What price freedom?

It appears that for Liberal leader Stéphane Dion $350 million is too much to let people actually vote:

[...]

“Therefore, if it's a budget that appears to us as being acceptable or at least not too harmful for the Canadian economy, we could let it pass and avoid $350-million in [taxpayer] expenses for an election,” the Liberal Leader said...

Many pundits say the same thing, along with inane claim that Canadians don't want an election. When do people ever "want" an election? In any event if people can't be bothered with elections they do not deserve democracy. We had federal elections in 1962, 1963, 1965 and 1968; I don't remember the voters groaning in agony.

$350 million is a tiny cost in federal expenditures of some $230 billion. There may be good arguments against an election at this time. Those above are simply ridiculous.

Mark C.

Update: We also had federal elections in 1972, 1974, 1979 and 1980. In the sixties four elections in six years, with the elections just mentioned four in eight years. Most recently there have been elections in 2000, 2004 and 2006. An election around now in 2008 would be four in around seven and a half years. Hardly that unusual I would say, so why the aversion to a vote this time? Have we simply gone off elections (i.e. democracy)?

Posted by markc at February 21, 2008 03:32 PM