Montopedia blogs on electoral reform
published January 2021 to May 2021
Rough PR produced by simple combo of Single Voting and multi-member district -- Puerto Rico (May 28, 2021)
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/primitive-pr-produced-by-simple-combo-of-single-voting-and-multi-member-district-puerto-rico Single Non-Transferable Voting (SNTV) produces mixed representation and thus proportional or semi-proportional representation at the district level. The simple combination of Single Voting and multi-member district creates PR at the district level. Sometimes that district-level PR means an entire jurisdiction has proportional representation. Such is the case in Puerto Rico ...
40 percent of Canadians vote same anywhere
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/40-percent-of-canadians-vote-same-anywhere
Dennis Pilon's book The Politics of Voting raises good point of how PR would fight regionalism.
In every riding, a certain percentage of voters vote for Liberals, Conservative, NDP and Green candidates. This is true if the riding is East, West, North or South. The total of these voters in every riding is about 40 percent - that is overall and in every riding. The votes for the parties in each district is more than 40 percent. But 40 percent is the same in every riding, and that 40 percent is made up of the same proportion of votes for the four parties in each riding.
Canadians from coast to coat to coast are more the same than our elected representation makes us look.
STV -- where voters vote for candidates, not parties -- and where change is fair and not random
Not only do voters vote for candidates under STV but also, because there are multiple open seats, each party slate usually (or always) contains names of multiple candidates so voters have a decision to make as per first preference.
Dual Member Plurality and the Politics of Voting
I read someone saying "The outcome of a dual member plurality system (where both the first and second place candidates are elected) would be close to proportional."
This bears closer scrutiny. I will use Dennis Pilon's book The Politics of Voting, or at least the portions of it I have read so far, as sounding board for the scrutiny.
Effective Voting
An "Effective Vote" is one that is used to elect someone. A vote not used to elect someone is a vote disregarded. There are a great many votes, often more than half, disregarded in First Past The Post elections,
Announcing new book When Canada had "Effective Voting” STV in Western Canada 1917-1971
Now announcing the publication of the first book dedicated to the overall Proportional Representation experience in Canada
Voting-System Changes in Canada Provincial systems
From Pilon The Politics of Voting (2016), p. 81
"Governments may get less, the same, or more support, and still be defeated..."
Dennis Pilon The Politics of Voting. Reforming Canada's Electoral System (2016)
[referring to the alternation of parties in and out of power, that can happen under our non-proportional winner-take-all FPTP election system]
FPTP elections elect by plurality unfortunately - Governments rule by majorities
I think some people confuse what happens in district elections with what happens in government legislatures. And some unusually have the belief that the second is a copy of the first instead of the other way around, which many others, also mistakenly, think is the case.
Majority versus simple lead in votes. Quota produces standardized representation.
I notice that in New Zealand, yes the same place where very fair MMP is in place, the touchstone of our world-wide movement, it is said that receiving a majority of votes is reason for the election of a candidate when nothing of the sort is meant.
"When Farmers Changed Voting" 1921 Alberta
An article on Alberta's historic electoral reform published in most recent Alberta Views is surprising to me. ("When Farmers Changed Voting". June 2021)
UFA election in 1921 opened the door to electoral reform
It is said that the closer a party comes to power, the less it talks about electoral reform. A hundred years ago, Alberta had the rare privilege of seeing a party come to power in part on the promise of electoral reform and to see that government then proceed to do what it had promised.
July 18, 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the election of the United Farmers government.
Vancouver electoral reform
Updated: May 9
An extract from the City of Vancouver website:
"Voting in an election is one of the most important things a citizen can do in their community and country. Voting:
Strengthens our democracy
Gives each and every voter a voice in their local government
Makes us a much stronger community."
However voting only does this if the electoral system is structured to provide these results.
[and present Block voting system is not structured in best way to do this.]
Red Deer's present system not producing widely-approved council but ward election is no fix
Red Deer's Block Voting does not produce high voter turn-out nor large number of Effective Votes
STV for executive elections within organizations as for political elections
STV works fine for election of multiple executive members just as it does in political elections.
The United Farmers used STV for election of multiple directors to its provincial board in 1917-1918 and in 1920.
City PR possible through SNTV -- Give cities the right of self-determination!
Block Voting can be legally switched to a form of "fair representation".
Block Voting is used in many cities today, where multiple members are elected and voters cast multiple votes.
It can be easily switched to fair representation, by adopting STV or SNTV.
Existing election system flawed. Change to PR endorsed -- 1916 but could be any time
Here's a clear and damning look at the existing system in use in the old days. Note that nothing has changed. This should be a clarion call for PR
it is such a continuing theme - You can drop in whatever modern dates you want and the article would still work.
Let's stop the craziness!
Searchable Winnipeg Tribune
Proxy Voting - power based on votes received
In addition to STV as presented in many other blogs, there are other reforms that create btter democratic accountability or reduce damage done by gerrymandering, etc. Proxy Voting is one of these.
Minority governments don't give all power to small parties
A worry of having minority governments is that a small party, representing the sentiment of only a small section of the electorate, will control the process
This is sometimes called the tail wagging the dog
And note that minority government are not only produced under proportional representation - they are often produced by winner-take-all First Past The Post elections
Canada's federal election system - the same as 150 years ago
Canada stands out for being among less than a handful of countries that have had the same political system for the last 150 years.
1987 Ontario election
Updated: 5 days ago
Following the 1985 election, the NDP backed the Liberal minority government.
The government fell after two years.
The NDP was unable to convince the bulk of voters that it should be given credit for the success of the Liberal government that it had supported. But it did receive more votes and a larger proportion of the vote than it had previously received.
However, due to the inefficiencies of FPTP, the NDP lost six seats.
Effective Voting - Pro-Rep in 1898 Ontario book
Updated: 5 days ago
Effective Voting. THE Basis of Good Municipal Government. AN EXPOSITION OF THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION was published by the Proportional Representation Committee of Ontario in 1898.
It explains proportional representation, which at the time meant Single Transferable Voting, the so-called British form of pro-rep
Directions to voters as Ireland adopts STV (1919)
Directions to Voters, Ireland, 1919
" Vote by placing the figure i in the square opposite the name of the candidate for whom you vote. You may also place the figure 2, or the figures 2 and 3, or 2, 3, and 4, and so on, in the squares opposite the names of other candidates in the order of your preference for them." (p. 43)
Proposed reform to British House of Lords could work for Canadian Senate
Updated: 5 days ago
Recent article on need to reform the British House of Lords has interesting parallels with the Canadian situation.
