I guess "Political Simony" is the only way to describe this

[snowywolfowl]

Kevin O'Leary, the bald mean guy from "Shark Tank" and "Dragon's Den" has entered the Conservative Party of Canada's leadership race and has floated the idea of selling Senate seats to those people able to afford them.

Really. I shit you not.

I'm going to hit the pause button so you can take a moment or two to digest the implications of people being able to outright purchase an office in a democracy, especially given the fact that dirty and foreign money can be laundered into legitimite revenue streams in any country, no matter how stringent their financial laws.

*hold music plays*

Alrighty then. I guess the easiest way for me to explain why I will never vote for the Conservative Party is that I just don't hate my country enough to deliver it into the hands of such people. Although to be fair to Mr. O'Leary I do appreciate him making it clear that the only citizens that would matter to him are those with money. I find the honesty refreshing actually.

Seriously between Kellie Leitch and her xenophobia and O'Leary Trumpism is making a strong push north.

Comments

[isabelladangelo.livejournal.com]

Here's at least one of the articles for anyone else.

Although I vehemently disagree with idea of selling any political seat (do you want lobbyists in control of everything? Because that's how you get lobbyists in control of everything.), I am sympathetic to him only about the idea of not being able use his own money. As long as he doesn't go into bankruptcy with the campaign, why can't he throw millions of his own money away if he so chooses to (ala Brewster's Millions)?

[snowywolfowl.livejournal.com]

As a counter thought why should any citizen be using their money at all in an election for public office? Lets just take private money out of the campaign completely through public financing of elections. Every party that gets a certain percentage of the vote in the previous election gets the same amount of money and the same amount of air time for their commercials to use every year. We level the playing field and it becomes a test of who can field the best candidates, develop the best policies, and communicate that in the most effective manner, all with full and legally mandated financial transparency. That way instead of politicians spending all their time and efforts on their donors they can spend it on working to serve the needs of all citizens, not just the ones who happen to have enough to buy a politician, office, or election.

Don't get me wrong, transparency is a great thing. However if all it shows is that we're following America's footsteps towards plutocracy then that's not really a win for Canada.

I also have a few other ideas that I'd personally want to see explored to ensure even more financial and political transparency of candidates, namely mandatory tax releases within 30 days of formally entering a race (with no exceptions), a ban on taking board or consulting positions with companies and organizations for at least one year after leaving office, and then mandatory tax releases for the next ten years after they've left office. This last bit is important so that voters have the necessary background to judge candidates who come from multi-generational political families, like Justin Trudeau or Rob Ford, and perhaps in the future Ivanka and Chelsea.

What can I say? I'm a realist and I know that in today's system every politician is bought. I just want to know by whom.