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 NEEDED REFORMS IN REPRESENTATIVE 
 
 GOVERNMENT 
 
 mmMmmsMmm^mBmm^mmmmmsmmm 
 
THE INITIATIVE AND llEEEKENDUM. - 
 
 NEEDED 
 
 REFORMS IN REPRESENTATIVE 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 /- 
 
 To the People of Canada t 
 
 We have had years of experience of 
 our system of Kopreseutative <iovern- 
 ment, tlie result ot wliich has 
 been to prove representative govern- 
 ment in some respects a laihire. 
 Our laws do not represent tlie 
 will of tlie people, neither do they serve 
 to prevent corruption. No system of 
 government can be considered SHtis- 
 factory, which does not answer tliese 
 two requirements. Ti<e (irst duty of our 
 legislative* body, should be, to carry 
 into effect the wishes of tlie uitijority of 
 tne electors of the community. In a 
 state where tiie electors have no oppor- 
 tunity to express themselves directly 
 upon tlie question at /S«e, it must 
 necessarily happen that the wishes of 
 the people may be one thing, while the 
 law enacted by the legislative power 
 may be entirely ditTerent, Especially 
 is this true, when, as with us, a dozen 
 different meaaures may be brought 
 before the eiwctors in one political 
 campaign, on some of which one candi- 
 ■ date may represent the elector's views, 
 while the oppa.sing candidate may be 
 more in accord with hiui as to the 
 remainder. Tiie elector naturally votes 
 for the candidate who represents his 
 view on what he considers the most 
 important qviestion, while he is com- 
 pelled to sacrifice his opinions on what 
 he deems of minor importrince. When 
 added to this, there have been party 
 atliUation.s extending over a long 
 term of years, th' voter very often 
 sacrifices his views on even the most 
 important matter, because, while not 
 satisfied with the position taken by his 
 wliiiom friends, he prefers to have them 
 in power rather than to trust the control 
 
 of atfaira to tiiose iA whom Le has no . 
 
 conlidence, fearing that they may do 
 even worse than his friends. (In a 
 proper system of government the voter " 
 should be able to express his opinion 
 directly upon legislation). 
 
 'i'iien, after a representative is once 
 selected, tliere is no method provided by 
 which Ins action may be controlled, 
 either positively or negatively during his 
 term of ollice. He is at liberty to break 
 every pledge, and ou every question to 
 vote contrary to the wishes of his 
 constituents. The electors are kings 
 only at the moment they deposit their 
 I ballot, for they thus assert 'their 
 i sovereignty only to yield It up 
 j again to the representative body. 
 ' This we believe to be a flagrant wrong 
 I which should be remedied. The evil re- 
 ' suits of the system have been made ap. 
 1 parent in our own legislation, and much 
 I social progress has been retarded be- 
 cause of its defects, 
 
 ; The present system tends towards 
 partyism and partyism leads to cor 
 ; ruptioti. In the process of time electors 
 i become so identified with their party 
 I that they seek to palliate rather than 
 condemn the W'rongs of which that 
 I party may have been guilty. The re- 
 ! suit has been periodical revelations of 
 corruption in our parliamentary sys- 
 tems. Patriotic citizens should look 
 around for a remedy. Not a palliative 
 that will serve merely as a check, but 
 something which will strike at the root 
 of the disease. We believe that the 
 cause of these evils lies in the fact that 
 our various representative bodies have 
 practically uncontrolled power over 
 both money and important interests. 
 Tins affords the opportunity for corrup- 
 
THE tNlTlATlVE AND REFERENDUM. 
 
 8 
 
 tiou and at the same time binds the ad- 
 herents of the parties together and fur- 1 
 "Dishes tiie incentive to sacrifice tlie in- j 
 terests of the conntry for tiie interests ! 
 Of the party. I'arty exigency lilis the i 
 place which siiould be occupied by tlie 
 public weal. The remedy, then, is to 
 so change the system as to make it im- 
 .possible for our representative bodies to 
 control those monies and interests in- 
 dependent of the consent of the elec- 
 tors. At the same time the yefiisal of 
 that consent should not att'ect the posi- 
 tion of the government of the day. 
 
 To insure the consideration and 
 adoption of progressive legislation there 
 ahou.d be the power in the people them- 
 selves to directly initiate legislation 
 and to compel the adoption of the 
 measures they propose even though the 
 aame may not meet with the views of 
 their representatives. Our system of 
 legislation should also provide some 
 method by which the will of the people 
 can be ascertained upon any measure of 
 importance. Ja fact our t'arious represeti' 
 tafive bodies should exist soleli/ for the pur- 
 pose of ascertnining and carri/inff into efect 
 the wishes of the people. The idea tliat 
 the leaders of public opinion were to be 
 found among our politicians has long 
 since been recognized as a mere liction. 
 Our system of partizan government 
 renders tlie advocacy of progressive 
 measures by politicians well nigh an 
 impossibility. Politicians move for- 
 ward only as they are compelled by pub- 
 lic opinion. 
 