From: “Archaic disgrace”: Elections renew and refresh our politicians but what about our parliaments? Experts call for change on both sides of the border
(Mark Aitken, Sunday Post, April 18, 2021)
“Personally, I would take small steps because they’re the ones that tend to happen.
Aims of 1919 Calgary Strike leaders included reforms to forms of government and elections
The Western Canada Labor Conference held at Calgary, Alberta, March 13, 14, 15, 1919 was a groundbreaking meeting of labour leaders from across the western Canada. At a time when the Russian Revolution was shaking the foundations of traditional politics in Europe, these labour leaders met in Calgary, at the time a hotbed of labour radicalism.
Besides discussing labour issues, the new One Big Union and the use of strikes, even general strikes, the delegates also argued political issues and reforms of the existing - and undemocratic - voting and government systems that Canada workers suffered under
A Made-in-Canada PR system -- STV/MMP
Updated: May 15
Anita Nickerson, of Fair Vote Canada, remarked that
"A made-in-Canada PR system can be designed with the values Canadians care about foremost in mind.
Values such as
fair results,
a representative Parliament,
greater voter engagement, ...
STV/MMP could be a thing. Let's support local-option self-determination!
The recent PR 101 podcast produced by Fair Vote Canada mentions that Fair Vote Canada supports a system where STV is used in the district-level elections of a Mixed-Member Proportional system. The podcast is at:
FPTP's undemocratic results not just "a misalignment." We need PR, said Anita Nickerson
Anita Nickerson, coordinator of Fair Vote Canada, wrote in 2016 that recent elections showed need for PR despite a pundit shrugging them off. (Nickerson, "Under our winner-take-all electoral system, everybody loses", ipolitics, 2016 (online)).
Nickerson:
... "Most Canadians vote to be represented on policy by a local MP who shares their values and will advocate for them in Parliament. ...
By calling the distorted results of winner-take-all voting — and its consequences for Canadians — a “misalignment”, Ms. Smith misrepresents the nature of the problem.
Canada has (somewhat) broken out of two-party straitjacket
Luckily for Canada, we have had a good (not great) record of third parties being elected to government at the provincial level and many federal candidates of third parties being elected to federal office, although no third party has yet attained power at the federal level.
And this despite the use of the FPTP system, which stifles representation of all the parties except the leaders in each district. (FPTP was used in all these elections except for provincial politicians elected through STV in Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg from 1920s to 1950s, rural MLAs in Alberta and Manitoba elected between the 1920s and the 1950s, and a few other cases.
Alberta should be proud of its UFA government
Not only was the Alberta United Farmers of Alberta one of only two provincial governments to bring in proportional representation for the electons of at least some of its MLAs, but it was also collaborationist!
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (Labour) is applauded for reaching out to the Green Party for the formation of a coalition. She did not have to - she already had more than half the seats in the chamber, enough to pass any legislation her party desired.
The Farmers government in Alberta actually did the same thing almost a hundred years ago
Brief on Edmonton Electoral Reform, Tom Monto (2021)
March 1, 2021
Currently, ward elections that use First Past The Post see a majority of votes elect no one, while councillors are elected by a minority of the votes cast. The city's low turn-out of about 33 percent seems tied to this unfair state of affairs. Single Transferable Voting and the related system Alternative Voting (Instant Runoff Voting) guarantees majority election of representatives.
William Wallace on electoral reform (1927)
William Wallace was a British scientist who came to Alberta in 1907 for health reasons - back when Alberta was a sort of health spa. He took up teaching in a school north of Edmonton.
He spent much time pondering social issues and scribbled his thoughts and sent them to government official in Edmonton. They are preserved at the Provincial Archives.
"To meet efficiently the political requirements of the day, the political system of a country demands a dual system of electoral organization - in Neighbourhood groups and Occupational groups, simultaneously
[Occupational groups can be represented but only if compose representation differently than under the geographical district basis currently used in our FPTP elections, where only a single rep is elected in each place and where only one occupation is represented at any one time.]
Manitoba's STV/AV system 1920-1952 - not a failure as reported
Updated: Apr 15
The Winnipeg Free Press was among the first to call for Manitoba to change from the winner-take-all First Past the Post system to a system of proportional representation. In those days, pro-rep meant Single Transferable Voting. STV operated at the district level to see that in each district, multiple members were elected and that the crop of representatives elected in each election reflected the variety of voters' sentiments, by producing mixed representation, representation that belonged to more than just one party.
The Winnipeg Free Press in 1919 not only called for change from FPTP to STV but also put forward a specific proposal of how STV could work in federal elections.
This was reported in an article in the 2011 [Winnipeg] Real Estate News:
In a July 4, 1919, editorial, the Winnipeg Free Press claimed one large constituency should be adopted in each major Canadian city during federal elections, “returning three or more members. Voting should be by order of preference marked on one ballot comprising an alphabetical list of all candidates for this three or more vacancies. In the result a laborite or other minority voting party voting solidly for its own candidates would obtain one, two or three members according to the strength in the electorate and the support it might obtain from the other elements.”
[The system described, where there are multi-member districts but each voter casts just one vote - a transferable vote, is STV. The transferability of the votes is hinted at by saying "the support it might obtain from the other elements."] The newspaper encouraged the Liberal government of Premier T.C. Norris to “apply the Hare system [STV] to one large urban district of this province at the next provincial election ...”
As it turned out, this is exactly what the Manitoba government did as part of its overall scheme of electoral reform.
[The above paragraphs above and the following text is from
Bruce Cherney, "A Different Way of Voting - proportional representation system was once used in provincial elections", [Winnipeg] Real Estate News, 08/12/2011)...
Ease of adopting STV -- district-level PR in three easy steps
Updated: Apr 15
STV in three easy steps!
Single Transferable Voting, a form of district-level PR, is produced simply through three actions:
Matthias N. Forney's book Proportional representation (1900) raises good points
Updated: 5 days ago
Here are some notes from
Matthias N. Forney's book Proportional representation - a means for the improvement of municipal government with reports on the constitutionality in NY of a system providing for minority representation. 1900 .
[Hathi trust has readable copy online] Proportional Representation is advocated - first, because it is fair and just to all parties, and - second, because it is believed that it would promote the cause of good government.
