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
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“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-----------------------------------------------------------------

from Klaus and Shirley

Subject: FW: farmers market in Digby & Open Garden Concept tomhaynespaton
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> Date: Fri, 1 May 2009 18:50:27 -0300
> Subject: farmers market in Digby
> From: klausshirley.langpohl@gmail.com

>
> Hi. The workshop with John brought about some interesting thoughts
> about "research"
> and therefore Klaus and I will do a bit of that on the l6th of May at
> the first Digby
> Farmers Market. We wanted to support this initiative ,which will
> result in a permanent
> farmers market in downtown Digby in the following years. We received
> some interesting information from the department of agriculture about
> the amount of
> money a farmer gets for different produce - pennies per pound. No wonder
> the UK farmers are so excited with the very aggressive movement of "sell
direct"
> to the consumer, with all the government support to make sure it
> works. So we will
> give a mini report after the l6th on what we found If there is any brochure
or
> banner, etc to put behind our table (which will be selling homemade baked
beans,
> brown bread, organic honey with the comb floating in it and pizzelles
> which Klaus
> will be making on the spot) please let us know. My sister live in Middleton
and
> could pick them up for us - she actually is the cook in this endeavour!)
>
> Also Greg Turner who is the science teacher in the Digby
> High School, is the head of the Enviro Team there and very open to the kind
> of thing we wish to do in the schools. Warren Paton is his friend and
> if you wish
> to have us help in any way let us know.
>
> FYI
>
> OPEN GARDEN CONCEPT - more than a u-pick - a viable model for small farms
>
>
> The community garden and cooperative gardens have been some of the ways
> people in communities have tried to supply their own food. Our neighbour,
> M&P Farm, is about to do a new innovative twist on this concept and
> we believe that perhaps this model would be of interest to many small farmers
> in Canada. Richard Bridge , a cooperative lawyer and farmer and a member of
the
> BC Center for Social Enterprise was very interested in this project
> and suggested that
> we take pictures all summer and write an article for the Center in the
> Fall. He
> said "it could be a good model for small farms in Canada".
>
> This small traditional Nova Scotia farm has one acre of land ploughed
> for growing
> veggies, and there is a raspberry garden, high bush blueberries and fruit
trees.
> The non-heated greenhouse will hold melons, red peppers, tomatoes and
> strawberries. The family has made a small stand ,up where the garden is, for
> a scale, baskets and bags for holding the produce you pick. This is
> an organic garden.
> They have made a large map of the garden showing where everything is growing.
> . Each member pays $25.00 for a membership card with their name and
> number on it. You can pick what you wish and when you wish from the gardens.
> There is no minimum purchases required in the season.. You pick the
> volume of whatever you wish from the garden and weigh it and clean it
> yourself. You
> register your purchases in a book in the shed and put your number beside each
> purchase. This gives the farmer the volume yield from the garden which the
> members picked, and also a good record of the income brought in from this
> particular marketing strategy.
>
> There will be a limited number of members this year to insure the
> "learning curve"
> to be smooth. Orientation, Newsletters and Shared recipes and a sense
> of community are also
> a part of this program. They see "education" as part of this program also.
>
> Who has joined this Open Garden System?
>
> Seniors who wish to have more variety and less volume of any one thing and who
> live in apartments or who cannot do the work of keeping an entire garden, yet
> wish to still harvest and eat fresh produce;
>
> Summer Residents who wish to eat local, fresh produce, but are not
> here in time
> to put in a garden or who love the idea of picking their own fresh
> produce when they
> want to but want a very flexible schedule ;
>
> Busy working people who simply do not have the time to tend a garden but
> want to have their family still experience where their food comes from
> and eat healthy.
> It becomes a learning experience for the children also.
>
> M&P Farm will still have their roadside stand where they sell the
> produce which they
> harvest and also sell handmade local soaps and other things from their
> neighbours.
>
> The farm is doing experiential tours this summer - showing how to milk their
> Jersey cow and explain the lives of their sheep and where the blue
> eggs they sell come from. She is a "chef" and her future plans are to
> also sell baked goods.
>
> They are in the process of making a website. This is an excellent
> example of the Creative Thinking and transformations taking place in
> our Rural area of the Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve Area.
>
> cheers,
>
> Klaus and Shirley