Like many Canadian activists, I am currently being bombarded with emails from Leadnow and Avaaz, pushing their “Cooperate for Canada” campaign. We are being urged to join the political party of our choice, then to encourage the parties to “cooperate” in the next election, in order to defeat the Conservatives.
Continue readingTag: proportional representation
Pop The Stack: Demanding Leadership on Democratic Reform
I’ve been offline and travelling for a while if you’ve been wondering about the radio silence (I know, unlikely). But I’m back now, living for the next two years in the self-declared “Greatest Democracy on Earth™”. We’ll see if they have any better luck than we are having up in
Continue readingPop The Stack: Demanding Leadership on Democratic Reform
I’ve been offline and travelling for a while if you’ve been wondering about the radio silence (I know, unlikely). But I’m back now, living for the next two years in the self-declared “Greatest Democracy on Earth™”. We’ll see if they have any better luck than we are having up in
Continue readingCuriosityCat: What NDP members should learn from the recent Quebec plunge
The bottom is falling out of the support for the NDP in Quebec, as recent polls have shown: The NDP nosedive in Quebec shows no signs of slowing down. With a steep drop in support among francophones, the New Democrats are now only one or two points ahead of their
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The Ultimate Solution to Electoral Reform in Canada
Yes indeed, I do have the ultimate solutions to all of our electoral system problems and I will share them with all of you. Now some of you might think this is too comprehensive and complicated to propose all at once, but for voters it will be just a simple
Continue readingYappa Ding Ding: Reflections on Activism
People keep saying that 2012 will be the year of protest in North America – the year when ordinary people rise up and demand better treatment from government elites. I’m all for that. I think it’s crazy that Canada doesn’t have stronger employment laws to protect employees, that we don’t
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: We Must Stop Stephen Harper and the 20% from Destroying Canada
There has been lots of discussion about how Stephen Harper’s majority only represents 40% of voters because of the way our electoral system works. But, in reality, his agenda has much fewer supporters. We must remember that the Conservative Party is a coalition. It is not a coalition in the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Dr. Dawg views the latest attacks on workers by employers in Canada as a new front in all-out class warfare. And the New York Times notes that some of the main policies being pushed by the anti-worker side serve absolutely no purpose other
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On top priorities
I’ve already linked to Postmedia’s story setting out Brian Topp’s first set of democratic reform priorities. But let’s take a look at a couple of the proposals in a bit more detail. To start off, I’m not sure anybody else has pointed out the significance of Topp’s plan to “introduce
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Some good reasons for supporting Brian Topp
If he really introduced proportional representation, then he would be a revolutionary prime minister, and go down in history as one of the great ones: Make no mistake: with Brian Topp at the helm, a vote for the New Democratic Party in 2015 will be a vote for change. The
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberal Party of Canada Values – A Comparison
Liberals will meet in Ottawa in January to debate the values underpinning the Party. So far, there are two documents which Liberal attendees can review to decide this question: the Preamble of the Constitution, and the section The Liberal Mission Today, from the Background Paper drafted by the National President
Continue readingCuriosityCat: My Forecast for the next 18 months
Based on events taking place right now, and on trends I think I have spotted, The Cat is going out on a limb with the following forecasts: Israel will strike Iran’s nuclear plants. Iran will retaliate with missile and other attacks on Israel, and on US citizens and interests in
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: The Progressive Party of Ontario is Fundamentally Unrepresentative of Ontarians
Just about all of the pco seats won in the recent election are in rural ON, and all of those elected seem to be white. How representative of the people of Ontario are the Hudakians when they clearly lack ethnic diversity and are so deeply concentrate…
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Simulation of Ontario Vote Suggests Proportional Representation Has Merit
Voting system affects outcome, simulation finds – Ottawa – CBC News
This experiment is fascinat…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberals, let’s make Steve Janke eat his words
National Post’s Steve Janke thinks we are doomed. He thinks we will shrivel up and die:I have to wonder, therefore, if there is a cure for what ails the Liberal Party. The same dynamic that pushed the NDP up and up is driving the Liberals down and down…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Ontario voters wishes thwarted; McGuinty government’s legitimacy questionable
So less than 50% of Ontario voters cast a vote, while half of them voted with their feet by staying home. Wonder why this happened?The system once again failed to deliver democracy to Canadian voters. McGuinty is whistling past the graveyard, trying to…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Adam Radwanski warns that Ontario’s voters can’t afford to stay home from today’s provincial election.- Jim Stanford calls out the Harper Cons and their right-win echo chamber for their baseless and gratuitous …
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Powerful reason why Horwath should support PR now: her party is bleeding votes
The latest EKOS poll shows one dismaying finding that Andrea Horwath should respond to if she wants to end up on Friday in a position to influence the way the province is going to be governed for the next 4 years.The EKOS poll shows substantial bleedin…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: How NDP Andrea Horwath could secure PR within a few months
The latest compilation of poll of polls by threehundredeight shows that it would appear that Liberal support is solid, PC support is sliding, and NDP support is on the rise.The 308 projection is as follows:And this leads 308 to the conclusion that the …
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Ontario election: NDP Horwath blows it
With polls showing a minority government possible after this Thursday’s election, Hudak has started a Harper-clone drumbeat of “the socialists are coming” by talking about a vote for the Tories versus a vote for “the two of them” (being the Liberal and…
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