The Group Government ideal and the UFA government's STV/AV system
The theory of proportional representation being pushed today is something like the Group Government concept put forward by Henry Wise Wood, leader of the United Farmers of Alberta, around 1919.
Wood's idea would have had occupational groups - Farmers, Labour, Manufacturers and Bankers - elect their own representatives who would then proportionately assemble in the legislature.
STV an unusual abbreviation. Do you prefer "transferable preferential voting"?
Updated: Apr 14
I have looked through old Alberta newspapers and don't find any use of the term "STV" in newspapers from 1920 to 1960.
STV is the abbreviation of Single Transferable Voting, a system that produces proportional representation at the district level.
How does STV work? How are votes counted? How does it produce such fair representation?
The vote-counting process under STV is straightforward - if a bit time-consuming.
Count all the votes and establish the tallies for each candidate.
This is the First Count.
Calculate quota. ...
Fleming - Essays on Rectification of Parliament.
Part 5 - Essay No. 11 by "Equality" Part A
Essay No. 11 in Sandford Fleming's 1893 book Essays... on Rectification of Parliament was submitted under the pseudonym "Equality".
The author was likely a U.S. writer.
Essay No. 11 by "Equality"
Fleming - "Rectification of Parliament"
Part 4. Essay No. 10 Catherine Helen Spence Chapters V to IX
This blog contains the last half of "Essay No. 10" from Sandford Fleming's 1893 book Essays...on the Rectification of Parliament. Submitted under pseudonym "Southern Cross" it is undoubtedly written by world renowned pro-rep campaigner Catherine Helen Spence of South Australia.
This blog contains Chapters V to IX and the appendices
Tasmania, Ireland, Malta and Canada - a certain commonality - STV
Tasmania seems an outlandish place, but for a good while western Canada was grouped with it.
By 1926 STV was being used to elect legislators in four countries in the world:
- Australia (Tasmania),
- the Republic of Ireland,
- Malta (then a British colony),
-- and western Canada (Alberta and Manitoba)
Fair from the start -- first election of Edmonton MLAs using STV, 1926
Updated: Apr 23
In almost all the actual STV elections in Alberta, vote transfers were not what produced most of the mixed, roughly-proportional representation elected. One or two candidates did change from the first-count leaders as compared to the end result. But most of the proportionality was produced in the simple use of multi-member districts and each voter casting just one vote.
This was seen as early as the first STV election of Edmonton MLAs. The representation elected in the 1926 Edmonton election was very different from the one-party sweep of Edmonton seats in 1921.
STV Pro-rep does not use complicated math nor should it, stated Robert Tyson, 1904
Updated: 5 days ago
Robert Tyson, a leader of Canada's pro-rep movement, wrote in 1904 that
"The bane of pro-rep has been the complexities introduced by those who aim at an impossible and needless mathematical accuracy. In most actual STV elections the candidates who head the poll on the count of first choices are those ultimately elected...
Therefore the transfers are of secondary importance. The essential point is the use of the single vote and multiple-member districts...
Library of Parliament "Elections and Ridings" only about successful candidates and riding boundaries
Funny thing.
Maybe it is just me but I can't get any election results out of the Library of Parliament website.
Only whom is elected.
If the Parliament thinks that that only the names of those who are elected are election results, then that is a shame.
Elections are about how people vote - not just whom is elected - in my mind anyway.
How do we know that those who are elected actually got more votes than any other candidate?
How do we know whether or not they got a majority of the votes in the district?
Either way they are elected. But it is a telling thing about the state of our democracy if many are elected without the support of a majority of voters in the riding they run.
Wetaskiwin federal riding -- since 1958 Conservative after Conservative. Is FPTP to blame?
The Wetaskiwin federal riding went from electing a labour/farmer radical to Conservative after Conservative after Conservative. Could some of this be due to the First Past the Post voting system that we have used in federal elections since the mid-1800s?
"No-hope" districts in Alberta elections. Drayton Valley, Grande Prairie are examples.
With First Past The Post winner-take-all elections in single-member districts, one party takes the seat in some Alberta districts over and over again. The voters who cast votes for others are constantly and continuously ignored.
Being constantly ignored, many stay home, partly causing the low turnout in today's elections in these "no-hope" districts. Or sometimes they narrow their choice on just a single opposition candidate, thus misrepresenting their actual sentiment. Or they vote just for the party that wins the seat without historic exception.
But only through shown inefficiency, by the presence of a massive number of Ineffective un-used, ignored votes, will our present electoral system be changed.
Alberta's Senators undemocratic from 1888 to the present
Rutherford, not McIntyre, Strathcona's "first elected representative"
Updated: Apr 24
Unlike what some people appear to think, Strathconians - and Albertans in a wider sense - had elections before Alberta became a province
[A.C. Rutherford was “Strathcona’s first elected representative in the new Province of Alberta", not McIntyre.]
Does districting matter? The case for city-wide districts
Grande Prairie suffered from low voter turnouts. This was particularly true when the city was split between two districts, with half in GP-Wapiti and half in GP-Smoky.
Only 27 percent of the eligible voters in GP-Wapiti came out to vote in 2008 and only 30 percent in GP-Smoky that same year.
Perhaps the low turnout was partially caused by the unnatural splitting of the city between the two districts.
BC referendums in brief -- 2005, 2009, 2018
BC's referendums on electoral reform
Unfortunate 2018 BC referendum question set by the Fraser Institute
It seems the 2018 BC referendum question was set by the Fraser Institute.It was unduly complicated. In 2005, 58 percent of the electorate had voted in favour of reform, including a majority of voters in 77 ridings out of 79, on a simple question of change or not. But it was overruled by a government that itself had been elected by only 58 percent of the vote in 2001 -- and was re-elected to majority government in 2005 with only 46 percent of the vote!
But in 2018 the referendum was a complicated two-step question with the last question being decided by transferable vote among three options each having two parts.
And we see that the Fraser Institute had suggested the style of question. This is not surprising as it generally opposed democratic reforms
So many reforms so little time. the Bright Line Watch survey
Notes from
"American democracy at the start of the Biden presidency"
Bright Line Watch January-February 2021 surveys
Four broad types of political rule
expert rule (“Having experts, not the government, make decisions according to what they think is best for the country”),
strongman (“Having a strong leader who does not have to bother with Congress and elections”),
military (“Having the army rule”), or
democracy (“A democratic political system”)
Mot U.S. survey respondents supported democracy.
