A Broken System
Angelo Perischilli and I share few opinions. But this morning, I find myself heartily agreeing with him. In today's Toronto Star, he writes that Ruth Ellen Brosseau can "take credit…
Electoral Reform
Why Cats Elect Dogs
Alternate Voting - or AV - will have massive implications with respect to voting in Canada (and will hopefully marginalize all of those who vote for dogs instead of cats).
The Landslide Election Victory That Isn’t
I initially had a vague plan for this post but have decided to go with whatever comes to mind to create an election commentary medley of sorts. Actually, it more…
First-past-the-post creates a conservative English Canada vs. a progressive Quebec
The NDP scored a number of firsts for itself in the 2011 election: the first time with seats in the triple digits, the first time as Official Opposition, the first…
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…
Hobbits for Electoral Reform
Dear Wise Races of the United Kingdom of Middle Earth, Please forgive a humble Hobbit for bothering you but I just wanted to write about an urgent matter of democracy.…
PoliticsRespun.org Election Night Liveblog, maybe
Tonight’s the night many of us have been waiting for – whether it be because we trudged to a poll today, stood in line with credit card bills, drivers licenses,…
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…
A Compendium of My Prime Minister Layton Posts
I’ve enjoyed writing four pieces about the Prime Minster Layton concept in the last 2.5 years. Originally, it was a wishful thinking hyper long-shot in a prorogation crisis at a…
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…
Debates, Debates, Let’s Have More Debates!
Most of my current students are too young to remember the now infamous election debate clashes between Brian Mulroney and John Turner. So I like to show them the Free…
Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber Pushing for Two Party System
It started with Ignatieff joining Harper's anti-coalition bandwagon, the common message being that the big boys don't share power with the little guys and it's extended to the push for…
I’d like to vote, but my conscience objects
So we are to have yet another election. On May 2nd we will have the opportunity to exercise our democratic franchise. We will have the opportunity as free and equal…
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…
Tyranny of the Majority
Ok, some somebody doesn’t know what Tyranny means or actually, what democracy means. That somebody today is Scott Armstrong. Here’s the quote from the Globe and Mail article regarding this…
Tyranny of the Majority
Ok, some somebody doesn’t know what Tyranny means or actually, what democracy means. That somebody today is Scott Armstrong. Here’s the quote from the Globe and Mail article regarding this…
Write your MP about the Electoral Reform Motion
This is an email I just sent my member of parliament. If you care about electoral reform you should too. You can find your MP here. Here is the debate…
What does a single vote weigh?
So I’ve got a comment on an arcane voting procedure issue for a current party leadership contest…sounds exciting huh? Everybody gather round! The party is the BC Liberal party. The…
For Richer or for Poorer
It seems that there are still some folks that cannot see the difference between taxpayer funding of political partys by a per vote subsidy and taxpayer funding by tax credits…
Coalition a reality?
With the possibility of an election once again (still?) in the news it was good to see that Gov. Gen. David Johnston has been busy brushing up on constitutional governments…