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Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker
Direct democracy feels like it would be a full-time job and I’ve already one of those. Tyranny of the majority also worries me, especially with an aging population whose priorities are the opposite of the legislative tools needed to attract young families.
It would be good for some things though. Regionalism here, for example. General guidelines are you need one PET scanner for every two million people. PEI doesn’t even have one, they share NS’s. We have one in St. John’s that is obviously not being used to capacity. This week Corner Brook residents are ready to storm our Confederation Building because they’re not getting one of their own for a city the size of Mount Pearl. Protests, letters. And it’s the seat of the current government’s power - even the Premier’s seat is out there. So with an election call coming soon, it’s become an even bigger issue and could cost them seats out there, the local residents are that pissed.
With direct democracy, they’re not getting a fucking PET scanner. With our current system, I’ll be shocked if they don’t. One for every two million. We’ll be paying for two for 500,000. Sometimes I wish the isthmus would collapse and Avalon was its own province  I’d miss the Bonavista Peninsula, but not enough to keep the rest. The entitlement here is... insane. In St. John’s too, to be sure, but out around the bay? We’re still dealing with the impact of how Confederation was sold to them in the 40s. Our Terms of Union enshrine our right to re-establish our would-now-be-provincial Senate. We really should to have some “sober second thought” about economically detrimental decisions that aren’t in the province’s overall interest.
So, no to direct democracy please. I can’t be arsed to learn the right decision to every little question government has to answer, even if it would be good in some cases. |
That is a complicated example and also one direct democracy is a problem.
When I was in Saskatchewan, it was complex but I was involved in a committee that looked at that. At the end of the day the driver for it was the Cancer Agency and the travel costs they were covering to have people travel from Saskatoon to Edmonton. The travel cost exceeded the operating of having the machine. The university was going to be built an cyclotron for isotope production anyway. The media attention was on the fancy object not the financial case for it and the usage projections.
The general public simply does not have the time to collect and review all the information that goes into making these decisions. The slow process that legislatures go through is all about collecting and reviewing that type of information.