Experts were asked their opinion on several reforms. Note that many are already in use in Canada...
Pro-rep could be Notley's legacy xwork
while Alberta's NDP shied away from proportional representation when it became clear it had a chance to win in 2015, perhaps this time could be different. It's an idea that aligns with the party's own values and beliefs, and its implementation could help break the hammer-lock that conservatives tend to have on Alberta politics by helping the NDP attract votes in the one place it needs them most: Calgary.
In order to form a government in 2023, the Notley NDP needs to do at least as well in Calgary as it did in 2015
[!!!!]
Single Transferable Voting - Executive Summary
Single Transferable Voting ...
What tells us representation in one place is proportional but representation elsewhere is not?
Many people bandy about the term "proportional representation."
But how can you tell representation is proportional or not?
[much on minority rep produced by district contests]
Charter Challenge for Fair Voting 2021
Let our votes count!
All voters have equal rights under our Constitution!
Here's a message copied from a recent email:
The Animal Protection Party of Canada is considering intervening in Charter Challenge for Fair Voting.
Pro-rep is good for all parties. Time to bring it in before the next Alberta election
This letter to editor - in slightly abridged form- was published in Edmonton Sun, so thanks to the Sun for that.
=================================================
RE: "Polls a Wake-up call for Kenney, NDP leader says" (March 20, 2021)
Edmonton council an example of minority rule. Single Voting/multi-member wards are solution
In Edmonton's last election (2017), seven councillors (out of 12 in total) were elected with only a minority of the votes in their wards.
In most of these wards a combination of only two other candidates' votes, if it have been made possible and if voters had voted that way, would have overwhelmed the leaders' lead, and in those cases if they happened they would have seen someone with more general support be elected to represent the ward residents on council.
2017 Edmonton city election flawed due to ward system (March 28)
Edmonton city elections are conducted in 12 separate electoral contests.
This division into 12 different contests, and the division of the voters into 12 different sections, means that:
many votes are wasted --- more than half the votes did not elect anyone
many voters are disregarded --- more than half the voters did not see their choice elected
some voters cannot vote for whom they want to see on city council because they happen to live in a different ward,
it does not produce the election of the most popular candidates -- those who get more votes than others may not be elected.
This list of the 21 people who received the most votes in the 2017 elections -- yes elections, as there was not just one but 12 separate contests -- showed how unfair the election system is -
a person who received 5282 votes was not elected while a person who received 3455 was.
Is a country that uses First Past The Post even a democracy?
Updated: Apr 2
Here's what one acquaintance says:
------------------------------------
I think a good way to position a call for electoral reform might be to relate PR to why we are failing Canadians and the world on climate change, justice, healthcare, peace and prosperity ...
New Nfld gov't false majority, example of minority rule
Liberals won the recent Newfoundland and Labrador election, receiving a majority of the seats but with only 48 percent of the vote. Liberals won 22 out of the 40 seats so a false majority government was produced.
Lesser Slave Lake Prov. District gives impression of gerrymandering
Updated: Mar 29
Consider for example how the Lesser Slave Lake provincial constituency covers, in addition to two towns, 11 First Nations Bands, three Metis settlements and the entire rural municipality of Opportunity, also parts of three other rural municipalities (as reported in the Alberta Views, March 2021).
You would think if farmers were gathered together in a rural municipality, it would make sense to move them as one into a provincial district. The failure to do so leads some to suspect gerrymandering.
...
Average of 6 candidates running in elections now, FPTP's Achilles' heel
Our present First Past The Post voting system works best - wastes the fewest votes on average, produces the representation of the larges portion of voters - when only two candidates are in the running.
But on average more than six candidates run in each district in today's federal elections.
For that reason we need multi-member districts where a large number of seats allow the range of sentiment among district voters to be represented
Finally a book on Canada's overall PR-STV experience
(April 2021)
Now announcing the publication of the first book dedicated to the overall Proportional Representation experience in Canada
When Canada Had "Effective Voting" STV in Western Canada 1917-1971
68 pages. Photos. Tables. Lists. Timeline. $6
Supplementary Voting
Updated: 5 days ago
Supplementary Voting is a short-cutted STV system.
Majority support is required to win.
Voters mark first preference and one back-up preference.
Votes are counted.
If no candidate receives majority in the first count, all but the two most popular candidates are eliminated, and reference is made to the backup preferences marked on those ballots. With only two surviving, one or the other will necessarily have a majority when votes are then counted
Seattle's recent electoral reform, to runoff elections
Seattle has diverse city council (as mentioned in the blog about Kshama Sawant).
It was perhaps coincidental that Seattle's diverse council is the result of the first time council members were at least partially elected by wards in more than 100 years. I say it may be coincidental because certainly FPTP contests in single-member wards do little for diversity in Edmonton today.
On terms "at-large", "Block Voting". But know this, STV is not always foe to local representation
I may be accused of being technical about term "at-large" as used in phrase "at-large districts," versus term "multi-member districts." The distinction though is important. In Canada no STV elections were at-large, except for some - and not all - elections of city councilllors. Apart from those exceptions, STV was district-based, ie. to elect local reps ...
Kshama Sawant -- Seattle Socialist city councillor -- elected despite waste of votes, lack of STV
Recent Seattle elections have produced diverse councils. This is not due to STV or proportional electoral schemes. But apparently a more politicized culture and a more visible divide between classes.
By 2019 two political groups had emerged ...
Single-member districts are foe of representational governments
Updated: Mar 21
Here's a U.S. writer on how the U.S. must get away from its single-member districts if it is have a chance to elect representational governments.
https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/its-the-single-seat-districts
I so agree. The same holds true for Canada
Klein Tory cuts, windfall of seats beyond popularity, then Alberta rolls in dough, 1993-2006
[Talking about] "Klein’s first government in 1993.
Yes, there were big cuts back then, initially to get the budget balanced and then to pay down the $23-billion debt.
Yet it wasn’t Klein who initiated this agenda. That was Liberal Leader Laurence Decore ...
Alberta sales tax - a gift to the rich
Recently I was involved in a discussion on how proportional representation would put a small party in control behind the scenes and how if such a small party wanted it could force in a provincial sales tax.
I responded thusly:
Much as I want to see the Alberta government address its problems in new ways and I believe PR would help it do that, I would not be in favour of PR if it actually meant that 10 to 20 percent of the people who want a provincial sales tax would be in the driver's seat.
