Dear Editor
I am astounded by the fact pollsters are saying a large number of Canadians think the fact the Harper government has been found to be in contempt of Parliament is just an example of more "political games," as Stephen Harper has alleged. If the pollsters are right, I believe it has to be another indictment of our education systems' palpably inadequate efforts to teach our students about our own system of democracy.
That leads me to suspect many Canadians may also somehow confuse our parliamentary system with the much less democratic system used by our American neighbours. Of course, no system is perfect, and any democracy can become victim to power-hungry leaders who promise to provide stable, more efficient government, if only some of the usual conventions and rules of procedure can give way to quick and easy decisions by a strong and "principled" leader. Parliamentary rules and procedures are in place to protect us from the machinations of such a leader. They can be ignored or turned aside only at the risk of losing our system of democracy.
That's why no government in the history of our British system of parliamentary democracy has ever, before this, been found guilty of contempt of Parliament. It is a serious breach of the rules of our system of democracy, and can be considered a real threat to democracy as we know it.
Students of history can point to many examples of democratic systems of government becoming authoritarian dictatorships after their leaders had been duly elected by citizens, who then apathetically allowed them to do away with the rules and procedures that a democracy requires. The Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, who was admired because "He made the trains run on time," comes to mind. Even Hitler was first duly elected as a member of the German Reichstag before he was able to do away with the all those democratic niceties.
Russell Lahti
Battleford
