Fix That House - Your suggestions so far - Action News
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Politics#FIXTHATHOUSE

Fix That House - Your suggestions so far

With Parliament prorogued until Oct. 16, we want to explore ways to make it better when it returns, and we need your help to #FixThatHouse.

How to fix the House

11 years ago
Duration 5:21
Alberta Liberal MLA David Swann discusses his website Politics Sucks and how to improve Canada's political system

We expected MPs back in mid-September, but since Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked the Governor General to prorogue the House, members of Parliament now won't return to the Hill until October 16.

The opposition parties say they aren't happy the NDP has even been tweeting out a daily question period list, what they say they would have asked if Parliament was sitting.

The fact is, the prime minister has technically done nothing wrong, or even out of the ordinary prime ministers have prorogued Parliament many times. Perhaps the most controversial was back in 2008, when Harper used it to avoid a confidence vote.

But that debate is really part of a larger concern: That Parliament is broken.

You tell us all the time in your emails, tweets and letters.

Question period is a waste of time... Or committees don't work... Or debate is closed off too quickly... MPs read talking points like drones.

Have the traditional democratic tools become obsolete, surpassed by the current changes facing Canada?

Does Parliament need to meet for more days a year to deal more quickly with the rapid onslaught of issues? Is it time to overhaul our democracy to make it more responsive, more transparent, more accountable?

Those questions have been aimed at The Senate these days but should the whole system be renovated?

We've decided to kick off a national debate about it. We call it: Fix That House.

Every week we are soliciting your ideas to make Parliament more effective

We are be working with CBCnews.ca and CBC News Network's Power & Politics to get new ideas, and debate them. And we have a twitter hashtag: #fixthathouse.

Joining me to listen to your ideas, get your feedback and get these out there, is our very own House renovator, Kady O'Malley.

So, get involved.

What ideas do you have to Fix That House?

Tweet us, email us or go to cbc.ca/politics and kickstart a discussion. Who knows, politicians might actually listen...to the people!

Here's a taste of what we've heard so far.