By Vicki Van Linden | Board Member
Do our political leaders intentionally mislead us, or just fall short in carrying out their promises?
Is this question too harsh? Or is my question fair given the familiar situation of promises made during election campaigns that are broken once the election is over?
Is this just the way things are in democracies where politicians’ first priority is getting enough votes to gain their seats in government?
Or could changes in how we elect our governments finally give us political leaders who are more motivated to follow through on their promises?
A Broken Promise:
Live horses are still being shipped from Alberta by air to Japan and South Korea. The fear and pain of slaughter is made even worse by hours of severe confinement before and during the flights – so much misery to provide what is seen as a luxury meat product.
During the last federal election campaign, the Liberal Party of Canada included a promise to ban the practice of live-horse export overseas for slaughter. In his mandate letter the Prime Minister directed the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Foods to “Ban the live export of horses for slaughter.”
A very clear and simple direction.
Yet, so far, Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has failed to deliver, and has spoken about the ‘need to consult with stakeholders’.
It’s likely that those stakeholders are the relatively few businesses directly impacted by a ban on the live export of horses. Shutting down this entire industry will not have a significant impact on the Canadian economy, but it will have an impact on one or possibly two ridings in Alberta. Such a ban may cause other members of the animal agriculture industry to worry about animal protection groups interfering in their businesses as well. And that’s the issue.
Our Electoral System Stands in the Way of Progress:
Under our “First-Past-the-Post” electoral system, every riding counts. Ridings in which animal agriculture is an economic driver are essential to win for any party that wants to form government. Other ridings that might be hosts to slaughter houses or animal-based processing plants may be concerned about actions that might be perceived as challenging their businesses as well. All the mainstream political parties support animal agricultural interests, likely hoping to win ridings where these businesses are represented. Animal-using business owners across Canada may be signaling the government that a ban on live-horse export will not be welcomed by them, fearing that their businesses might also be expected to follow a more modern understanding of the sentient nature of animals and the better protections that they deserve.
This is what First-Past-the-Post brings us – political parties unwilling to move Canada’s animal-related legislation even small steps forward in fear of losing votes in ridings they need to form governments.
At Animal Alliance of Canada we are convinced that the best solution to this repeated failure to follow through on promises is to change the way that we elect our governments. Any one of the forms of Proportional Representation would be fairer and more effective than our current system.
An Early Broken Promise:
In his first federal campaign as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, Justin Trudeau promised that if elected, that election would be the last one using First-Past-the-Post. That was one of his first broken promises.
A Way to Make Canadian Governments More Responsible to Citizens:
We are encouraged by the work of two organizations: Fair Voting BC, and Springtide. These groups have filed a charter challenge in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice.
The goal of the challenge is:
- “To have the Supreme Court rule that our current voting system contravenes the Charter [Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.]” and
- “To have the Supreme Court order the government to adopt a voting system that complies with the Charter.”
As is explained on the website for the Charter Challenge: “The Charter guarantees our right to vote and our right to equal treatment. It’s up to the Supreme Court to decide when this principle has been violated.”
The case will be heard in court this September: https://www.charterchallenge.ca/
Simply stated Proportional Representation (PR) is a principle that says the percentage of seats a party has in the legislature should reflect the percentage of people who voted for that party. If a party gets 40% of the vote, they should get 40% of the seats. This ensures that every vote can actually make a difference.
Several westernized nations that have better environmental and animal protection laws than Canada use one of the forms of Proportional Representation. These electoral systems allow the votes of people who care about animals and the environment, but who are spread across ridings, to combine votes to elect representatives who champion these views. The current First-Past-the-Post system requires votes to be concentrated in specific ridings, so gives undue influence to the supporters of industries that are located within geographical regions; like logging, fishing, hunting, farming, and animal-product processing.
I urge everyone who wants better laws to protect animals and the environment to support this effort. Please join us and help us stand with Fair Voting BC, and Springtide, the organizations that have initiated the Charter challenge to see Canada implement Proportional Representation.
We Must Not Fail Those Horses:
Meanwhile, we must not give up on our efforts to end the export of live horses for slaughter.
Even though our electoral system is working against us, we need to press on as individual gains can still achieved when we apply enough political pressure. And, we were promised this by our Prime Minister. It’s time to collect on that promise.
We deeply appreciate the hard work of the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC) for their advocacy for these suffering horses. CHDC members have done ground-breaking work on this fight, researching the issue and collecting the evidence and data needed to press forward. They are the national leaders on this initiative, and I’m urging you to follow their work and support their efforts, as we do at Animal Alliance.
How You Can Help:
Please send a letter to your Member of Parliament to remind them of the promise to end live-horse export, and to urge them to stop the practice: https://defendhorses.pushpolitics.org/
Suffering horses and the way that we elect our governments.
It might seem that these two things are unrelated.
In truth, they are strongly connected.
The Netherlands is a shining example of the progress that can be achieved when Proportional Representation allows for the election of legislators that represent a wider diversity of citizens, where every vote counts far more than under First-Past-the-Post. Citizens of the Netherlands have elected representatives from the Party for Animals, a party openly dedicated to protecting the environment and animals. Better environmental and animal protection laws have been passed successfully, while the Netherlands continues to enjoy a stable and prosperous society.
Canada can be a more modern and more just nation as well.
For every citizen who rarely sees their views represented in government even though their concerns are shared by thousands of Canadians across the nation, we need Proportional Representation.
For horses, animals in laboratories, every animal who is farmed or wild, let’s settle for nothing less than better government.