While PR is sometimes known as minority representation, that is not the way it operates - it is majority rule, not minority rule. ...
Pro-Rep and Alberta Sales Tax
Updated: Mar 21
Those who think a minority government may be pushed to bring in a sales tax in Alberta - and applaud such a development - have probably not considered the full ramifications.
New Brunswick's lopsided 1987 election ignited calls for reform
Calgary Herald, Nov. 1, 1987:
New Brunswick's lopsided election created skepticism of value of "one riding, one representative" electoral system
The lopsided 1987 New Brunswick election -- when the Liberal party won all the seats in the Legislature -- re-ignited calls for PR.
Pro-Rep and Alberta Sales Tax
Updated: Mar 21
Those who think a minority government may be pushed to bring in a sales tax in Alberta - and applaud such a development - have probably not considered the full ramifications. ...
Politics does not produce cut and dried rules
There are rules and then there are rules.
There has been much written about respect for authority in Canada and sometimes it is in the shape of comparison between this country and the U.S.
My view is that here is more trust between government and the people in Canada than in the States.
But at the same time that has be to be juxtaposed with these phenomena ...
Soft approach is best said Nellie McClung of the WCTU
Updated: Mar 23, 2021
As wisdom passed on from one generation to another, we can learn from what Nellie McClung wrote in her autobiography The Stream Runs Fast.
One anecdote concerns what Nellie herself learned from Louise McKinney ...
Hooper -- Winnipeg's STV survived its first severe test, 1920 (Feb. 22, 2021)
Ronald Hooper :
"Under the first severe test, the Winnipeg voting in the provincial election, proportional representation has been proved practicable when applied to any large city, according to R.S. Hooper, honorary secretary of the Canadian Proportional Representation society.
Mr. Hooper had charge of the counting of the ballots and states that the result should eliminate many of the objections held against the general adoption of the plan.
...
St. Albert Gazette -- Canada's not so fast electoral reform
Updated: Mar 13, 2021
From the St. Albert Gazette 2016:
Not so fast: a history of electoral reform in Canada
For nearly as long as Canada has been a country, there have been those looking to change the electoral system.
Feb 12, 2016 11:00 PM By: St. Albert Gazette
MMP as Sifton proposed in 1919
Feb. 22, 2021 (Updated: Mar 16, 2021)
Clifford Sifton, a Brandon MP who served as the Minister of the Interior (1896-1905) under Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, endorsed proportional representation at the federal level.
He proposed a PR plan to have two-thirds of the MPs in the House of Commons elected in single-seat constituencies and one-third elected on the basis of party popular support
The New U.S. "National Party" and Pro-Rep, 1917
[probably from Proportional Representation Review 1917]
The New "National Party" and P. R. In the tentative platform adopted by the Convention in Chicago on October 3-5, 1917 which founded the new National Party, is the following plank on proportional representation:
Proportional Representation:
In a democracy the obligation of the minority to abide loyally by community decisions carries with it the right of the minority to participate in community decisions....
How a landmark bill could enhance democracy in the US (blog dated Feb. 21, 2021)
Author: Michela Palese Posted on the 16th February 2021 Electoral Reform Society (UK) website The 2020 US presidential election and down-ballot races were a success for democratic participation. The presidential race saw a record number of people – over 158 million US voters – turn out to vote and the Senate run-off elections in Georgia in early 2021 broke the turnout record for runoff races in the state. Many US citizens took advantage of the early and mail-in/absentee voting opportunities introduced in many states as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, concretely demonstrating the importance of improving access to democratic participation. ...
LETTER: Proportional representation, because it’s 2021
From readers Ann Remnant and Sjeng Derkx Nelson Star Feb. 19, 2021 This February marks the fourth anniversary of Justin Trudeau’s broken promise on electoral reform. It was a key campaign issue, repeated over 1,800 times, then abruptly abandoned. Trudeau was by no means the first politician to break his electoral promise. William Lyon Mackenzie King promised that 1921 would be the last election under FPTP. Pierre Trudeau said “I would support a system of proportional representation.” Conservatives Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney once spoke passionately and eloquently in favour of electoral reform. The Alberta NDP, led by Rachel Notley, ditched proportional representation just months before they won the election. Politicians of all stripes have supported electoral reform while in opposition, only to abandon it when they get a taste of the raw power of majority government. In contrast, decades of opinion polls and studies have shown strong and consistent majority support for electoral reform from regular Canadians, across party lines.
More on Quotas and Effective Votes as percentage of whole As seen in the table below, the number of votes that makes up quota hardly grows at all as a multi-member districts is given more seats. From a two-seat district to a ten-seat district, quota rises only 60 while the number of votes in the district goes up by almost 2000. The portion of Effective Votes grows magnificently from a minimum of 2/3rds in a two-seat district to a minimum of 91 percent in a 10-seat district, assuming all successful candidates win with full quotas, the Droop quota is used and there are no exhausted ballots.
New Zealand opens door to City STV and Maori wards (Feb. 16, 2021) New law that will allow cities and municipalities to bring in STV or Maori wards, both geared to providing representation for groups within cities. check out: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/124258793/how-the-law-on-mori-wards-was-drawn-up Here is core of the matter: the N.Z. law affirms the right of “fair and effective representation for individuals and communities”. ... In the body of the act, effective representation is defined in terms of “effective representation of communities of interest”.
2020 New Zealand election -- how MMP worked
Updated: May 9 New Zealand has used Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) since 1996 to elect members to the New Zealand Parliament. But finding clear information on the elections there is difficult. This blog is an attempt to address this. An easy way to picture MMP elections is this explanation : ...
Miniature MMP election for illustration purposes
Updated: Feb 16 Here's a miniature MMP election for illustration purposes.
==================================================
Explaining MMP
There was a convention of 100 delegates. 38 delegates were from A 19 from B 20 from C 10 from D 8 from E 5 from F. They need to elect an executive ...
1919: "Most Pressing Problem - improvement of our democratic system"
From the Toronto Star, reprinted in the Edmonton Bulletin, August 20, 1919 "The most pressing of our national problems is the restoration of public confidence in our governing bodies. That problem can be solved only by prompt action of social reform and by the improvement of our democratic system. ...
