I have often wished the democratic reform philosophers could sometimes pause a moment to think about the consequences of their tinkerings.
For about five years, there has been a deafening consensus among the bien-pensant that our elections dates must be fixed by law and not determined by our legislatures. A no-brainer, they insisted on calling it.
Now we have it in Ontario. Howard Hampton in the legislature and Murray Campbell in the Globe & Mail now lament the result. With the election date fixed for October 4, 2007, the election campaign will now last a whole year instead of 30 days. (God save us.) And all the advantages will lie with the large and wealthy parties that can spend all year.
Was this so hard to foresee? No. Shouldn’t the advocates have factored this into their righteous indignation? Yes. Will it spur reflections about unwanted consequences among the advocates of the elected Senate or proportional representation? I doubt it.
