8 – Draft Constitution
Under Construction
With the intention of advancing a peaceful evolution of democracy, we, the concerned citizens, volunteer ourselves to participate in the development of an evolving constitution.
To begin the perpetual process of direct democracy, we present the following initiatives, a set of principles, as a political framework for your consideration, and we invite all interested citizens to participate in the development of a “Citizens’ Constitution”.
You can participate with your own initiatives, amendments, or rejection of any of the following propositions, or you can add your vote of support for some of the initiatives already posted on www.nowpolling.ca
An initiative proposition, after allowing a predetermined and sufficient time for full information and public discussion, shall be submitted to the Provincial Electoral Office as an initiative for a referendum.
If the referendum is approved by a predetermined threshold of a majority, it shall be amended into law.
All statutes in this constitution are mutable. All laws and policies may be amended anytime.
Motion #1: Empathy
– Because an ideal social consciousness evolves from cooperation, fairness, and restorative justice;
– Because an empathic society has the ability and responsibility to share the feelings of others;
– Therefore, all of our Laws must harmonize with the Spirit of Empathy embodied in the Universal Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and in any other document made with the intention to protect collective or individual human rights. Empathy shall be an overriding principle in this constitution.
Motion #2: Equality and Freedom
– Because equality and freedom are fundamental human values;
– Because hierarchy and competition create social, economic, and political inequality;
– Therefore, we declare to be sovereign from any hierarchical authority and commit ourselves to cooperate within the principle of equality, among ourselves and with other societies.
Motion #3: Justice and Peace
– Because war and aggression has never brought a Just peace,
– Because the security of one is the security of all,
Therefore, we the citizens commit ourselves to research, develop, and practice the theories of restorative justice and nonviolent conflict management, among ourselves and with other nations.
Motion #4: Ecological Conservation.
– Because we live in a world of limited resources,
– Because all life is imperilled by the extraction, manufacturing, and use of toxic elements,
-Therefore, we must consciously regulate the rate of mining toxic elements, the creation of life-threatening products, and the consumption of harmful and scarce resources.
Motion #5. – Territorial Coexistence
– Recognizing that the citizens’ perception of democracy and the citizens’ choice of priorities within a common territory may be diverse and sometimes conflicting,
– Considering that a peaceful and orderly coexistence of inhabitants of territory is an essential factor in a democratic society, and
in view of the emerging DD political system, which is distinct from the current representative system.
– Therefore, we the citizens, constituents of DD, and residents of this territory, now known as (name of the province, or geographical boundaries), agree to negotiate, with the existing political representatives and governments, a mutually acceptable set of regulations and agreements conducive to an orderly and peaceful coexistence.
THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF A NATION
Motion #6. – Community Associations
Community associations are groups of a reasonable number of citizens of a neighbourhood who can identify their common interests, discuss their initiatives, and tabulate their support by plebiscites.
The shared consensus of the group should be submitted as intertwined, interactive and interdependent legislation, into Municipal departments, Provincial Ministries, or the Federal Government of Canada.
Motion #7. – Municipal Governments.
M7.1 – City Governments shall be administered by elected City Executive Officers.
M7.2 .- City Executive Officers shall be elected by the constituents of all Community Associations within the city through a perpetual electoral system operated by the city’s Legislative Operations Department.
M7.3 – The duty of each City Executive Officer shall be to implement the citizens’ decisions, and to manage an assigned department of the municipality as mandated.
M7.4 – The number of departments and the number of executive officers elected for each department, shall be decided by its citizens, according to the size of the constituency and the perceived need of each city.
M7.5 – City Executive Officers shall present a yearly financial budget for their department. Budgets need to be approved by referendum by the majority of electorates.
M7.6 – Example List of municipal departments,
a ) – Legislative operations, Elections, Initiative and Referendum.
b ) – Public Information and Communications Systems.
c ) – Public Works: Water, sewer, garbage, recycling.
d ) – City Planning, street works, and Building permits
e ) – Social services, Parks and Recreation.
f ) – Social Housing and Public Transit.
g) – Credit Management Agency:
Tax collection and funding distribution.
h ) – Police; Law enforcement, public security.
i ) – Intergovernmental coordination.
M7.7 – Each department shall operate according to a mandate described under a People’s Municipal Act.
Motion #8. – Provincial Government
P8.1 – The Provincial Government shall be Administered by elected Executive Ministers.
P8.2. – Executive ministers shall be elected “at large” by all citizens across the state by a perpetual electoral system.
P8.3 – The Provincial electoral system shall be managed by the Ministry of Citizens’ Legislation.
P8.4 – Citizens may decide to have more than one executive minister for any ministry, in that case, the top two, or more elected candidates would become a committee of ministers, for a particular ministry.
P8.5. – The Ministers’ duty shall be to introduce and implement legislation as decided by citizens and to administer government’s operations, in accordance with the laws and statutes mandated by the citizens.
P8.6. – Ministers shall present, to the electorate, a yearly financial budget for their assigned ministry. This shall be discussed by the citizens and approved by referendum.
P8.7 – Sample list of Ministries:
a ) – Ministry of the Premier
The Premier’s duty is: to assist other ministers with the Legislation of citizens’ initiatives, to symbolically represent the State (nationally and internationally), to audit the government’s operations and periodically publish a government’s progress report, and to comply with all other statutes in accordance with a State’s Governance Act.
b ) – Ministry of Citizens’ Legislation
The Ministry of Citizens’ Legislation shall develop and operate a computerized, perpetual polling system to facilitate citizens’ initiative, referendum, and the elections of ministers. This Ministry must ensure that the polling system is secure, transparent, verifiable, and accessible to all citizens, every business day. The Minister shall comply with all the statues within a Citizens’ Legislation Act.
c ) – Ministry of Attorney General/Justice.