Vancouver to get Citizens Assembly on Municipal Electoral Reform! [REPRINT] GREEN PARTY OF VANCOUVER CELEBRATES PASSING OF KEY ELECTORAL AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM MOTIONPublished Feb 11, 2021 9:35 AM MEDIA RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 11, 2021 VANCOUVER, B.C. - The Green Party of Vancouver celebrates council passing Motion B.6 Local Elections: Review and Reform at last night’s city council meeting. The motion was introduced by Councillor Pete Fry and is aimed at bolstering the strength of democracy at Vancouver City Hall through enhanced civic engagement, a renewed Independent Election Task Force, and more robust conflict of interest and digital campaigning rules. ...
David J. Parker targets FPTP in Alberta Views letter
Updated: Feb 18 David J. Parker of Edmonton presented the case for electoral reform in a letter in the March 2021 issue of Alberta Views. After demolishing the argument put forward by a contributor in an earlier issue that oil and gas will come back into favour to provide the economic base for an Independent Alberta, Parker went on to say -- "Coupled with that myth is another -- that Alberta is a solid blue, unanimously conservative province. After all, didn't we elect federally all but one Conservative in the entire province in the 2019? Yes, but that is purely the result of our antiquated (first past the post) electoral system, which allocates every seat to the candidate with the most votes in their riding. If ever we become a proportionately represented country (as Trudeau promised pre-2015 and reneged on post-election) you would see a sizable number of NDP, Green and Liberals in our fair province."
Indigenous representation secured in New Zealand. Canada should be just as good
Updated: Feb 11 Several options come to mind of how to provide fair representation to Indigenous voters in Canada and in Alberta. One is to copy the Maori electorate districts used in New Zealand. Another is non-contiguous districts composed of Native reserves. Another is a system of guaranteed seats allocated as part of a general election. Another is the filling of separate Indigenous seats added after the main district election is conducted. Another is like the Maori electorate elections but held at-large with no districts, sort of a top-up of Indigenous seats. Of them all, I prefer the system where separate seats are filled after the main district elections are conducted, which I have named the "Indigenous seat" system. ...
Bill Kardash, Communist Party MLA in Winnipeg William Kardash (1912-1997) William Kardash of the Communist Party was elected in 1941 as one of Winnipeg's ten MLAs (elected through proportional representation). He was elected as a Workers' Candidate, as the Communist Party was banned. At the time many Communists were interned in detention camps. In a piece entitled Election Handbills of a Spanish Civil War Veteran by Kaarina Mikalson (an attachment to the Wikipedia article "William Kardash" article), Mikalson noted: "According to the Columbus Centre, Kananaskis Internment Camp #130 was built in 1939 as a work camp for “enemy aliens.” Prisoners included German merchant marines, German Canadians, Italian Canadians, and Canadians belonging to the Communist Party. ...
Proportional Analysis of 2019 Alberta Election
Updated: Feb 20 Proportional Analysis The so-called United Conservative Party took 72 percent of the seats with only 55 percent of the vote. They were due only 48 seats based on their proportion of the vote but won 63. The NDP took 28 percent of the seats although it was due 33 percent if we go by their vote totals. It won only 24 seats instead of the 29 its percentage of the vote should have given it. The Alberta Party with 9 percent of the vote got no seats, although it was due 8 seats. No seats were won by the multitude of lesser parties, none of which got more than one percent of the vote. ...
"Extremism" and fair representation (Feb. 8, 2021) The old line was that if under STV if an extremists were elected to just a couple seats, they will be sidelined and mostly ignored and their supporters thus trained if they want notice to elect something more mainstream. That was before media began to blow things out of proportion or anyways before media had the ability to communicate to tens of millions a one time. But still I am optimist that proper social programs - themselves a natural product of democratically-elected governments - will address the unrest that allows rise of crazy "out-theres" in large numbers. A friend tells me that intra-party competition - candidates of the same party competing in the same election such s happens under STV - tends to work against extremist candidates who have to face off against other extremists. Being paranoid or having an ingrained confrontational nature, they fight all comers and make no friends. So there could be a psychological disadvantage to being an extremist in an STV election ...
James Litterick Winnipeg Communist MLA James Litterick (1901-?) James Litterick was elected to the Manitoba Legislature in 1936. He was elected to one of Winnipeg's ten seats, the seats filled through STV proportional representation ...
Alternative Voting not necessarily a gateway to STV As anyone reading my blogs probably already surmised, I am a big fan of Single Transferable Voting (PR-STV). Some reformers though think it best to move from the First Past The Post to the system known as Alternative Voting (RCV in the U.S.). Alternative Voting (AV) is like STV in that it uses ranked allots, but unlike STV it does not produce proportional representation. AV has a different take on democracy - that the elected representative should represent the majority. This is different from STV's take, which is that the majority of voters should be represented by a mixture of different representatives. As that sentence implies, AV is used in single-member districts while STV is used in multi-member districts ...
U.S. moving toward federal-level AV, Canada should move directly to federal STV
Updated: Feb 8 "Bills are being proposed across the U.S. to scrap the First Past the Post" by Doug Cowan (from the newsletter of the Electoral Reform League (U.K.), February 2021) Electoral reform is gaining momentum across the USA as an impressive number of state legislatures are considering reforming their local and statewide elections. So far, 30 bills to scrap First Past the Post and bring in [Alternative Voting] (called Ranked Choice Voting or RCV in the US) have already been put forward in states and cities across the country ...
2016 Denis Pilon: How our present system fails us From Dennis Pilon's evidence to the 2016 House of Commons Special Committee on electoral reform (3:40) We have heard from many that there is no perfect voting system but that does not mean that there are not imperfect ones, like First Past The Post, particularly from a democratic point of view. Although we called our system "representative democracy," under FPTP our voting system fails to represent effectively. ...
2020 Democracy Index Canada is #5 Let's Get STV and Do Better!
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/a-fair-and-simple-mmp-system
A Fair and Simple MMP system
Updated: Feb 17 Here's an example of a Mixed-Member Proportional system that combines single-member districts and medium-size districts of 5 to 9 seats each, with an overall "at-large" scheme
- Each city with currently 5 to nine seats would be made into a city-wide district electing the same number of reps. through STV.
- Each city with currently 5 to nine seats would be made into a city-wide district electing the same number of reps. through STV. ...
Dennis Pilon brief to 2016 HofC Committee on electoral reform (blog dated Jan 30, 2021) 1 Brief to Canadian House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform Dr. Dennis Pilon Associate Professor York University July 23, 2016 Relevant research experience My research focuses on the practical workings of, and concrete results produced through the use of different voting systems across western industrialized countries, with particular attention to the political processes accompanying their introduction and reform. My 2007 book, The Politics of Voting: Reforming Canada’s Electoral Systems, is the only single-authored academic work on the topic focusing on Canada, while my 2013 book, Wrestling with Democracy: Voting Systems as Politics in the Twentieth Century West, compares 18 western countries over 150 years examining every case of national voting system reform. Additionally, I have ...
