You got my name right. It is Bailey like Baileys Irish Cream. If you want to increase voter turnout, behind the voter screen you'd have those little pencils, a big bottle of Bailey's, and those little shot glasses. Actually, never mind shot glasses; go with beer glasses. Voter turnout: 125%, guaranteed. Vote early; vote often.
At any rate, the problem with our system does not lie with how we select our MPs. At least, that's not the biggest problem. The problem is what happens to those MPs once they get to Parliament Hill. They cease to be representatives of the people of their constituency, and they become representatives of the party whip, the PMO, and the party leader. That's where the democratic deficit lies.
Our MPs should not fear the reprisals of their leaders, but they should fear the reprisals of their voters. My MP is Doug Eyolfson, a swell fellow. I didn't vote for him. I like talking to him. I have no doubt that if 20,000 people came to him and said, “You know what, we don't like this party line; we want you to vote against it”, he'd be happy to do it, except that the government whip is sitting there ready to crack the whip if he doesn't do as he's told.
It doesn't matter how we select who we put there. If they're not representing the members of the riding, there's no difference, whether it's proportional representation or first past the post.
So I will put to you that the first step should be to make our Parliament functional. The government is the cabinet. The entire rest of the Parliament is the House of Commons. They are representing the commons, and they should be holding the cabinet to account on behalf of the people who elected them, whether we voted for them or not. I didn't vote for Doug, but I have absolutely no doubt he would represent our wishes if he could. He's not the person I voted for, but he's my MP, and I'm happy to have him as an MP.
Am I done?