Ontario election aftermath & is it time for mandatory voting?
It was a fascinating result last night in Ontario (I say that as someone interested in political science, not as a Liberal partisan). It’s not often in a First-Past-The-Post electoral…
Electoral Reform
Screwed Up System Almost Screws Ontarians
Well we seem to have dodged a bullet, but just barely. The first past the post system did its usual magic and almost produced a majority of seats with less…
Another Victim Of FPTP
From the coverage of the Manitoba election:McFadyen added that his party was the victim of a cruel numbers game under the first-past-the post election system."Under any other circumstance we would…
Quebec Desreves Everything?
The NDP Brian Topp a man who is running to lead the NDP is proposing that the province of Quebec be given 25% of the seats of the house of…
Happy Democracy Day, Canada! Or Is it?
Happy Democracy Day Canada! Wait, what? That’s not even…huh? That’s right, Sept. 15 is the International Day of Democracy. The fourth annual! Apparently. I know, I hadn’t heard of it…
Happy Democracy Day, Canada! Or Is it?
Happy Democracy Day Canada! Wait, what? That’s not even…huh? That’s right, Sept. 15 is the International Day of Democracy. The fourth annual! Apparently. I know, I hadn’t heard of it…
Democracy week Sept 12-18
The United Nations has declared September 15th the International Day of Democracy. Fair Vote Canada is expanding the day to Democracy Week, September 12th to the 18th. The week, according…
On missing the point
Mark Watton has been leading the charge against sections of the province’s election laws that allow people to vote when there is no election. On the face of it, the…
Politics, Re-Spun on Coop Radio, September 5, 2011
Spending Labour Day with Imtiaz Popat on “The Rational” on Vancouver’s COOP Radio, talking about Christy Clark’s revocation of a pre-2013 election date , the end of the HST, the…
Morning Show addendum
Our political panel on the CBC Morning Show was a bit of fun. Thanks to former Premier Tom Rideout and Dr. Holly Pike for putting up with me and, of…
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,…
Compounding the abuse #nlpoli
It wasn’t bad enough that the province’s special ballot laws make a mockery of democracy. For the 2011 general election, the province’s elections office is opening 12 special offices across…
National Popular Vote
We all know that the current electoral system is broke in the U.S . In 2000 Al Gore won the Popular vote and he still lost the election. 2000 wasn't…
Nurturing a democratic revolution
Public life in Newfoundland and Labrador remains as fundamentally undemocratic as it ever was. Paternalism remains the order of the day. As three sitting members of the House revealed, they…
Why 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…
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…
Stephen Harper and the Canada Elections Act
11 years ago today, Stephen Harper filed a Statement of Claim with the Court of Queen's Bench in Alberta, demanding that numerous provisions of the Canada Elections Act which related…
Grounds
Me on Twitter, May 28, 2011 (limited to 140 characters):It appears that smarter people than me seem to agree:Here's University of Ottawa Professor Errol Mendes, cited in a Toronto Star…
Weekend update(s)
Some different stuff, starting this weekend.(a) I just gave blog contributor status to my better half, Ruth. This could end very badly. The road to hell is paved with good…
NDP On Quebec
The NDP leader Jack Layton said that Quebec would just need 50% +1 to be it's own country. That is just crazy. You can't just destroy and split up a…