This article on the ongoing decline in Canadian voter participation, particularly by youth in the Globe today by Michael Adams, President of the Environics Institute for Survey Research and Maryantonett Flumian, President of the Institute on Governance has been shared by more than a few people I know on Facebook, so I
Continue readingTag: Voting
MY MLA? OL’ WHAZHIZFACE?
I have a question for you, dear reader. What factor was the biggest factor that drove your voting decision in the 2012 Alberta election? Did you base your vote on a platform, a leader, a party, a local candidate or was it a combination of two or more factors? The 2011 Canadian Election Study asked … Continue reading MY MLA? OL’ WHAZHIZFACE? →
Continue readingMy MLA? Ol’ Whazhizface?
I have a question for you, dear reader. What factor was the biggest factor that drove your voting decision in the 2012 Alberta election? Did you base your vote on a platform, a leader, a party, a local candidate or was it a combination of two or more factors? The
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: CBC article on Ontario budget mentions my youth voter registration policy
Yes, this is shameless self-promotion on my part, but hey, my Mom thought it was cool: “The Liberals also plan to revamp the Grade 10 Civics curriculum to get students more involved in their communities and introduce voter registration in high schools.”
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: CBC article on Ontario budget mentions my youth voter registration policy
Yes, this is shameless self-promotion on my part, but hey, my Mom thought it was cool:”The Liberals also plan to revamp the Grade 10 Civics curriculum to get students more involved in their communities and introduce voter registration in high schools.”
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: CBC article on Ontario budget mentions my youth voter registration policy
Yes, this is shameless self-promotion on my part, but hey, my Mom thought it was cool: “The Liberals also plan to revamp the Grade 10 Civics curriculum to get students more involved in their communities and introduce voter registration in high schools.”
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The effect on strategic voting of Wynne ruling out a coalition
Unfortunately, for those of us who think that some form of Liberal-NDP election deal or coalition would be vastly superior to the PCs forming a government with the largest minority, Kathleen Wynne has said that she won’t form a coalition with the NDP. Unsurprisingly, as this move changes the possible
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The NDP email on "strategic voting" is largely nonsense
The NDP has sent several emails to supporters before and during the campaign premised on the idea that the best way to stop the Conservatives is to vote for the NDP. Here is the latest: “This election, there is one simple trick you can use to stop a Conservative majority:
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Riding by riding strategic voting in the 2014 Ontario Election
I’ve always advocated for strategic voting on this blog where we vote based on promoting certain goals given the constraints of both our local riding and the broader election. This can take many forms; for instance, in “safe” ridings where the outcome is all but determined I often advocate voting
Continue readingVoting—the opiate of the people?
A letter to the Deseret News, a Salt Lake City, Utah, daily paper, suggested rather unkindly that the rite of voting in the U.S. is nothing more than “the opiate of the masses.” I was rather surprised to find a quote from Marx in a newspaper owned by the Mormon
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Quebec’s Highly Questionable Voting Eligibility Rules
Students who come to Quebec to study at universities like McGill – as my brother has done – are in a rather uncomfortable position when it comes to voting in the upcoming provincial election. Whether they will be able to vote at all is not easily determined. There is anecdotal
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The "Fair" Elections Act isn’t just bad, its being implemented in a bad way
Changes to our electoral system – changes, that is, to the very core of our democracy – are not to be taken lightly. Regardless of where you lie on the political spectrum, we should be able agree on process. We should be able to agree that such changes must be
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: How to get involved in politics
Politics can be a deeply disenfranchising experience for many people. For an individual, it seems like we have no power, no way of influencing what is going on. So we can grumble around the dinner table about what the politicos are doing in Ottawa and Washington, or we can ignore
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: Common Ground voting is closing soon, support my policy on Encouraging Youth Voter Participation and Improving Civic Education!
http://commonground.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Encouraging-Youth-Voter-Participation-Improving-Civic-Education/13731-25935 It’s on a Liberal website, but I think it’s a good non partisan idea that could have a positive impact on youth participation in the electoral process. Many American states allow for youth voter pre-registration, so this isn’t a radical idea – it works in other places, why not
Continue readingPop The Stack: Conservative Party Does Not Believe in Equality of Voters
This fascinating and scary post just showed up on the FairVote Canada Facebook page: The Conservative version of equality. Bigger picture below. A couple of things to notice here and I’ll just leave it at that. They’re Worried The Conservative party is worried about what the NDP and Green Party
Continue readingPop The Stack: Conservative Party Does Not Believe in Equality of Voters
This fascinating and scary post just showed up on the FairVote Canada Facebook page: The Conservative version of equality. Bigger picture below. A couple of things to notice here and I’ll just leave it at that. They’re Worried The Conservative party is worried about what the NDP and Green Party
Continue readingLeft Over: The Revolution will Start, With or Without Me….
Russell Brand’s Epic Interview With BBC’s Jeremy Paxman Just Might Start A Revolution (VIDEO) The Huffington Post | By Ryan GrenoblePosted: 10/25/2013 4:11 pm EDT Many have seen Russel Brand’s remarkable interview with Jeremy Paxman, either on TV or YouTube..if not please go to the HuffPo article cited here and see it..the best ten
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: Haven’t had a chance to vote for my idea on Common Ground? Take just a minute to support youth engagement and better civic education!
My idea is ranked 40th out of over 1000 ideas suggested, and is in the top 10 for the education section. To vote, simply sign up and agree with the idea!
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: Brush up on my youth democratic participation and civic education policy in time for provincial council!
With provincial council coming up this weekend, here’s a brush up on my policy that got prioritized by the Ontario Young Liberals at Summer Fling back in August. Here is a blog post I wrote outlining some of the stats and evidence behind this policy, and why I think it would
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: Final version of my policy to be presented at Summer Fling: Encouraging Youth Democratic Participation and Improving Civic Education
My original policy had some friendly amendments for clarity and language, so here is what I’ll be presenting at Summer Fling this weekend: Encouraging Youth Democratic Participation and Improving Civic Education (Provincial) By: William Norman, Mississauga South WHEREAS – The lowest voter registration rates are for young voters 18-24
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