For the last 10 years, Stephen Harper has been the government of Canada. I do not mean the Prime Minister of Canada or the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, I mean that he has been the government. Anyone in his party that got in his way was out of the caucus, shuffled to…
It looks like Canada is headed for a Liberal minority government
There are still two weeks remaining until the election. That means that any and all predictions and polls are subject to change. But, at the moment, it looks like Justin Trudeau will be the next Prime Minister of Canada. Éric Grenier’s CBC Poll Tracker still shows a slight seat advantage for the Conservatives. As of…
Canada’s next government should bing back and increase the per-vote subsidy
This year marks the end of Canada’s per vote subsidy. For those who are unaware, the system worked like this: For every vote a party received in a federal election, that party received $2.04 per year for campaigning. This allowed parties to have a small pool of campaign dollars that they didn’t have to go…
Stephen Harper has failed, Canada is still recognizable
Stephen Harper has changed the landscape of Canadian politics, but ultimately he has not succeeded according to his own standards. In 2006 he famously said “You won’t recognize Canada when I get through with it.” The landscape of parts of Alberta are certainly unrecognizable. He has damaged the economy and the country’s international reputation. He…
That the ‘Fair Elections Act’ isn’t fair should come as a surprise to no one
I’ve been getting piles of emails, Facebook messages and invites about the Conservatives ‘Fair Elections Act’. I haven’t really responded to them because, although it’s a terrible bill, I’m not sure there is a point. I haven’t said much about the bill because I feel like I’m repeating myself. Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party…
Harper Government still doesn’t understand the internet
At almost the moment that individual citizens, outside science and the military, began using the internet governments have tried to control and regulate it. The problem, in almost every case, is that they understand neither the culture of the internet or the technology involved. In some parts of the world, as time has passed and…
Keep democracy in our schools
Among Stephen Harper’s really bad ideas in the new budget is Bill C35. It would, among other things, remove funding for the mock election program in schools. Turnout in the last Canadian federal election was 61% and knowledge of current events and civic participation are flagging in general. We need more civic education in our classrooms,…
Harper welcomes last troops home from Afghanistan, while his government screws veterans again
Today the last Canadian soldiers came home from Afghanistan, marking the end of a dark era. Stephen Harper, ever a fan of getting his picture taken with veterans, showed up to welcome them home. The Prime Minister announced that May 9 as a “day of honour” for Afghan veterans. May 9 but definitely not today…
My ideal electoral system and how the current one could be vastly improved tomorrow.
This is going to be divided into two sections. First I will describe what, I think would be, an ideal electoral system and then I will describe one thing that could be done right now, by Parliament, that would vastly improve the system, without the need for constitutional change, voting reform or a referendum. So if…
Please watch your political comparisons, almost no-one is “like Hitler”
Yesterday, I was arguing the advantages of ranked ballot voting, the person I was arguing with was losing. At least I think he was losing. His case seemed to be that as a populist he believed that people were too stupid to handle ranked ballots and that the majority of people wanted the minority to…