The editor:
Too many and too much?
How many MPs does Canada need? We currently have 338, it used to be 308 and before that, even fewer.
Do you remember when Saskatchewan used to be represented by 17 MPs? I don’t, but I have been reminded lately that is what the situation once was.
Do we really need 61 MLA’s scattered around a province with a total population of 1.1 or 1.2 million?
Does the federal government honestly require a cabinet of 37-40 somewhat honourable ministers soaking up double their regular pay?
What seems to have happened over the past few decades is that when representation areas became a bit skewed and provincial and national populations increased, instead of shifting the deck chairs … our prime ministers and premiers have simply added to the total seat count and asked the common house and legislatures to find more room at the back for just a few more desks and chairs.
What’s next? Maybe our common house will start to take on the shape of the over burdened English parliament where there is no longer any room for all the semi-honourable members and their desks. What’s their number now? I lost count at around 540. But they have over 65 million citizens. We have 38 million.
The United States has an overblown House of Congress with about 450 still seated and an actual working Senate where they’ve kept the numbers down to their neat 100. But again, they have 340 million people or more. We have 38.
As one pundit pointed out to me several years ago after Saskatchewan’s legislative seats were pumped up to the mid-50s, that if the ruling party actually knew what they were doing, they could run the show with about a dozen cabinet ministers and a total seat count of fewer than 35, including majority party and opposition.
“They really don’t need to be that much larger than a damn good city council,” he told me. “If they’re any good at the job, they can get it done with good deputy ministers and administrators. We don’t need to pay for all these people sitting in second and third row seats.”
It was felt they were there just to look important back home, as if anybody really cared. Alas, the number of butts in seats in the legislature has only grown.
The pundit was speaking from experience since he had been an MLA for some time and had gained a look at the inside workings of governance, Saskatchewan style.
Estevan grew from a population of 2,500 to over 9,000 in the hilarious earlier coal and oil discovery days. Our council seat numbers stayed the same and yet the governance and administrative jobs kept getting done. Sometimes there were flaws, sometimes there were errors, but mostly, the governing body that gets to deal with the panting public in real time and often face-to-face, knows what to do and how to do it, or they learn how to do it by contacting and contracting experts in various fields to provide temporary assistance at a much lesser cost.
I don’t believe I have launched a mission or a movement here, I just wanted readers to know that sometimes a bloated belly can hurt if we don’t do something about it as the great unwashed voters. I say we need honest and clever representation, not more drone-like look a-likes soaking up the provincial cash.
Who’s with me?
Ya, that’s what I thought. Oh well, maybe next time.
Norm Park
Estevan
