Fix Parliament by adding more women: Fiorito

Glory be unto the day.

I love to vote, and I have never not cast a ballot since I came of age. And so I will make my way proudly to the polling station this morning, armed with a plethora of identification; and after declaring, like Popeye, that I am who I am, I will walk home again feeling that I’ve done my duty as a citizen.

If my ballot has the weight of a falling leaf, what of it? Today the falling leaves are a dual-purpose metaphor: the beauty of the moment, and the inevitability of change.

But let me speak now of a larger issue than rejecting these bums, or returning those former bums to office, or giving the new bums a chance to steer the ship of state onto the rocks where others have steered us before. The issue?

I would like it if women occupied half the seats in parliament. I have come to this conclusion partly because I am sick of male leadership.

Oh. I see. You think I am not manly for thinking such thoughts. I remind you that I grew up in Northern Ontario. I know how to use an axe. I spent five years in the Arctic. I have eaten seal and raw caribou. I own a bird gun. I can catch and gut a trout and fry it in a pan. And I play snooker in my spare time.

You poor sap.

Manliness is the problem. Men got us into this mess, men have been unable to lead us out of it, and men have erected and maintained clever barriers to keep women out of the game.

In my riding, there is a terrific NDP incumbent; she is bright, smart, fierce when she has to be. Running against her is a Liberal newcomer who has what is, on the surface, an impressive resumé.

But as I have made my way through the neighbourhood these past few weeks, I have felt a fleeting sadness because I only have one vote.

They both belong in Parliament.

Perhaps it is the same where you are: if you live to the east of me, you could surely spend some time listing the equivalent faults and virtues of Olivia Chow and Adam Vaughan. But before this day is done, only one of them will go to Ottawa.

In an ideal world, they’d both be packing their bags and heading for the airport. So here’s the idea:

I’d like it if all the parties were required to run male and female slates, and that voters were required to choose one of each — one man, and one woman — to represent them in Parliament.

If we had such a system of gender balance in my riding it might mean, when the votes were tallied, that I’d get a man and woman of the left to represent me. An easy bet, that; I don’t think we’ve ever — at least in my time here — elected anyone from the right.

Oh, my beloved Parkdale.

But it might also mean that I would be represented by a woman of the left, and a man of the centre. Or perhaps, in your case, you’d get two Conservatives, in which case God help us all.

At the riding level, maybe both representatives would be required to share a single constituency office, so that I could take my grievances to one, or to both. That’s a detail. We could work it out.

The good and the obvious first result is that there would be equal representation in Parliament, without any of the parties having to pretend, as they sort of do now, that we are “encouraging” women to get involved; how patronizing.

Such a system as I suggest would obviously mean doubling the size of parliament. Yeah, I don’t care about the cost. I care more about equal representation. It would give us better government.

Priceless.

Like the falling leaves.