The Swiss have done it again. The question asked of them recently was - called "the people's initiative against fat cat pay". And 68% of the electorate passed a measure that requires "listed" companies to offer shareholders a binding vote on senior manager's pay etc. at annual meetings. A big penalty is to fall upon those bosses who do not comply. This has apparently been a 12 year cause of one strongly determined individual who had noted some patently unfair compensation packages to not so deserving corporate leaders - some in failing companies.
Some Swiss businesses are a bit "shaken", according to the Mar. 9 edition of the Economist Magazine. But, this is now the law in Switzerland, due to a carefully worded referendum which the people thought was just.
Will Ontario ever allow its citizens to vote upon issues; not just upon the complicated process determining a representative of a party led by a leader, about which no one can be sure will pursue policies which those people might want or expect? Brian MacLeod wrote a column on Mar. 14, within the North Bay daily Nugget newspaper suggesting that approvals of casinos should rest with the local citizens. Apparently Tim Hudak the aspiring Ontario leader of the Conservative Party has said he would insist upon municipalities holding such. This would be a move in the right direction upon one controversial issue.
MacLeod concludes his column by pointing out -"people are strange... they know what's best for them".
And of course it is the essence of true democracy - the people are supposed to have the say.
So many issues are not being considered by the people, though communication to-day is so much easier.
Will the quiet majority ever rise up in Ontario to require that their opinions be fully considered; or will only the party leaders, or the mobs that rule the streets, and the loudest voices be the only ones heard?
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