A stewardship / accountablity double take from one theological point of view...
Elections are expensive: The cost of the 2000 general election, including the partial reimbursement of election expenses to eligible candidates and political parties and the maintenance of the National Register of Electors since the 1997 general election, was $200.6 million (StatsCan)
Elected politicians pay themselves more than non-elected ones get paid (more than 50% more!). Elected politicians who do absolutely nothing (you actually get paid more if you chair a committee, sit on Cabinet, drive your car to work, eat lunch,...really) earn $155,400 each before perks and expenses (the Hill Times)
Of all the corruption and ensuing scandals in the past couple of years that have cost Canada all that money have been because of elected politicians -not Senators
Of all the scandals that have cost us time and money in the last decade (Mulroney corruption trials, Schreiber affair, helicopter debacle, Grewal deceit, Emerson trickery, Conservative election fraud allegations, Harper/Chretien scandals, etc.) - almost all of them have been directly
related to elections and/or elected officials.
Senators work hard through their committees and have saved us from a lot of nonsense from our elected politicians.
We don't have to pay hundreds millions of dollars to hire Senators, fire them, train and hire new ones every couple of years like we do with our elected politicians.
Senators saved Canada from the unpopular actions of the elected politicians re: Meach Lake, let the Canadian public speak on Free Trade and cost more than 50% LESS than an elected backbenchers get paid to do nothing but show up to work.
Electing the Senate would then would mean paying considerably more and getting considerably less.
Is there anyway that a Christian can support an initiative that show such poor stewardship?
let me know what you think: blog@sheepspeak.com (really)