The Ministry of the Attorney General shall manage the legal procedures of creating new bills for the implementation of peoples’ legislation into law; the Minister shall safe-keep the laws and constitution; the Attorney General is the Chief Executive Officer of the Justice and Courts System; and the Minister shall comply with all the statutes of a Justice Act.
d ) – Ministry of Finance
The Ministry of Finance shall administer the collection of taxes and other revenues from citizens, and businesses; the ministry of Finance shall administer the distribution of financial resources to all ministries according to their budgets, and according to the statutes in a Finance Act.
e ) Ministry of Currency and Credit.
the Ministry shall manage a credit agency to create the capital needed for building infrastructure projects.
f ) Ministry of Health Care.
The Ministry of Health Care shall operate a non-profit, efficient, comprehensive, universal, and sufficiently available to all, health care and health prevention service.
g ) Ministry of Education
The Ministry of Education shall operate an efficient, non-profit, skill trades, academic, kindergarten to university educational services, sufficiently available to all, and fully financed by taxes.
h ) Ministry of Housing.
The Ministry of Housing shall, in coordination with regional, federal, and non-profit social housing agencies, develop, maintain, and manage sufficient housing for all citizens who need it.
i ) Ministry of Transportation.
The Ministry of Transportation, in coordination with municipal transit authorities and federal funding programs, shall develop infrastructure, purchase equipment and operate a not-for-profit transit service, as needed by citizens.
j ) Ministry of Communications & Information.
The Ministry of Communications and Information shall regulate the communications systems; gather and publish, relevant information from all ministries, and keep archival records and vital statistics. Freedom of information and individual privacy rights should be applied accordingly.
k) Ministry of Social Services/Welfare
The Ministry of Social Services and Welfare in conjunction with municipal social services and federal related projects shall develop and operate the necessary public services to aid low income, elders, infirm, drug-addicted, and mentally challenged citizens.
L ) Ministry of the Solicitor General
The Ministry of the Solicitor General, in coordination with the municipal police units, shall provide public security and order; it shall administer detention centres.
Detention centres shall develop and provide restorative justice training, and non-violence conflict management training, in coordination with the education ministry.
m ) Ministry of Forest-Lands-Minerals.
This Ministry shall regulate and manage all public lands prioritizing the optimum ecological sustainability and to the most public benefit possible.
n ) Ministry of Food Security & Agriculture.
This Ministry shall regulate food production, distribution, and safety.
o ) Ministry of Energy
This Ministry shall regulate the production and distribution of energy from all sources: gas, oil, hydro, wind, tidal, solar, etc.
p ) Ministry of Business & Labour.
This Ministry shall regulate all business procedures and obligations, labour rights and safety conditions.
q ) Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs
The purpose of this ministry is to negotiate the economic and social responsibilities with municipalities and regional governments, as well as the political and economic commitments and obligations within Canada and internationally.
Motion #9
Governance of the Federation of Canada
9.1 – The governance of the Federation of Canada needs to be negotiated between provinces which would continue to elect representative legislators to parliament, and sovereign provinces which would choose the system of citizens’ legislation by referendum or DD.
9.2 Sovereign provinces would delegate Executive Ministers to Co-Minister each Federal Ministry.
9.3. – From a list of candidates across the State for each federal ministry, Executive Co-Minister(s) shall be elected for each federal ministry and delegated to Ottawa.
9.4 – Citizens may decide to have more than one federal Co-Minister for any Ministry, in that case, the top two, or more elected candidates would become a committee of ministers, for a particular ministry.
9.5 – The Co-Ministers’ mandate shall last as long as the majority of citizens across the province maintain the public support for them, on the official – computerized – perpetual electoral system.
9.6 – The federal Co-Ministers’ duty shall be first to introduce, in the Canadian Parliament, bills for legislation as decided by their electorates, and second, to ensure that their specific ministries execute operations as legislated by the majority of constituents.
9.7 – Each Federal Co-Minister from each province, shall present a yearly financial budget for their ministry. All federal budgets need to be decided by referendum by the taxpayers of each province.
9.8 – If a super majority of at least 67% of citizens of any State or province object to any decision by the Canadian Parliament, that Province, shall not be obliged to contribute financially nor participate on the Federal Parliament’s decision.
9.9 – An example List of Federal Ministries in which citizens of the province may want to participate, and delegate a Co-Minister(s)
a).-Ministry of Information, Initiative, and Plebiscite.
b).- Ministry of the Prime Minister.
c).- Ministry of Justice, Attorney General
d).- Ministry of Health Care Services
e).- Ministry of Intergovernmental Internal Affairs
f).- Ministry of Foreign Affairs
g).- Ministry of Defense and training for Natural disasters aid and rescue.
h).- Ministry for Environmental protection.
i).- Ministry for Nonviolent conflict resolution training.
j).- Ministry of Finance
k).- Ministry of Food Security and Agriculture.
l).- Ministry of Social Services
m).- Ministry of Communications and Transportation Infrastructure.
n).- Ministry of International Trade.
o).- Ministry of Labour and business regulations
p).- Ministry of Immigration
q).- Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy.