We welcome our readers’ opinions. Here’s one from Central Alberta resident Norman Weibe.

I’m told a coalition government is a possibility in this election. That if the Federal Liberals don’t get quite enough votes, the NDP and Greens will prop them up, to deny the conservatives a chance to govern.

More-so, the NDP or Greens, would use this capability to their advantage, and force concessions from the Liberals on the environmental agenda and other socialist policies. We’ve seen this before, so it’s a valid concern.

I understand this tactic could embolden past supporters of those parties to stick with them, in the hopes that this situation could arise. If it did, they would exert far more power as a ‘king maker’ than their few votes ever could under normal circumstances.

This whole scenario I find truly disturbing. Not just due to the thought of ever expanding socialist policies introduced into our lives through government, but the fact that the voters have no say or input in such coalitions.

This flaw in our system of government, where parties are given such sweeping powers should never be allowed to happen. Additionally, the leadership of the nation is something that all of us should be able to directly participate in.

Perhaps the electing of a Prime Minister or Premier should be a separate vote. Those running for such leadership positions would have assembled their leadership team in advance, and created their platform. This would give us the opportunity to scrutinize our options for entire leadership teams.

They would have the opportunity to select the people they considered the best and brightest to support their platform and achieve the goals they have laid out. That leadership group would then run collectively as a team, and upon winning take that role.

There would be no more opportunity for a coalition government to be formed, because that power would no longer reside with the leaders of each of the political parties, but with the people alone. Anyone losing the leadership contest would be out completely, and unable to negotiate a power sharing deal.

The platform that the leadership team ran on would influence each individual MP/MLA, but it wouldn’t mean they are whipped, and have no voice as is sometimes the case. The leadership would now have to ensure they could count on the support of those representatives, and couldn’t take them for granted.

It seems to me that much of the political power in our Canadian systems, remains in the hands of very few. The voters have some say, but not enough.

Power is held by those who jealously guard it and do not wish to see it reduced. We should look at every possibility to put more power in the hands of the people, and have as much decision making done as close to the source of the issue at hand.

There are many examples to look at the world over. Systems that have decades of use, and we can learn from others successes and mistakes.

No matter what alternative solutions are presented to us in the future; I believe it is imperative that political power should be decentralized, as much as possible.