It seems that NDP interim leader Nycole
Turmel has an issue with representation by population. Speaking about the
upcoming legislation to give more seats to BC, Alberta and Ontario, Turmel
called it “divisive.” The NDP position is already that Quebec should maintain
its current proportion of seats (around 24 percent) even if their population
hasn’t grown to maintain it, and Turmel wants more consultation to maintain
rural, northern and First Nations representation. Err, except that you can’t
keep one some provinces over-represented while still trying to keep others from
being under-represented. It’s called math. Also, there is already a chamber
devoted to representing regions, the north, First Nations, and linguistic
minorities, and in fact, and smaller provinces in the face of representation by
population. It’s called the Senate. Enough said.
In their report on the last federal
election, Elections Canada notes things like the total cost, irregularities,
and the role of social media with transmitting results early. They also want to
do a pilot project test of Internet voting, which in my opinion is actually a
Very Bad Idea. Why? Because it undermines everything we’ve built into the
secret ballot – checking the identity of voters, ensuring that they are not
observed as they cast their ballot, that no one is coercing them at the polling
booth (either by force, intimidation, or with the promise of a bottle of rum,
as was the practice in parts of this country for so many years). There are no
safeguards for someone setting up an “internet polling station” at their local
pub and encouraging attendees to vote for one particular candidate and be rewarded
on the spot. As well, there is a
fundamental accountability of having an X marked on a piece of paper.
Electronic vote counts are susceptible to hacking and perceptions of
conspiracy-theory programming that counts certain votes more than others (whether
this is true or not, judging from the American experience). But hey, why not
undermine the perfectly good system we have in the name of “modernity,” since
that seems to be what we’re all about these days.
What’s that? Our federal “fixed election
date” is going to cause collisions with provincial elections for the foreseeable
future? You don’t say! Can we kindly blow up this useless and
counter-productive (and anti-democratic in that it goes against one of the most
basic principles of Responsible Government) law? Thanks!
The Victims of Crime Ombudsman wants her
reports made public. The government isn’t doing so, probably because the
previous Ombudsman liked to point out that their victims support services
weren’t really backed up by anything substantial. But hey! Tough on crime,
everyone!
Oh, look – the township administrator contradicts Tony Clement’s version of events around the G8 legacy funds. Funny
that.
Liberal MP Hedy Fry held a press conference
in Ottawa to remind everyone that the federal government is not showing
leadership on health care, and has abandoned the goals of the 2004 Health
Accords, like home care and catastrophic drug coverage. Leona Aglukkaq’s staff
responded with a “Yeah, well the Liberals cut transfer payments!” Because
that’s a grown-up conversation.
And Liberal Senator Colin Kenny blasts Harper for simply using the “royal” name change for the navy and air force to
brandish the image rather than doing something substantial about the problems
they are facing in terms of new ships and aircraft.
