I got this via an email from Jack Etkin. He has been a candidate for the BC Greens in the past and I think clearly comes from the left side of the spectrum. He is looking to start a new political party. Here is the text of the email:
My name is Jack Etkin. I'm working on forming a new political party in British Columbia.
A political party requires an AUDITOR. An auditor must be, I believe, a CA, CMA, or CGA. At present, the work obligation of the auditor is minimal, as the party has no assets to audit, and the 'audit requirement' does not come into play immediately. If anyone is interested in taking on this position - at least temporarily - please get in touch with me.
The party will also need many other volunteers ... and members. If you are interested, please get in touch.
My aim is to work with others to form a party whose central plank and platform is based on 'MORE DEMOCRACY'. In other words, the 'goal' of the party is to work towards providing 'Government Of the people, By the people, and For the people'. In other words, this party will try its best to DO 'what an informed electorate wants its government to do'.
In a democratic party, the economic policies, environmental policies, social policies, tax policies, etc. will reflect what the people of the province want done. I do not believe that this is the case in B.C. now.
The party's main direction will be to elect peopoe who will promote and build democratic government in British Columbia.
The party's aim will be, I hope, to ensure that citizens are well informed on the issues, and to engage with citizens, find out what people want, and then try to move the province in those directions. The agenda should come from the citizens, not from the politicians and the corporations.
In order to do this, I think we need to create an independent media that is working on behalf of the people of British Columbia. What we have now - a media that is owned by and works for Big Business is clearly not working.
And we need to focus on building a better democracy. There are concrete steps that can be taken to strengthen the democracy of our governments. We can look at removing power from the hands of the Premier and the Party Leaders who have FAR too much power - and giving more power to our elected representatives. And of course in a democracy, it is the citizens - not the politicians - who have 'the real power'. This idea of We Citizens - we the people - getting some real power; this is the major change that has to take place if we want more democracy.
An 'auditor general' type of position, overseeing the political parties on our behalf, to ensure that they are run honestly, fairly, and democratically might be useful.
I would suggest 'A Citizens' Assembly on Democracy in British Columbia' would be a useful way to educate ourselves on democracy and come up with concrete ideas with which to move forward.
If Canada can become more of a democracy, we will start to move in the directions that we citizens want, and I think that will be a good thing.
If any of the above interests you, please get in touch with Jack Etkin at jetkino@yahoo.caBuilding a political party is a gargantuan task ... but it is definitely a way forward that we should look at trying. It is, unfortunately, up to us. jetkino@yahoo.ca
To vote on democracy ... www.iwantdemocracy.ca
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