Introduction
The Canadian Senate is an unelected body. Senators are chosen by the prime minister. Under the Constitution, the Governor General appoints Senators, but by the constitutional convention of responsible government, the Governor General must take the prime minister’s advice concerning Senate appointments ( Read more... )

Introduction
The Supreme Court of Canada heard a case last month whose result will affect the next century of Canadian history. The issue is the interpretation of Part V of the Constitution Act, 1982, the procedures for amending the Constitution of Canada ( Read more... )

In the Supreme Court of Canada hearings on the Senate Reform reference this week, one of the lawyers was asked how Canada could be transformed into a dictatorship, would it require unanimity of all the provinces, or just seven of them. (In the video, via CPAC, watch the interchange from time 71:00 to 76:20 ( Read more... )

This week, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear a reference case about the procedures necessary to effect Senate reform. This is the first time the SCC will take an in-depth look at the meaning of Part V of the Constitution Act, 1982, which sets out the procedure for amending the Constitution of Canada.

What follows is a chart of the position taken ( Read more... )

Last week, British Columbia reran the referendum on electoral reform that was held four years ago, and it is remarkable how different the results were.

In 2005 (link), 57.7% voted in favour of switching to STV, and in 77 of 79 districts a majority voted in favour of switching to STV.

In 2009 (link), 38.7% voted in favour of switching to STV, and ( Read more... )

Clearly the vote-counting process of STV is more complicated than that of FPTP. Is STV therefore too complicated? My answer is no.

First, vote-counting in STV is less complicated than you might think; you can figure it out within ten minutes by reading my earlier posts ( here and hereSecond, for voters, deciding how to vote in an STV election would ( Read more... )

I am disappointed with the web sites of the official campaigns on both sides of the referendum:

http://stv.ca/ (supporting a switch to the STV voting system)
http://nostv.ca/ (supporting retention of the current first-past-the-post voting system ( Read more... )

In 2005, British Columbia held a referendum on replacing the electoral system ( Read more... )