There’s an excellent new democratic voting tool designed to show us what the upcoming Ontario election would look like under different voting systems. Although we can reconfigure actual election results using different electoral systems, those “what mi…
Continue readingTag: proportional representation
CuriosityCat: Ontario NDP’s Andrea Horwath can remedy the democratic deficit, massive poll says
We are close to the wire in the race for a new provincial government in our most populated province, says a massive new poll. The chances right now are high that neither the Liberals nor the Tories will win a majority.And the NDP will emerge as the one…
Continue readingPrime Minister introduces proportional representation bill
In a move that surprised absolutely no one, the Prime Minister today unveiled a new bill to reform Canada’s ‘First Past the Post’ electoral system that will have its first reading next week. Since coming to power in 2006, the Tories have complained th…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- Libby Davies weighs in on what comes next for the NDP:(Jack Layton) had a vision for Canada that was about inclusivity and fairness, and he was willing to work with others to make this happen.However, …
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Realigning Canada’s Political Spectrum
Canadians have traditionally held social democratic values while supporting centrist political parties. Canadians support universal single payer public health insurance, public pensions and a social safety net, all of which, at the federal level, have …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: A different story
Yessiree, the conventional wisdom goes, Canada’s political parties are all the same. Especially the NDP, which having reached Official Opposition status is sure to abandon any pretense of principle when it comes to, say, electoral reform. (Especially n…
Continue readingWhy we should not hold a referendum on proportional representation
It seems that every time the subject of changing the voting system comes up, we automatically assume that a change must be sanctioned by a referendum. I increasingly feel this is a mistake.We have experienced three referendums on the voting system in t…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament In Review: June 14, 2011
With the debate over Libya taking up the time for debate, yesterday didn’t see quite as much of a range of issues discussed as some previous days. However, there’s still plenty of material worth noting from the day’s events.The Big IssueObviously, the …
Continue readingMy take on Senate reform
We need the Senate, but not as it is now. The current Senate is far too inefective, inefficient, and undemocratic. I don’t agree with Stephen Harper much, but I do agree with him when he says the Senate needs to change. What makes something democratic?…
Continue readingPaper Dynamite Online: In Defense Of The Worst Idea: Senate Reform And Proportional Representation (sort of)
Yesterday, Gerald Caplan wrote an op-ed for the Globe and Mail titled "Electing the Senate: worst idea in the history of the planet." I’m sure, if push came to shove, Mr. Caplan could probably come up with an even worse public policy. For starters, he may want to read his party’s Sherbrooke Declaration, it’s chalk full of earth shatteringly stupid ideas.Putting the hyperbole aside – his, not mine
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Just wondering…
…but can anybody else remember a case of proportional representation being used as a boogeyman outside of an actual electoral reform referendum?I ask only because Peter MacKay’s plea to keep the Cons’ party constitution as is seems to go way over the…
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Our democracy is broken
In his new job as Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, Jack Layton has pledged to “fix Ottawa.” I’ve taken this to mean he will lead by example in hope of teaching the children to play nicely. I wish him luck. The problem with our democracy goes far beyond Stephen Harper’s well documented contempt for […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: Liberals Turn My Dreams a Whiter Shade of Pale
I just flipped on the radio and Michael Ignatieff is talking about electoral reform. Am I in some kind of Fringe-like alternate universe where my dreams (ahem, remember The Liberal Nuclear Option?) are about to become reality? Well, not exactly. Iggy…I believe you have a large bucket of ice world water for me? I’ve said […]
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The Debate: Canadian Values Win
The most interesting thing I noticed about the debate was where all the leaders, or at least all of the federalist leaders, agreed. These were on what I would consider to be the most basic of Canadian values, but values that many of us suspect are not …
Continue readingPop The Stack: The Liberal Nuclear Option
I’ve suggested this before but here it is again in brief, can anyone explain to me what the downside of this would be for the Liberals? Nuclear Option: The Liberal party makes a statement in the last two weeks of the campaign such as If we form government, our party will put forward legislation to […]
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Democracy Election
While thousands worldwide sacrifice their lives for the right to free elections Canadians complain about having one.That is not to say there are no reasons for some Canadians not to want an election. Certainly if you support the Reformatories you have …
Continue readingPop The Stack: I Believe in Toronto
As a temporary exile from the Centre of the Universe I don’t get a vote in this week’s upcoming municipal election. But I do have a stake. Toronto is my home, it’s where my heart lives and I intend to return and live the majority of my life there. So here’s what I believe about […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: Democracy Around the Galaxy: A Hitchhikers Guide
In celebration of 42 day this Sunday here is an entry I offer from Pop The Stack for inclusion in that most remarkable of all books ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The subject is an introduction to some democratic systems in use around the galaxy. This should […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: Spectorvision is Skewed on UK Election Lessons for Canada
I’m not sure what Norman Spector of the Globe and Mail is trying to get at with his recent article about the coalition situation in the UK. He points out that the coalition seems quite stable for now given their agreement on a fixed term election: So Britons have been spared the leaks and jockeying […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: Democracy is a Canadian Tradition
Just a housecleaning post with a bunch of random stuff I’d like to get out there. Canada is awesome and Vancouver’s not bad at all, at all. This site went over 8000 reads today due to a post from last year entitled Canadian Traditions. It shows the big human flag from Victoria’s Canada Day celbrations […]
Continue reading