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/democracy-index-2020-canada-is-5
Democracy index 2020 Canada is #5 The Democracy Index lists the world's countries in order of democratic quality. In comparison with our rating last year (see blog "Democrary Index 2019"), Canda is rated higher. Although why that is, I have no idea. Of the countries listed here, Canada is #5 behind only Norway, Iceland, Sweden and New Zealand. The top five show good variety of electoral system - three use party-list proportional representation, NZ is Mixed Member proportional and Canada is First Past The Post. ...
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/globe-and-mail-status-of-women-improved-in-1936
Globe and Mail: Status of Women Improved in 1936 "Canada women continued to extend their best energies towards the solution of political and economic problems of the nation" was the conclusion of a writer in December 1936. The Globe and Mail (Dec. 26, 1936) detailed the status of women at that stage in our history. Suffrage had a double setback. The proposal to extend franchise to women in Quebec was defeated twice in one year and by two different governments. The last session of the Taschereau Liberal regime and the first of the Duplessis Union Nationale both were indifferent to the claims of Quebec women for the privilege of the ballot enjoyed by members of their gender in other provinces and in federal elections. But recognition of Canadian women generally as capable of assuming responsibility in administration of the country's affairs was evidenced in many recent appointments. Nellie McClung was named to governor of the CBC, ..
[!!!!!]
STV article: food for thought and grounds for dispute
Updated: Feb 6 An article in CBC News (Cameon Macleod, September 2019)) got STV wrong. And quite a bit more wrong as well. Macleod wrote on STV: "If a voter's first choice didn't win on the first round of counting, their vote would go to their second choice, and so on until all the seats were filled." Not quite right. Better to say ...
1926: J.S. Woodsworth on a new economic - and political - life Labour MP J.S. Woodsworth in his ca. 1926 book Following the gleam": A modern pilgrim's progress to date!, quoted the following statement: "The individualist system of capitalist production based on the private ownership and competitive administration of land and capital, with its reckless profiteering and wage slavery, with its glorification of the unhampered struggle for the means of life, and its hypocritical pretense of the survival of the fittest with the monstrous inequality of circumstances that it produces and the degradation and brutalization, both moral and spiritual resulting therefrom, may we hope have received a death-blow." And Woodsworth wrote that this was not some Soviet pronouncement but instead the policy of the British Labor Party. His point was that there was a new feeling, a new mood and the old establishment better wake up and take notice. ...
... equal freedom, that general consciousness of consent, and that widest possible participation in power both economic and political, which is characteristic of democracy...."
Woodsworth then asked "But what is this new social order and how it it to be brought in?"
Local representation -- under FPTP WCC; under STV "Save Our Mountain", and Quotas and Waste
blog dated Jan. 25, 2021 Updated: Feb 18
Those who fear loss of local representation if rural STV grouped districts are established should consider that each and every group that has quota within the new larger multi-member district will elect a rep.
We saw that in the blog "A study of votes wasted under STV, or How much is a quota?", where the "Save Our Mountain" group with less than one percent of the votes was pretty much guaranteed to take one seat. That applies to any other local group as well.
Under FPTP, the only way for a small group to win a seat is if it has more votes than any other group in a district, for example more than the local Liberal or Conservative candidate.
While under STV in a three-seat district, any group or party just needs a quarter of the vote in the district to take a seat.
A study of votes wasted under STV, or How much is a quota?
Updated: Jan 26 Under STV, a large proportion of votes are used to elect representatives. But how many are not so used? However much it is, it is less than the number wasted under First Past The Post where 40 to 66 percent of the vote in each district are usually ignored. Under FPTP, only the votes cast for the winner - whether he or she received a majority of the votes or not - are used to elect someone. But how many are not used under STV? Under STV most of the representatives are elected by their vote tally surpassing the quota. ...
A combination of medium-size districts, say of 5 to 10 seats each, with an overall "at-large" scheme works to provide fairness for all types of parties and groups, while still ensuring proportional representation ...
... A maximum practical size would be 150,000 square kilometres or seven seats, whichever comes first. (Nine members could be taken as maximum seat count, if preferred.) Thus, a new rural multi-member district could have 200,000 voters (seven times an average of 30,000 voters per old district).
[STV] gives a much better chance to most parties, except for a hyper-localized party that has only sizable support in a small FPTP district. That kind of accidental victory warps and does not improve the effectiveness of our election system...
1919: MP endorses rum ration and representation of extreme views
MP George Andrew (Winnipeg Centre):
"I would just say one word as to the rum ration in the army that has been criticized rather severely by the extreme teetotallers. In my humble opinion it saved tens of thousands of our men from the grave, and perhaps worse. After a man has been out in the water all night and comes in chilled to the marrow, there is no place in the wet trench where he can run up and down to stimulate his circulation preparatory to going to sleep. A little shot of rum at that time restores his circulation and soothes his nerves, and he gets to sleep without any trouble.
I won't speak much along the lines of the "swing of the pendulum."... If you go too far, the pendulum inevitably swings back the other way. ...
[xwork]
Edmonton City Council is unpopular - and always was - but will prob. be re-elected. FPTP is to blame In October , a pollster noted that 38 percent don't want to see the sitting city council re-elected. And how this is big problem. Well, it may be a real problem for the councillors, the few that is who are running for re-election. And it is a problem for voters ...
The couincillors received only 96,000 votes cast while 101,000 votes went to the other - the unsuccessful - candidates.
Seven of the city's 12 councillors were elected with only a minority of the votes in their wards.
...
Proportional representation can be easily formed by forming multi-member wards and giving each voter only one vote. That way no one group can take all the seats in the ward and a number of the substantial groups among he voters will be represented. As well, electing a few at-large councillors again with each voter casting only one vote in the at-large vote would provide another layer of proportionality.
And of course proportionality would be easier still, if Edmonton had more city councillors. 12 councillors to represent a city of almost a million residents is not enough to be able to fairly represent the range of sentiment held by city residents.
2021 is the anniversary of three events in Canada's election story 2021 is the anniversary of three large events in Canada's Pro-rep story.
