Election- Tom

From: Tom Haynes-Paton
Date: Mon May 11, 2009 12:04 am
Subject: Do you know what election reform actually means? I didn’t. A 28-min. mini-seminar. tomhaynespaton
Offline
Send Message
Edit Membership

“Tom, what is this ‘proportional representation’
election reform you support?”



I was stumped.



I have been an advocate for election reform
but when asked for details, I found I really couldn’t
explain it beyond the vague need for some redefining of voting districts.



Election
reform in fact has two parts, a
reorganization of voting districts and a radically new, challengingly-complex
but
fair, voting system.



Election reform will eventually come to Canada.
Now is the time to educate ourselves about it.



So please, if you would, take this 28 min. mini-seminar, mainly viewing videos,
on election
reform which I’ve hastily edited together.



Then watch the issue play itself out this
Tuesday, May 12, in the British Columbia
referendum.



For the second time in four years, B.C.
voters will be casting a second ballot during the provincial election that
could fundamentally transform the way they choose their provincial politicians:
they'll be voting on whether to replace the current first-past-the-post
electoral system (Canada, India, UK, USA) with the single transferable vote
(Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Malta, city elections in Mass. and
Minn. etc.). The latter proportional representation system, known in BC as
BC-STV is being recommended by the Citizens Assembly on Election Reform.



A variation of STV in BC in 2005 came
within 2.4% of meeting the 58% threshold the government had set for adoption in
a referendum. The BC Gordon Campbell government has now raised that requirement
for adoption to 60% for Tuesday’s referendum because the Liberals and the
Conservatives favour the present system, winner-take-all, through which we give
the two biggest political parties the freedom to rule alternately without
accountability.



To start the seminar, here are two
overviews of the new reform system by proponents:



First watch the following 38-second spot.
Cut and paste the following.



If you are unable to watch the animation
screen, there is a detailed explanation of the BC-STV system if you scroll down
on this site. Or watch the animated spot and then come back to this page after
the seminar for more details (written material is also cut/pasted below).



1.
http://www.stv.ca/learn



Second, a 6-minute 32-second explanation
and endorsement of BC-STV by a former BC politician and deputy premier who voted
against reform in 2005 and why she has changed her mind.



2,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhccpzI4lbQ&feature=channel



Third, is the
following 3-min. animated explanation of
the present system that we work under in Canada, first-past-the-post. Rather
than “winner-take-all”, I would call it ‘winning-party-takes-all’:



3, http://www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/flash/fptp-full



Fourth, watch the three-minute 30-second animated explanation of BC-STV,
particularly the section on
the new system of tabulating votes. This is challenging stuff and I had to
watch it a couple of times to begin to grasp the new vote tabulation system in
which our vote is not wasted because we have a second choice etc. on the ballot.




Our present system of
winner-take-all democracy is a no-brainer and undemanding of us. Proportional
Representation in Canada will require
effort and responsibility on our part to keep politicians accountable.
Understanding this new proportional
representation system also requires extra effort on our part now. To create real
democracy won’t come easy.



4. http://www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/flash/bc-stv-full



For a more detailed
explanation of the vote tabulation, see the following original Australian
animation (adapted to the BC election)
which filled in some of the blanks in the vote counting system for me.



(optional) http://www.ecsa.sa.gov.au/canada/flash500.htm



Thanks for watching. The
mini-seminar is over!

My thanks to Jennifer Hill of Vancouver/Digby for sending
across country tons of helpful information on the debate going on right now in
BC.



For those of you who
wish to go deeper, below are more information sites on the BC debates including
the opinions of opponents. Also Wikipedia sites on the different systems.



There is also a second
proportional representation system, MMC, used in Germany and elsewhere. MMC was
recommended for Canada in
2004 by the Law Commission of Canada (not adopted) and defeated in
referendums in PEI and Ontario.



So when you go to the
polls in our up-coming NS provincial election, ask yourself if a different
electoral
system might serve us citizens of Nova
Scotia better by requiring our elected officials be accountable to us
rather than to their political party bosses.



Cheers,



Tom
Haynes-Paton-----------------------------------------------------------------