despite numerous errors and scandals.
With the Westminster system, everyone is accountable, even the Leader (just ask Jean Charest who nearly lost his seat despite his party winning the election).

To have a fair democracy, you have to be able to get the crooks out, even if they are first on their party’s list.