Quote:
Originally Posted by SebC
While I don't agree with Mulcair on Keystone, when the PM only has support from the rightmost 40% of the population, there's a case to be made that he the government does not legitimately have sole authority to speak on behalf of the country.
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I hate this line of reasoning. He is the individual with the most support. There is no one in power who has more support than him so there is no one more qualified to represent our country to the world.
Muclair only got 30 percent of the vote. And if you want to dig into it, he only received 43% of the vote in the leadership race. By your logic, he isn't even qualified to speak on behalf of the NDP. He should stand up there with Brian Topp and Nathan Cullen anytime the NDP wants to say anything and they should all be allowed to shout their opinions.
The fact is that Canada is a multiparty country with a first past the post election system. There may be better systems, but we have to work with what we have.
To help with understanding the system, consider the way the system works without any party affiliation. Every riding elects their chosen MP and sends them to Ottawa. On the first day all 308 of them have a second election to pick a leader. Stephen Harper received 166 votes while Jack Layton took 103, Ignatieff got 34, Duceppe got 4 and May voted for herself.
The result is that Stephen Harper has the support of 54% of the House making him the leader of the country with a majority.