 In consideration of these mtiny dis- 
 advantages of our present system, the 
 joint committee representing the rarious 
 industrial, social and economic reform 
 associations of the city of Toronto, in- 
 vite the co-op3ratiou of the citizens of 
 I'anada in the endeavor to secure such 
 changes in our system of government 
 as will enable the people to directly 
 initiate and control legislation. For 
 tills purpose we suggest the adoption of: 
 
 First,— The Initiative, by which the 
 voters of any municipality, province, 
 or the Dominion may demand the sub- 
 
 mission of a new law or the alteration 
 or abolition of any existing law within 
 the jurisdiction of the body to whom 
 the demand is presented, irpon the de- 
 mand being presented It shall be the 
 duty of the municipal council, legisla- 
 tive assembly or Dominion I'arliament, 
 as the case may be, to prepare an Act 
 iu accordance with the terms of the de- 
 mand and submit it to the popular vote 
 for approval or rejection. If approved 
 it forthwith becomes law. 
 
 Second, — The Ueferendura.a provision 
 by which all enactments of a general 
 nature, and which are not urgent in 
 their character, do not become law until 
 three months after they have been 
 passed by the representative body. 
 During those three months the voters 
 may demand that the measure be sub- 
 mitted to the popular vote. 
 
 Third,— Such other measures as may 
 be necessary to bring our political sys- 
 tem into harmou.t with the above sug- 
 gested changes. 
 
 These methods have been in force in 
 the cantons of Switzerland for many 
 years. Instituted in the Canton of St. 
 Gallen, in 1831, they were gradually 
 adopted by the other cantons, until one 
 or both is now in force in every canton 
 where there is no general assembly, ex- 
 cept Fribourg. The referendum has 
 been in operation in federal legislation 
 since the year 1848. 
 
 Messrs. Adams & Cunningham, in 
 their woi'k," The Swiss Confederation," 
 published in 1888, use the following 
 words to describe the effects of this sys- 
 tem upon Swiss politicians, legislation 
 and the people ; " The referendum has 
 struck root and expanded wherever it 
 has been introduced, and no serious 
 politician of any party would now think 
 of attempdng its abolition. The Con- 
 servatives, who violently opposed its 
 introduction, became its earnest sup- 
 porters when they found that it un- 
 doubtedly acted as a drag upon 
 hasty and radical law making." 
 
 " A suilicient period has elapsed 
 to allow the people of Switzerland 
 
 < 
 
THE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM. 
 
 to form an opinion of the working and 
 results of the popular vote. As to the 
 moral effect which the exercise of this 
 institution has had upon the people, 
 we are assured that it is admitted to be 
 galutary even by adversaries of demo- 
 cratic government. The consciousness 
 of individual influence as well as the 
 national feeling is declared to have been 
 strengthened, and the fact of a large^ 
 and on several occasions, increased 
 participation of the people, in the vote, 
 is quoted as tending to prove that their 
 interest in political questions is grow- 
 ing keener. 
 
 " The application of the referendum 
 as worked in Switzerland, and the 
 issues raised by it, are so easy to under- 
 stand, and in most cases so independent 
 of party manoeuvres, that public opinion 
 acquiesces at once in the result, and the 
 general feeling entertained in the 
 country with reference to a particular 
 question, finds its accurate, and for the 
 time being final expression." "The 
 initiative is essentially a powerful 
 engine in a democratic direction. By 
 means of it legislative bodies, mostly 
 composed of persons belonging to the 
 well-to-do class, can be compelled by 
 the people, to take up and put to a vote, 
 matters which without it, would in all 
 probability, never be brought to the 
 front." 
 
 " The members of the Federal Coun- 
 cil, we will venture to affirm, yield to 
 no government in Europe in devotion 
 to their country, in incessant hard work 
 for a poor salary, and in thorough 
 honesty and incorruptibility." 
 
 Other authors who speak from actual 
 observation say : 
 
 " There is manifest an independence 
 of party which impels the voter to 
 support that which he believes to be 
 in the interest of the community 
 
 irrespective of party alliances, and 
 thus the real will of the people is- 
 ascertained. Its effect upon the poli- 
 tical machinery is that it reduces the 
 necessity of prominent political leader* 
 to a mimimum, and politics consequent- 
 ly ceases to be a trade ; for the power 
 of the politician is curtailed, and there 
 is no money in the business. The 
 referendum has struck a blow at party 
 government, in the narrow partizan 
 sense, whose business is to oppose,^ 
 never to co-operate. The political 
 Held there has not been yielded to 
 adventurers. Nowhere in the world 
 are the government places filled by 
 men so well fitted for the work to 
 be performed. The referendum is fatal 
 to anything like extravagance in the 
 management of public funds." 
 
 "It disarms instantly and kills re- 
 morselessly all manner of jobs, and 
 forbids favors lavished upon one dis- 
 trict at the expense of the rest. While 
 in our system class interests are mostly 
 paramount-- under the referendum 
 this is not so. By it every measure is 
 disposed of upon its merits and the 
 will of the people becomes law." 
 
 By a vote of the people taken in July 
 of this year, itjwas decided to extend 
 the operatioi of the initiative to 
 federal legislation. Heretofore this 
 provision has :been in force only in the 
 cantons. This is the best proof possible 
 of its satisfactory operation. 
 
 We believe that now is an opportune 
 time in which to begin an active 
 agitation in favor of the introduction 
 of those reforms here. Will you co- 
 operate with us? All who will do so 
 should communicate with 
 
 F. E. TITUS, 
 
 lOO Church St., Toronto, 
 
 Provisional Secretary .KeferendamlCora. 
 
 Toronto, Nov. 16th, 1891. 
 
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