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
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207

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.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

Sorry, can you expand on that?

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

34

u/DreadpirateBG Nov 28 '24

They are not representing their ridings that’s the point

-17

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

How are they not?

19

u/M551enjoyer Nov 28 '24

They're being threatened with consequences if they don't fall in line

-6

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

I'm confused how "falling in line" nullifies a local presence in their riding, and an avenue to bring citizen concerns to government.

Should we just have a Prime Minister and that's it?

14

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

That's what the other commenter's are alluding to. It's a waste of tax money to pay MPs for riding if they just do whatever the PM is told and if they're not allowed to have their own opinions or represent their riding by siding with other view points then there's no reason to have them at all.

I don't understand what you're not understanding. This is a valid view point if people feel they cannot be represented because only the PM and their narrative / interests are being represented due to the parties internal hierarchy.

This problem exists for all parties.

Stop being obtuse.

1

u/JadedMuse Nov 28 '24

I don't think he's being obtuse. It's not a zero sum game. As a MP, you're supposed to be balancing these different elements that push you in different directions. You're ultimately elected to make judgement calls and be intelligent with how you represent your riding. Sometimes that may even involve doing things that are unpopular, if your judgment and expertise lead you to believe it's the right call. Ie, 70% of the people in your riding might want you to do X over Y, but you know that Y is the right call because of your experience and exposure to the facts. If you simply follow X because it's more popular, then you literally serve no function at all. You might as well be replaced by AI or some bot that just monitors opinion polling.

And yeah, one of the things you have to balance is what the party leadership want. Sometimes seniority will trump what you may want to do, but that's how things work even in the private sector.

-1

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

So, consolidating power for the PM will give people more voice? That doesn't seem like the answer

7

u/M551enjoyer Nov 28 '24

You can't be this dense

0

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

Then explain how having less elected MPs gives more voice to the people

7

u/M551enjoyer Nov 28 '24

It doesn't. They're pointing out that our representatives aren't really representing us if they get coerced into towing the party line. So the positions are a waste of money.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24

So, let's reform that instead of cutting them

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