Crawl Across the Ocean

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Tell 'Em Ed

Ed Broadbent makes the case for updating our archaic election system.

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posted by Declan at Wednesday, October 15, 2008

5 Comments:

  • Can we please try something simple and doesnt-require-constitutional-change-y like instant runoff ballots or acceptance voting before moving to eliminate local repreentation?

    By Blogger Jon Dursi, at 6:40 AM  

  • Dear Sir

    Mr Broadbent's column only proposes greater proportionality in general, but of the two systems to attain this that have been proposed in Canadian provincial referendums, under the STV proposed in British Columbia legislators would still represent local ridings -ones several times larger than at present but still smaller than many regions people identify with, and probably many would draw support mainly from subsections of their riding (as at present -but the rest wouldn't be shut out)- and under the MMP proposed in Ontario most legislators would still be elected from single-member ridings (though somewhat larger ones) as at present.

    Yours Sincerely,
    Alan E. Dunne

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:37 PM  

  • "...Trudeau invited Broadbent to his office for a chat. The NDP had captured 26 of its 32 seats in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and B.C. with about one-third of the vote. Trudeau said he would introduce legislation for proportional representation if the NDP would co-sponsor it.

    According to well-placed sources, Broadbent said he would take the proposal to his caucus. The answer was no.

    Broadbent told the prime minister NDP MPs were afraid of losing their seats. Trudeau declined to forge ahead alone."
    - http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/columnists/f_russell/story/4233002p-4874606c.html


    Don't expect reform from any of the parties in power benefiting from it, or even the NDP. The vote splitting is beneficial in that this is getting talked about, there's not going to be reform until the parties that can win seats realize they're getting hurt badly by the current system.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:58 PM  

  • Barring a stroke of luck (such as Chretien's implementation of campaign reform) electoral reform won't happen until public support for the idea is so strong that politicians are forced to catchup to the public will on the issue.

    Bringing around smart folks like Jon by patiently explaining that any form of proportional representation brought in in Canada would retain local representation is the place to start.

    I hadn't heard that before V, interesting if true.

    By Blogger Declan, at 6:10 PM  

  • I just heard it last week myself, actually

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:15 PM  

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