The Atlantica Party has launched a new campaign in conjunction with Know How They Vote to push for more recorded votes! See press release below:
NOTE: Know How They Vote is a non-partisan campaign and is not affiliated with any party or political group. Parties and politicians alike are encouraged to endorse the push for more recorded votes, but that does not make them in any way connected to the campaign.
Press Release
The Atlantica Party Leader challenges House Speaker Charlie Parker to record all bill votes.
Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 30 2009 – The Atlantica Party Leader, Jonathan Dean, in a new party campaign in collaboration with the Know How They Vote campaign challenges House Speaker Charlie Parker to ensure that all bill votes in the House are recorded.
According to research by Know How They Vote, ‘In the past 6 years, spanning the 59th and 60th General Assemblies, 853 Bills have been introduced, debated and voted upon in the House. Of these 853 Bills, only 12 votes were recorded in Hansard.’ Federally all parliamentary votes must be recorded but in Nova Scotia two MLAs must request a recorded vote, otherwise voting is recorded anonymously, with no indication of support or opposition.
“This is unacceptable,” said Jonathan Dean, Leader of the Atlantica Party. “The Legislature is the people’s house and the representatives are the people’s representatives. If the vast majority of voting is hidden then how are citizens to know what is going on in the House? Is the non-recording of votes simply due to expediency trumping democracy or are there more sinister reasons; hiding slavish adherence to the party line, ignoring constituent opinions, reflecting a mindset that it is not the people’s business or concealing bad attendance records? We simply cannot tell.”
As part of the Atlantica Party’s political reforms aimed at returning the Legislature to its traditional role of oversight and restraint of government the Atlantica Party commits to bringing in legislation that requires all votes on bills to be recorded and disseminated to the public both in print and electronically in a timely fashion along with information that makes House and representative activity transparent so voters of Nova Scotia will have the power to assess and hold accountable those who vote in their names.
“I applaud those MLAs who have, at least, made a verbal commitment to advance this cause and I am baffled by those who refuse to make a commitment on this fundamentally democratic issue, such as recently elected MLA Allan MacMaster”, said Jonathan Dean. “The party fully supports and is working with Know How They Vote Director Michael Kennedy on this initiative. This is an example of how real democratic progress can only come from the people and not from established political elites.”
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My reply to Mr. MacEwan (yet to be published)
I want to thank Mr. MacEwan for his comments. Indeed, it is encouraging to see that this debate is attracting someone as experienced and as knowledgeable as he is, even if his letter was not as supportive as I would hope.
There are several good points that Mr. MacEwan makes and I want to address them as best I can. Firstly, it is important to note that in comparison with Ottawa, Nova Scotia is vastly out of step. In the House of Commons, almost every Bill is recorded at Second and Third Reading.
Many controversial Bills have been voted on anonymously in the Legislature. One important example is Gas Price Regulation. Many do not know that at least one member of the PC Government caucus fervently opposed this Bill. Because the vote on the Bill was unrecorded we have no way of knowing, unless we were at Province House during the vote, whether that member voted Aye, or Nay, or Abstained, or simply didn’t show up. The accountability issue is gleaming here: how many MLAs actually supported Gas Price Regulation, an issue which today we can all agree was a bad idea? How are we supposed to hold them to account for their actions when there is so much fog between party lines and individual actions, unless there is a written record to report the facts?
On the issue of efficiency, there are two important points to make. Every day that the Legislature sits, an hour or more is given to hear a parade of “feel-good” resolutions by MLAs on local hot-dog sales, school pageants and anniversaries. Far be it for me to suggest that these are not important to the effective governing of the Province, but I believe that if MLAs had efficiency at the top of their minds these resolutions would be the first to go. Secondly, Ottawa has developed an efficient method of holding recorded votes without taking up unnecessary time. All Bills are voted on in sequence at the end of the day, instead of at different points of the day. This ensures that all MPs will be present for a series of votes and party Whips won’t have to delay proceedings in order to wait for “cheeks in seats”. Nova Scotia could easily employ this method and have all votes recorded in less than 30 minutes.
Democracy is not efficient. We have chosen democracy not because it is the most efficient method of governance, but because it is the only system of government that puts the citizens first. In order for democracy to work, we need accountability and transparency from our elected representatives.
Legislature voting practices contribute to efficiency of proceedings
The Cape Breton Post
10/19/09
Michael Kennedy’s letter, Recorded Votes Needed to Track MLA Performance (Oct. 6), is right as far as it goes. I am sure he is right that 853 bills were dealt with in the Nova Scotia legislature over the past six years but what he fails to note is that the vast majority of these were non-contentious and received approval unanimously.
There are two categories of bills — public, and private or local. Private and local bills may incorporate a cemetery or change the operational terms for a university, for example. While some of these may stir up sparks, it is rare. It is usually only the public bills that receive particular scrutiny, and there would have to be a genuine division of opinion to warrant a divided vote.
The House itself decides the level of recording a vote. Normally a vote is decided by voices so as not to hold up proceedings. I have seen this done in Ottawa and at London as well, so the Nova Scotia House is not out of step with the others. When all parties have already indicated their views of a bill in debating it, it is not hard to decide, based on party strength, whether a bill will carry.
But, as Kennedy states, if two or more members demand a standing vote, it takes place and the clerks record how many members voted one way or the other or abstained. If two or more members request an individual voice vote, which is what Kennedy considers as a “recorded” vote when all the members voting are recorded in columns in Hansard, that can occasionally take place. He says it happened 12 times in six years, and I do not dispute that.
But this step is rarely employed. Doing such a vote can take up to half an hour: try first to get all the members in first (the bells are rung to do this), then have the question put, then have the members stand up one by one and say “yes” or “no,” and try at the same time to overcome the prevailing disorder.
The normal procedure of a voice vote, which takes maybe 10 seconds, is more conducive to keeping the House moving along. There is a consensus among the members that they do not want to see the business of the House unduly obstructed. In any event it is the members of the House who decide these things and I do not believe their intent is to conduct anonymous votes but rather to have their business carried out in an orderly way.
I was Speaker, or presiding officer, of the House from 1993 to 1996, and chair of the Committee on Private and Local Bills from 1996 to 1999, just to note my own background in these matters.
Paul MacEwan
Whitney Pier
Recorded votes needed to track MLA performance
The Cape Breton Post 10/07/09
In 2008 Nova Scotia celebrated 250 years of democracy as the oldest democracy in Canada. Indeed, Nova Scotians had much to celebrate.
However, we have much to improve upon as well. The ability of citizens to hold their MLAs to account in the legislature is obstructed by the lack of recorded votes in Hansard, the official record of all business in the legislature. Nova Scotians have no way of knowing how their MLAs voted on crucial issues affecting their families and communities.
In the past six years, spanning the 59th and 60th General Assemblies, 853 bills have been introduced, debated and voted upon in the House. Only 12 votes were recorded in Hansard. The rest of the bills were voted on anonymously, with no indication of which MLAs voted in support and against.
We are thus faced with a democratic deficit in our province. A lack of accountability breeds cynicism, and cynicism breeds voter apathy, as demonstrated by the declining rate of voter turnout at provincial elections.
MLAs are key to bringing accountability into the legislature. In previous legislatures, it became commonplace to call for a “voice vote,” a vote of the entire House without recording individual votes. While this is certainly more expedient, the cost is less accountability.
A recorded vote can be demanded by any two MLAs immediately before a vote is to be called. Therefore, it is the responsibility of MLAs to change this damaging trend.
I hope Nova Scotians can count on the support of their MLAs on this in the 61st General Assembly.
Michael Kennedy
Sydney and Halifax
