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 Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:35 pm Post subject: election promise registry |
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Does anybody know of a case in history of politicians making their campaign promises a legal contract? It strikes me that this might be a good way of combating some of the "hidden agenda" charges that tend to dog the Conservatives. What I envision is the Conservative Party of Canada signing a legal contract with say, some charity or other group that everybody loves. The contract would stipulate a set of promises that, if not met by such-and-such a date, would result in a 5 million dollar (or whatever) fine for the Conservative Party.
So you could put something like "we will not criminalize abortion or sodomy" in there.
What do you think? What promises would you put in there? Is the fact that people can say "oh but they didn't put policy X in there, they plan on lying to Canadians" too damaging for this kind of scheme to work? |
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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in 2003 McGuinty singed a contract with the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation promising to not raise taxes if elected.
After he was elected he introduced a health care tax.
The CTF sued him for breach of contract but the courts ruled that politicians can't legally be held to their word. |
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Mac
Joined: 02 Sep 2006
Posts: 5500
  
votes: 35
Location: John Baird's riding...
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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Strange that politically appointed judges would take such a position, eh? :(
-Mac |
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| Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:29 am Post subject: |
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| That is a bizarre ruling. I suppose a possible other way to do it would be through futures markets. Futures markets often allow people to invest in a number of prospective outcomes, some of which are policy-related. Investing party money in such a market would be a credible guarantee. However, I do wonder if folks are allowed to invest in futures markets they could effect (like could Ron Paul sell short on intrade's "Ron Paul to run as a third party candidate" share and get a windfall). |
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| Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:50 am Post subject: |
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Interesting idea, but it would suck if a government was contracted to fund a program or cut taxes and if the bottom drops out of the economy (sound familiar) , there is no way that either could be afforded. Then they get sued or have to pay a fine on top that? And good luck trying to find a charity that "everybody" loves.
The hidden agenda card is best fought by delivering good government with good policies. The longer that Harper is PM, the less of an issue that this will be. We saw this in 2008. |
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