jcvdude: Parliamentary Crime Does NOT Pay. Think about it. (cc)

Professor Peter Russel

Professor Emeritus

University of Toronto

Leading Constitutional Expert

(cc Transcription of Video which is below)

I'm Peter Russel. I've taught Political Science at the University of Toronto for a good many years and have been a so called Constitutional Expert, above all on the rules of Parliamentary Democracy which are mostly unwritten conventions. But they're very important Principles and I've never been more worried, in my entire life time, of Democratic citizenship in Canada about the possible outcome of an election. Because I really fear, this may sound extreme that, if the Harper Conservatives were to win a majority in the House of Commons, it would be an indication that Parliamentary Crime Pays.

You can just be contemptuous of Parliament & write it off as ‘it's them against us’, ‘just nothing more than partisan bickering’, when the Speaker, who's chosen by all parliamentarians, has found you, the PM & his government in contempt of Parliament on the most fundamental point of being unwilling to tell Parliamentarians how much things cost.

That was the very first real cause in the birth of Parliamentary Democracy, was the insistence that the King, who is spending the people money, tell the people what it was being spent on and how much things cost. And when the speaker finds you in Contempt and you just shove that off & the people of Canada possibly reward you, with a majority in Parliament, I really tremble. I'm just full of fear.

I love the country. We're the 4th oldest Parliamentary Democracy in the world. I treasure it but I would be afraid that our Government we would be in the hands of people who don't treasure it, don't respect it, and supported by, well, not a majority of Canadians, but maybe by 40% of Canadians - more than enough to form a majority in the house.

So it's a scary election for Peter Russel, and an important one for Canadians. Whether we really treasure the Parliamentary Democracy we've enjoyed for decades, for over a century and a half, or whether it's just a process thing, a bunch of stuff constitutional experts worry about.

I hope all Canadians really worry & think about it and try to prevent a majority from killing it.

Thank you.