Canada needs proportional representation
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- Will you commit to a balanced approach to copyright reform that reflects the views of all Canadians by pledging »»»
To respect the rights of creators and consumers?
Not to support any copyright bill that undermines or weakens the Copyright Act’s users rights?
To fully consult with Canadians before introducing any copyright reform bill and to conduct inclusive, national hearings on any tabled bill?
That’s what Ottawa law professor Michael Geist asked Canadian politicians to sign.
Another way of putting it might have been: give the people who elected you at least as much consideration as you give corporate lobbyists.
Now the elections are over, Canada has 34 NCMPs (New Copyright MPs) but significantly, not one of them belongs to George W. Harper’s government.
Where they ordered not to sign — or else? Or don’t they care?
Said An Arse in a comment post to Michael Geist’s list of parliamentarians who willingly signed the pledge »»»
That`s sad. Voter turnout was down 6%, Liberal Party seats down, and the Conservatives (who everyone hates) gained more seats.
Worse than that, apparently Harper got re-elected.
On the good side, 34 MPs in office that will fight the MAFIAA is definitely good news.
Don’t know why voter turnout was down when there were more reasons to vote now than any election in the past. Oh well, looks like the Conservatives will continue screwing over Canada for quite some time.
My wife, Liz, and I both voted, and for the first time, and in a response to the Reader’s Write above, “The general consensus is that nothing much has changed, despite a C$30 million expenditure of tax payers’ money on this election,” says Liz, going on »»»
As a person who has never voted before I can tell you I was motivated enough to cast my vote to make sure Harper didn`t get his majority.
And on the question of the low voter turn-out, I`m not surprised people are apathetic when a 1.37% voter swing can give the Conservatives an extra 20 seats in parliament and yet the Greens didn`t get any seats with a 2.33% gain in votes.
I think the biggest message of this election is that Canada needs proportional representation.
Then the nearly one million people who voted for the Greens will feel that their votes really counted. And perhaps many others might be encouraged to vote feeling the same way.
Finally, as tinfoil pointed out, Quebec played a key role in stopping the Conservatives from potentially taking the whole country.
That they are a people onto themselves, nobody can deny.
And, it`s deliciously ironic that Mr. Harper himself initiated his own downfall in that province.
A heartfelt thanks to Newfoundlanders as well.
Stay tuned.
News 1130 – Massive power outage on south end of Vancouver Island, October 12, 2008
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October 16th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Double check those numbers, Jon. $30 million seems very low to me.
Regarding proportional voting, of course the Cons and the Libs do not support it. The NDP & Christian Heritage support it for certain, and I’d be very surprised if the Greens didn’t.
Ontario tried in the last election to change from First Past The Post to a proportional representation system. It didn’t fly for some reason, though I think lack of research on the part of the voters played a very big part in it.
October 16th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Actually the reason it failed in Ontario was that the people in charge of running the campaign to inform people of how it would work, didn’t do a good job of it. I work for an news weekly here and I can tell you.
A. The message the sent out about the system wasn’t clear about how it work (I think it end up confusing more people then explaining it well)
B. They started the process to late in the election campaign to really inform voters that it was on the ballot and a good thing.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:22 am
Why Ontarians said No to MMP:
http://www.wayneon.ca/democracy/Ontario/CutlerFournierGlobe071025WhyOntariansSaidNoToMMP.doc
What Ontarians didn’t know: What was actually proposed, by whom, and why:
http://www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca/en/default.asp