People Aren’t Smart Enough For Democracy To Flourish, Scientists SayThis article touches on a core problem for democracy. But add to this the fact that the corporate media and the corporate parties (Conservatives and Liberals in Canada) prey on this we…
Continue readingTag: proportional representation
CuriosityCat: Poll: Massive support for Proportional Representation
Hat tip to BluntObjects for the LeadNow poll of Canadians’ views about the need to fix our broken electoral system. The poll shows massive support by Liberals, Dippers and Greens for some form of proportional representation (the key plan of the Joyce Murray fix-it-now campaign for leadership of the Liberal
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis: Greens won’t contest Labrador by-election, urge the NDP to also desist
By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: Last week, Liberal leadership hopeful and Member of Parliament for Vancouver MP, Joyce Murray, called for opposition electoral cooperation in the Labrador by-election. To void splitting the vote. To ensure a “progressive win and Harper fail“. The Greens immediately heeded the call and are now challenging the
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Harper’s Permanent Majority through Redistribution & FPTP
A Confederation denied legitimacy Here is a startling analysis of the impact of the recent redistribution, the probability of a permanent Conservative majority in the House because of our archaic First Past the Post system. A must read for everyone interested in politics in Canada. Please pass on this post
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Is Justin Trudeau trying to win the big enchilada on his own?
Justin Trudeau’s Big Enchilada? This extract from The Vancouver Courier just about sums up the fate of electoral reform’s future right now: Political cooperation isn’t a new concept, but University of B.C. political science professor Philip Resnick says it’s worth noting that in both the NDP and Liberal leadership campaigns,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: If Justin Trudeau really wanted to engage Canadians, he would do this
Trudeau: Ideology over science Hat tip to Impoliticalfor this remarkable summary of why Trudeau has decided, in is wisdom, to ignore the wishes of the majority of Canadians for a more democratic electoral system. Read the whole article for the exchange between Trudeau and Murray on proportional representation. Here’s a
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Electoral Reform: The Case that 7 of the 8 Liberal candidates will not or cannot answer
Andrew Coyne – truthteller Andrew Coyne in an article in the Vancouver Sun headed To improve our politics we have to repair our broken electoral system, puts a devastating case forward as to why pre-election cooperation followed by post-electoral meaningful electoral reform is necessary: If you never make the case
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Joyce Murray’s electoral reform proposals are the most democratic of all leadership hopefuls
Joyce Murray – She walks the talk Joyce Murray’s electoral reform proposals are the most democratic of all candidates for leadership. Unlike the others who are simply practising old-style top-down command politics, Joyce is actually walking the talk of participatoty democracy in the party. Her pre-election cooperation idea leaves the
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The Liberal leadership race is between Trudeau and Murray, with a 2014 early election
I decide when … The third debate is over. No-one blew their brains out. No-one surprised the audience. The race will be decided by March 4, when each of the candidates will be able to compare the number of supporters they signed up in each of the 308 ridings, calculate
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Political disengagement in Canada: Why is Justin Trudeau ignoring the obvious?
Trudeau vs Reformer Murray Justin Trudeau told a crowd in Hamilton that a Liberal Party led by him would take steps to reengage Canadians in our political life: The Liberal Party’s first step in a Federal election should be reengaging people who have given up on politics, says leadership contender
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberal Leadership Race: Critical Strategy for Leadnow and Fair Vote Canada
Both are recommending to their tens of thousands of members that they join the Liberal Party as Supporters and vast votes for meaningful electoral reform when voting for the next leader. But there is one startling statistic that should impact their strategy if they really want to be effective, and
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: The Liberals and the NDP Will Assure Another Harper Victory, Unless…
Richard Hughes Political Blogger Chatter in political circles of the centre and centre left variety have been underway for years. It seems that today’s NDP are more comfortable propelling and then propping up Harper than actually cutting a deal with the Liberals. Power players in the NDP inner circles have moved the party
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Justin Trudeau, read Andrew Coyne if you are a bold, serious leader
Andrew Coyne The debate is gathering steam, and Andrew Coyne has posed several questions which every candidate for leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada (and particularly Justin Trudeau, whose father modernized the Canadian democracy almost beyond compare with his priceless gift of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms): Fundamentally,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberal leadership race: Liberal-Green pre-election ceasefire could prevent Harper majority in 2015
MP Elizabeth May MP Joyce Murray was interviewed by the Canadian Press on the possibility of a pre-election electoral cooperation taking place in ridings that choose to do so before the 2015 election. Joan Bryden’s interesting article on the interview includes this comment on the extraordinary significance that such cooperation might
Continue readingCuriosityCat: MP Joyce Murray to kickstart the Canadian debate on electoral reform tomorrow
Joyce Murray – Reformer Tomorrow MP Joyce Murray will be given the chance to kickstart what could be the most important public discussion in Canadian politics in two decades, when she debates the other candidates for leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. Susan Delacourt has an interesting (and must
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Frank Graves writes about the decline of Canada’s middle class – and notes a parallel between the type of economy which tends to produce broad social failure, and the Cons’ familiar obsession with extraction: The other key factor is rising inequality and a
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberal Leadership Race: Joyce Murray’s Electoral Reforms Promise
Joyce Murray – Progressive Reformer MP Murray’s position on pre-election cooperation between the Liberal, NDP, Green and Blog parties in order to remove Harper’s right wing government from power, and her commitment to serious electoral reform, bears repeating in full: Our principal challenge is to give Canada the 21st century
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: The BC Green Party Dictates That The Means Justify The Ends!
Richard ‘Hub’ Hughes-Political Blogger The Greens, often seen and promoted as an alternative to the old line parties are not really all that different when it comes to democratic decision making. They are just as bad as the other parties it seems, well maybe not worse than the BC Liberals who also
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: We Must Restructure Canada To Save It!
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger How long is it going to take before some of the Conservatives MP’s wake up and stand up for Canada? Our PM Steve Harper lies to us with an ease uncommon, even for politicians. Canada is being drained and our nation is up for sale, but why?
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Liberal Joyce Murray, Green MP Elizabeth May and NDP MP Nathan Cullen Have All Called For Co-operation On The Centre-Left!
Richard Hughes- Political Blogger The Chinese curse is upon us. ‘We live in interesting times!’ Although the origins of this pearl have been disputed and dissected by academics the general message still rings true today. Our political parties of the centre left have shifted to the centre right-the centre left
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