Our democracy is going down the tube in Canada as best evidenced by the fact that the polls show two thirds of Canadians are progressive, yet we are now being ruled with an iron fist by the Conservatives who likely stole the election in part through the use of robo-calls. Our elected representatives do not represent their constituents, but rather vote along party lines, as do the non-elected senators.

Power in Canada is now concentrated in the Prime Minister’s office and most national policies and decisions benefit the corporations and the one percent, to the detriment of most Canadians. Whether it is more prisons, jet fighters, pipelines, gutting of environmental laws or omnibus bills, the undemocratic Conservative government is destroying the Canada we once cherished. And now they are giving away our sovereignty by signing a treasonous trade deal with China, that will allow this thoroughly undemocratic country to sue any level of government that blocks its ability to utilize our resources.

There are solutions possible, but only if we have an electoral system that is fair and ensures that each MP is elected with more than 50 percent of the votes through a run-off election. In order to make sure that the majority of Canadians are represented by the next federal government, the two major progressive parties will have to cooperate so that either one of them or a coalition of the two form government in 2015. And to fix the problem of voter apathy we need to make voting mandatory as is done in Australia. More Canadians need to wake-up and stand strong to help bring democracy back by opposing the Harper government’s assault on the environment and our rights and freedoms.