Assorted content for your weekend reading.- Paul Krugman discusses the connection between concentrated wealth and extreme anti-social political behaviour:Wealth can be bad for your soul. That’s not just a hoary piece of folk wisdom; it’s a conclusi…
Continue readingTag: Electoral Reform
Montreal Simon: Rona Ambrose and the Outrageous Con Coup
I see that Rona Ambrose really is trying to make it look like her Cons are a kinder gentler version of the Harper Party.For that's the first time the word "peace" has appeared on any Con propaganda.But sadly that new image couldn't b…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Owen Jones writes that the UK’s flooding is just one example of what happens when the public sector which is supposed to look out for the common good is slashed out of short-term political calculation. And J. B…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Cons Threaten to Block Electoral Reform
Yesterday I told you how Rona Ambrose, her shellshocked Harper party, and their friends in the Con media, were in a disturbing state of zombie agitation.After it finally dawned on them that electoral reform will either change their brutish party beyon…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Con Clowns and the Invasion of the Referendum Zombies
Uh oh. Yesterday I told you how Rona Ambrose, in the shadowy and shrunken Con War Room now known as The Crypt, had sent out a desperate message to her equally desperate followers.After she finally realized what electoral reform is going to do to the su…
Continue readingWhy a referendum on electoral reform would be a very bad idea
The need for electoral reform in Canada has never been more stark. We have just endured nine years of government by a political party that over sixty per cent of us opposed. That is simply not democratic. We have an electoral system, but we don’t have …
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Why We Don’t Need A Referendum on Electoral Reform
There's nothing that scares the Cons as much as electoral reform, and Justin Trudeau's plan to scrap the so called first past the post system.They know that it would cripple their chances of ever ruling Canada again, and that the only thing th…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On failed diversions
Not surprisingly given my previous comments on the Libs’ electoral reform promise, it’s a plus that they’re sticking with it rather than giving in to any demand for a referendum. And hopefully the temporary diversion raised by the Cons will lead the pa…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Desmond Cole rightly slams the stinginess of Ontario’s government in taking support away from parents based on child support which isn’t actually received. And Karl Nerenberg laments Bill Morneau’s decision to …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Patrick Flavin studies (PDF) the direct benefits that flow from giving people secure access to health care. And Daphne Bramham writes that the damage done by child poverty can be directly observed in educational…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On voting from experience
If I have any concern with Nathan Cullen’s suggestion that Canada hold a referendum on electoral reform only after seeing a different system in action, it’s that it may concede too much to the people looking to set up roadblocks in the face of a clear …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, expanding on these posts as to what might come next as Canada’s political parties map out their strategies on electoral reform.For further reading…- Chantal Hebert wonders whether Justin Trudeau will face internal pressure to renege on his prom…
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Canadian Electoral Reform – Screwing the Conservatives
Canadians are watching closely to see if their new government is going to stick to the promises made during the recent election campaign. One of the most important promises was to reform the electoral system and get rid of our current First Past the Post system. I was browsing about and found an interesting article […]
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On blockages
Yes, Bill Tieleman, you’ve left no doubt that people who are opposed to electoral reform generally are also in favour of a needless and convoluted referendum process to try to block it.But for the many of us who don’t see “no change” as the desired end…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On managing the system
Following up on this post, there doesn’t seem to be much prospect of the Cons making any effort to pursue proportional representation as an alternative to a ranked ballot if Tasha Kheiriddin’s latest reflects their’ thinking. But I’ll point out that th…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Day Rona Ambrose Stared Into The Abyss
It was only Rona Ambrose's third Question Period as Leader of the Opposition. And there she was yesterday, trying to look like she's really in control of her shattered party, that she knows what she's doing.And that she's the steady ha…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- Robert Reich suggests that government should respond to corporations who engage in anti-social activity such as moving their earnings offshore by making sure they can’t simultaneously take advantage of…
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canadians Prefer Proportional Representation Voting System: Study
A new landmark new study – the left-leaning Broadbent Institute – Canadians want the new Liberal government to fulfill its 2015 election promise to reform Canada’s anti-democratic voting system.
The post Canadians Prefer Proportional Representation Vot…
Scott's DiaTribes: Referendum not needed to validate Electoral Reform -election did that.
