Comments | mzrowan: Dreams of electoral reform in Canada

mzrowan

Dreams of electoral reform in Canada

May 03, 2011 16:02

A lot of my Canadian friends are posting about how upset they are about the Conservatives winning a majority last night, particularly since they only took 40% of the popular vote. I'm right there with you! I was hoping for a Con minority and strong NDP because I want to see electoral reform get a serious discussion. Well, I got 50% of what I ( Read more... )

commentary, politics, canada

Leave a comment

Back to all threads

Fair Vote Canada lightcastle May 3 2011, 20:13:54 UTC

Do they now?

I was just telling Lea recently that I've been feeling the need to do something socially productive...

Re: Fair Vote Canada lightcastle May 3 2011, 20:21:55 UTC

Well, let's see what their reply is. (I'll peruse the rest of the chapter by laws when I'm home from work.)

Re: Fair Vote Canada mzrowan May 3 2011, 20:22:36 UTC

Woot!

Re: Fair Vote Canada lightcastle May 3 2011, 21:09:21 UTC

We shall see.

At the very least, I'll get to rant with some like minded people. :)

Re: Fair Vote Canada misskitty_79 May 4 2011, 08:09:47 UTC

I am intrigued by this too & theoretically, I've got a fair bit of time on my hands...

Re: Fair Vote Canada lightcastle May 5 2011, 17:33:02 UTC

Give me a shout.

Re: Fair Vote Canada horsetraveller May 4 2011, 00:32:34 UTC

Fair Vote seems like a neat idea but I am REALLY not in favour of Proportional Representation.

So all the effort going to convince me of it won't work.

If it doesn't convince me, I'm pretty sure it won't convince anyone who supports the conservative party.

Re: Fair Vote Canada lightcastle May 5 2011, 17:33:38 UTC

Can I ask what, in particular, dislike about PR? (I'm not super fond of it myself.)

Re: Fair Vote Canada horsetraveller May 11 2011, 14:27:42 UTC

I thought I might write a post about it. But haven't yet ( ... )

Re: Fair Vote Canada horsetraveller May 11 2011, 14:31:16 UTC

I am also not convinced by what I see as the underlying message of PR, in that we "ought" to have the parties represented in parliament to the same degree that they received votes, even if they lost each riding.

So a party runs candidates in every riding, receives 5% of the vote in each riding. Doesn't win any. I'd say they aren't very popular. *WHY* exactly do the PR people think that party needs to have a representative in parliament? Same argument if you pick the number at 10% or 15%, still not terribly popular.

Re: Fair Vote Canada lightcastle May 12 2011, 03:31:32 UTC

I think your criticisms are similar to mine. Ultimately it is about what is being represented - PR argues that the whole country is what needs to be represented, with no difference between regions. This is a different tradition to the "representatives from here" idea. Whether it is a better one is a question I am unsure of.

Re: Fair Vote Canada horsetraveller May 12 2011, 12:02:20 UTC

We could argue if it is "better".

At this point, I argue that it is clearly so *different* that I think trying to convince people to vote for it in a referendum is energy that could be put to better use.

Back to all threads