The ancient process of voting to exile a citizen didn't last long in Athens, but it fascinates us still, especially since we all know some people we wouldn't mind sending off for a decade.
Nov 29, 2022·edited Nov 29, 2022Liked by David Moscrop
We limit the accumulation of political power by individuals indirectly, via rules on elections and campaign finance. In a parliamentary system, a sufficiently widespread mutiny can cost the first minister confidence of the chamber.
The campaign to ostracize anyone today would be wild. It would be full convoy types trying to get Trudeau out vs Liberals going after Poilievre.
That said there's still some good we could take from this as you mention. Municipally, I'm thinking about how most provinces don't really have any way to get mayors or councillors out of office without the province firing them (or a court removing them, which is often too slow a process). In Vancouver a school board trustee was elected even after his party dumped him for being connected to a disqualified charity. In Calgary, a councillor faces allegations of sexual misconduct from his time as a cop.
Oh, we had quite an issue in Ottawa, too. I'm skeptical of recall, but we do need a way to manage these things between elections, certainly locally. But yeah, a proper ostracism campaign would be beyond absurd.
BC has recall legislation that works per-MLA (not sure if any other provinces have this). The bar is incredibly high and it's only really worked once in history but theoretically you could move campaigns in enough constituencies to reduce a party from majority to minority status and then it's up to the opposition to move a motion of non-confidence.
The difference between the legislatures/Parliament and city councils though is legislatures can expel a member. It's super rare but basically if you have an MP who commits a crime or have behaviour utterly unacceptable to the chamber, the House could vote to expel them (the Senate did suspend, though not expel, Lynn Beyak recently). Meanwhile, city councils can basically just strip some of their committee appointments but otherwise that individual has the right to sit in council until they resign or the next election, unless the provincial government removes them--even then though, sometimes it requires firing the entire council/board (this has happened with BC school boards).
Im a public school teacher. My first principal (medium sized school) once told me, “you want to fix a school? Let me get rid of ONE teacher a year, no questions asked. I wouldn’t even use it every year.”
We limit the accumulation of political power by individuals indirectly, via rules on elections and campaign finance. In a parliamentary system, a sufficiently widespread mutiny can cost the first minister confidence of the chamber.
Yes, indeed!
Ostracism serves its function best when the political sphere is embedded in public life. Everybody wants to be seen at the agora.
As politics becomes a distinct activity from everyday life, does ostracism have the same utility?
I don't think it does and, more to the heart of the matter, would be utterly unworkable. To be honest, I don't think we have the sensibility for it.
The campaign to ostracize anyone today would be wild. It would be full convoy types trying to get Trudeau out vs Liberals going after Poilievre.
That said there's still some good we could take from this as you mention. Municipally, I'm thinking about how most provinces don't really have any way to get mayors or councillors out of office without the province firing them (or a court removing them, which is often too slow a process). In Vancouver a school board trustee was elected even after his party dumped him for being connected to a disqualified charity. In Calgary, a councillor faces allegations of sexual misconduct from his time as a cop.
Oh, we had quite an issue in Ottawa, too. I'm skeptical of recall, but we do need a way to manage these things between elections, certainly locally. But yeah, a proper ostracism campaign would be beyond absurd.
I think this is true provincially too right? There is no mechanism to expel a provincial government that holds a majority?
BC has recall legislation that works per-MLA (not sure if any other provinces have this). The bar is incredibly high and it's only really worked once in history but theoretically you could move campaigns in enough constituencies to reduce a party from majority to minority status and then it's up to the opposition to move a motion of non-confidence.
The difference between the legislatures/Parliament and city councils though is legislatures can expel a member. It's super rare but basically if you have an MP who commits a crime or have behaviour utterly unacceptable to the chamber, the House could vote to expel them (the Senate did suspend, though not expel, Lynn Beyak recently). Meanwhile, city councils can basically just strip some of their committee appointments but otherwise that individual has the right to sit in council until they resign or the next election, unless the provincial government removes them--even then though, sometimes it requires firing the entire council/board (this has happened with BC school boards).
Only losing a confidence vote in the legislature, really. In theory, they could be dismissed by the LG but not really.
A great history lesson, David. Could you condense it to scare a few politicians with?
I can certainly try!
Im a public school teacher. My first principal (medium sized school) once told me, “you want to fix a school? Let me get rid of ONE teacher a year, no questions asked. I wouldn’t even use it every year.”
That's how I feel about CEOs.