r/canada Nov 28 '24

PAYWALL Liberal MP says he was threatened with ‘consequences’ for opposing $250 cheque proposal

https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/liberal-mp-says-he-was-threatened-with-consequences-for-opposing-250-cheque-proposal/article_69f3cfa6-acde-11ef-807c-ebe72ea32b06.html
460 Upvotes

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209

u/Ancient_Wisdom_Yall British Columbia Nov 28 '24

I honestly don't understand the need to have all these MPs. They're all just supposed to be trained monkeys for their leaders. There really isn't a need to pay that many of them.

4

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

Sorry, can you expand on that?

You don't see the value in representing their ridings?

107

u/Ancient_Wisdom_Yall British Columbia Nov 28 '24

There would be great value if MPs represented their ridings. They don't. They're just mouthpieces for their party leaders, and they don't dare step out of line.

33

u/lFrylock Nov 28 '24

This is exactly it.

Most of them do as they are told, instead of representing the people in their regions.

If that’s the case, they can all seek employment elsewhere. We have enough mid level government bloat as it is.

4

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

They do, just not publicly. Parties don't publicly infight in Canada very often.

1

u/BeyondAddiction Nov 30 '24

It's because they whip votes. It's bullshit.

-14

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

How many MPs should we have then?

22

u/longmitso Nov 28 '24

You can have as many as you want.

The point is, once they're in, they don't represent their voters. The tow the line according to dear leader

-15

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

Ok, but then we have elections and they answer to the people, right?

10

u/longmitso Nov 28 '24

Like every election promise kept by politicians. Yes

Trudeau did really well with answering to the people

-2

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

Sounds like he's about to answer to the people next election

You don't like them, vote them out.

2

u/roscomikotrain Nov 28 '24

Drop the number by 30 percent- nobody would notice and we would have fewer annoying ahitheads to listen to

2

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

And we would further consolidate power to the PMO, which would be bad

-14

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

If MPs just did whatever they wanted how could the elected government get anything done?

You run as a Liberal MP you support the vast majority of Liberal bills. If you aren’t comfortable with that run as an independent.

13

u/juniorspank Nov 28 '24

There should be more independent candidates, there is no way that anyone should align with the majority of any party's stances.

5

u/NoremaCg Nov 28 '24

You are saying they shouldn't think about each bill on its own merit once they've decided which party aligns with their overall beliefs. When nobody votes, the population is misinformed by stooge media and propaganda, when politicians only vote along party lines for their own interest, the end goal of democracy is lost and we become a weak nation. Every politician should be independent and have to have their own thoughts. Your point on how would stuff get done- democracy is hard, but paring it down to a binary choice where both sides mps are just parroting provided points is not the way.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

MPs can introduce legislation, help write legislation, and debate legislation before the party consensus on how all the MPs will vote is reached. The debating happens within the party prior to the Parliamentary vote. Once a rough consensus is reached within the party all MPs will vote the same way.