I’ve heard and see a few mutterings of concern from folks that the Liberals are actually going to follow through on their campaign promise (re-affirmed in the Throne Speech) that this election will be the last ever election Canadians use “F…
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Promises- Electoral Reform, spending & advertising.
Electoral Reform is probably the most called for item on the democratic reform agenda, and I suspect will be the most difficult to keep from being a very divisive promise given the strong opinions held by various individuals and citizen groups across the country. The promise is to:-
Form an all-party parliamentary committee to bring recommendations to Parliament on the way forward, to allow for action before the succeeding federal election. Ensure that electoral reform measures – such as ranked ballots, proportional representation, mandatory voting, and online voting – are fully and fairly studied and considered. And within 18 monthsbring forward legislation to enact electoral reform.
I will cover the various possibilities regarding the types of voting systems in future posts, despite having written on that subject several time in the past I have some new thoughts as to the suitability of some of the proposals (in particular the much vaunted ‘proportional representation’). For now all I am going to say that I am very pleased that this proposal call for ALL systems to be “fully and fairly studied and considered” and that voting methods such as on line voting (and hopefully other ways of improving ways to vote) will be included in the committees deliberations. I hope that wide consultation will take place with all the ramifications of any proposed system considered, including the effect of more complex ballots upon the voting process.
Repeal the anti-democratic elements in the Fair Elections Act and scrap the Citizen Voting Act, restore the voter identification card as an acceptable form of identification. Work with provinces and territories, and support Elections Canada, to register young Canadians as a part of their high school curriculum. Support voter registration as part of a civic ceremony in high schools, support Elections Canada in proactively registering Canadians from groups that historically have lower voter turnout.
Given some of the problems identified by voters during the election its pretty clear that the entire voter identification system needs a major overall and modernization. Various government agencies both federal and provincial have multiple databases with our information in which they check our electability for various programs, make sure we pay our taxes etc etc but seem unable to maintain an accurate list of voters. Much of the problems encountered stem from the necessity to vote at a particular location, perhaps an updated system can eliminate that need. And YES, lets give our youth and other non voters the tools and information to get them involved in deciding their future governance.
Provide Elections Canada with the resources it needs to investigate matters that threaten the integrity of our electoral process. Ensure that the Chief Electoral Officer and Elections Canada have the tools and mandate to encourage more Canadians to vote. Restore the independence of the Commissioner of Canada Elections so that they are freely able to prosecute electoral violations.
Even before the Conservatives removed much of their powers Elections Canasta was not doing a good job of identifying and prosecuting those (almost exclusively political operatives) who abused the system, whether this was from lack of power or lack of resources is hard to tell but we do indeed need a strong independent body with the power to fully investigate such fraud. Election Canada is such a body, let us give them the tools they need to do their job which should indeed include urging all Canadians to vote when given the opertunity.
Appoint an Advertising Commissioner to assist the Auditor General in providing oversight on government advertising. Proposed messages will be reviewed by the Advertising Commissioner to ensure they are non-partisan and related to actual government requirements. Review electoral spending limits, and also ensure that political party spending between elections is subject to limits.
Create a more inclusive, independent commission that will organize leaders’ debates during election campaigns, with a mandate to increase Canadians engagement and knowledge of the issues.
These three items are all part of the same thing in my view, the ability of those who would seek to represent up, both individuals and partys, to be able to place their point of view and proposals before the public with some measure of “fairness’ as compared with the incumbent partys and / or individuals or partys with resources far in excess of some of their oponents. Elections have become far to much about who can spend the most in ‘advertising’ (although it does not always result in the expected result as we have just seen) and as a result alternative views are all but unheard in the ensuing media war. We know that the Harper regime was using public money to toot its own horn for years prior to the election and this tenancy now seems to be spilling over into provincial governments (at least here in Ontario) so any oversight to check this practice is a good thing. The practice of excluding this or that leader of an established party from national debates is part and parcel of the ever increasing tilt to that “playing field” and must be corrected.
Its hard to say how all this will shake out but each of the proposals are a step in the right direction IMHO, at this point I remain optimistic that our new government and our parliamentarian’s will work together to bring many of these reforms into being. I truly hope that our MPs will put partisan rhetoric aside and agree to strengthen our democratic systems for as we have seen it can so quickly and easily go the other way however we are already seeing some rhetoric that this system or that will benefit this party or that. I do not envy the “committee” on this one!
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