On bravery

Rafe Mair issues a challenge to PMS and other Canadian politicians, making the argument that any truly brave leader should be at the forefront of the movement toward proportional representation:

Any sort of proportional representation gets the insiders upset because they lose control for the same reason prime ministers and premiers do. When there's a minority government such as will certainly happen under proportional representation, the MPs gain power at the expense of the government, which is to say the prime minister and cabinet -- especially the prime minister.

I don't have the passion for majority government that many Canadians do. I think that many Canadians are far more concerned with "peace, order" than with "good government." They like things settled -- who it is they like, who it is they hate...

Political bravery, defined

In effect there can be no meaningful change without the unanimous consent of all the provinces and the federal government. It takes a very special sort of politician to propose changing the way he got elected for a system wherein he might lose. And the Canadian woods aren't full of such people.

I don't see much reason to share Mair's optimism that Harper could be the "very special sort of politician" in question: instead the Cons seem devoted to defining their ideal government in terms of simplicity of thought and the singleminded pursuit of additional power. Which all too often makes their actions "brave" only in the sheer audacity needed to defy public opinion, logical reasoning and readily-available data all at once.

Not only is PR hurt by being on what's generally the right side of all of those issues, but it would also likely limit the Cons' power in the long run, due to the end result of allocating more seats to Canada's left-leaning majority. Needless to say, PR thus doesn't seem likely to receive any serious attention from the Cons anytime soon - though a toothless task force may well be seen as enough of a political advantage to win Con support.

That said, there shouldn't be much room for doubt that the current system indeed prioritizes polar arguments in the name of the "order" that comes with a majority over good (and inclusive) government. And if the Libs and their leadership candidates are looking for a principle to bring together the anti-Harper opposition, a brave stand in favour of PR would be a great place to start.