* 100th Anniversary of United Farmers of Alberta government being elected on promise to bring in electoral reform, a promise fulfilled three years later. * 50th anniversary of the last STV city election in Canada. Calgary elected 14 city councillors through STV, and then switched to FPTP for city elections. By that time, more than 54 years after the first STV city election, anyone old enough to have voted using X voting in a city election would have had to be 75 years old. * 50th Anniversary of election of Lougheed's Progressive-Conservatives. Lougheed's Conservatives received windfall of seats under FPTP. ...
[!!!] [xwork]
Fair Representation Act if passed would bring STV to U.S. federal elections
Updated: Mar 21 Fair Representation Act (U.S. 2019-2020) This bill requires (1) that ranked choice voting (a system in which voters rank candidates in order of preference) be used for all elections for Members of the House of Representatives, [this means preferential transferable voting/ranked ballots] (2) that states entitled to six or more Representatives establish districts such that three to five Representatives are elected from each district, and (3) that states entitled to fewer than six Representatives elect all Representatives on an at-large basis ... The equivalent for Canada could be:
This bill requires
(1) that PR-STV (a system in which each voter casts a single vote and ranks candidates in order of preference) be used for all elections for Members of Parliament in cities of more than 50,000 voters. [this means at least two MPs, I think]
(2) that cities entitled to eight or more MPs establish districts such that three to seven MPs are elected from each district, and
(3) that cities entitled to fewer than eight MPs elect all MPs on an at-large basis. ...
STV would produce more diversity "at the table," on Edmonton city council Recently on the radio, two women lining up to run in Ward 10 in the October city election were interviewed on running for election to what is now a male-dominated city chamber. One of them (sorry, I missed her name) decried the "narrow demographics" now represented on city council. She did not specify what she meant - but it seems it would be middle-aged white men, the most common type on council today. But neither of them called for structural change. A single type of voter can take all the seats across the city under our present system. And a lack of diversity on council is often the result....
A more-fair "diversity at the table" would result if Edmonton had fewer wards each electing four or more councillors with each voter only casting one vote each
Or the city could move to at-large elections but again with each voter only casting one vote each. This would immediately produce mixed representation. Each type of voter could elect its fair share of councillors.
Or Edmonton could mix the two. Have some ward councillors and have some elected at-large....
In addition to having fewer wards, Edmonton would be more democratic if it had more councillors.
[!!!]
STV - what it is, what it meant to voters and why it left provincial and city elections
Updated: Feb 27 Single Transferable Voting (STV) is a voter-driven, candidate-based system of proportional representation at the district level. Each voter casts a single vote, and candidates run in multi-member districts. The combination of Single Voting and multi-member district alone ensures mixed roughly proportional representation in the district.
But STV has another refinement as well - each voter marks his or her first preference and also marks back-up preferences. A back-up is considered only if the first-preference candidate cannot be elected or if the candidate is elected. If the first-preference candidate is elected, un-needed "surplus" votes that would otherwise be wasted are transferred out.
STV is district-based, not overall proportional. But if enough districts use STV, the elected legislature can be quite proportional.
Because STV uses transferable votes, votes can move from candidate to candidate and thus may cross party lines, so the final result sometimes does not exactly mirror the initial party tallies. ...
First Past The Post cheats voters in every province (Jan. 19, 2021) Canada’s House of Commons, elected through First Past The Post in 2019, makes the country look far more divided than it really is.
(copied from Fair Vote Canada website and blogged here in edited form. Any mistakes are my fault. TM) In our four western provinces, the Conservatives won about 53% of the votes, yet Conservative voters elected about 68% of the MPs. Western Liberals won about 21% of the western votes, yet Liberal voters elected only 14% of the West's MPs. In Alberta, Liberal voters deserve to be represented by five MPs, yet our undemocratic voting system threw their votes in the trash. In Saskatchewan, Liberal Ralph Goodale was defeated although Saskatchewan Liberal voters deserved to elect two MPs. In Quebec, Bloc Quebecois voters have cast about 33% of the votes, yet our skewed voting system has let them elect about 41% of the MPs. Quebec Liberal voters cast about 34% of the votes, but they have elected about 45% of the MPs. Yet in fact Quebec has more diverse voices. Conservative voters cast about 16% of the votes, but have elected only 13% of the MPs. NDP voters cast about 11% of the votes, yet have elected only one MP. Green voters cast about 4% of the votes, but elected no one. “I do not see why we should maintain a voting system that makes our major parties appear less national and our regions more politically opposed than they really are” wrote former Liberal leader Stephane Dion in 2012. ...
Fair representation for all through STV and multi-member districts (Jan. 18, 2021)
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/fair-representation-for-all-through-stv-and-multi-member-districts STV is a bold, comprehensive solution to our problems with partisan gerrymandering and un-competitive elections. These problems partially arise from the very fact that we divide voters in separate small districts. A winner-take-all system in which only one person is elected to represent each district no longer works in this era of multiple parties having large groups of supporters in each district. ...
SNTV preferable to Cumulative Voting
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/sntv-preferable-to-cumulative-voting Cumulative Voting for one seems more complicated than SNTV. SNTV seems not complicated at all. Vote for whom you want to see elected the most and the most popular X number of candidates are elected. Simple to see who to declare people elected but with the democratic advantages of single voting in multi-member districts The only complication that comes in is for parties trying to get as many seats as they possibly can. While it has been shown in at least one case that trying to game the system, instead of simple reliance on the voters of a party holding usually splintered opinion of the preferred specific candidate, yields fair results to all.
What is representation? One woman MLA not enough - but in 1920 it was sign of women's growing power
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/one-woman-mla-not-enough-but-measure-of-women-s-growing-power A single women was - and is - not enough. That would just be tokenism. But in 1920 in Winnipeg it was a start. This may be unduly harsh on the white middle-aged men who make up majority of most governments in Canada. But on the other hand gender equality is often taken as goal for progressive government Edith Rogers elected as MLA in Winnipeg in 1920 was not just a woman but also a Liberal and a Metis, as well as so much more,
2021 Pro-rep anniversaries
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/2021-pro-rep-anniversaries 2021: * 100th Anniversary of United Farmers of Alberta party being elected on promise to bring in electoral reform, a promise fulfilled three years later, by adopting STV for election of MLAs in Edmonton, Calgary and Medicine Hat. * 100th Anniversary of the second Winnipeg election in which city councillors were elected through STV. * 50th Anniversary of election of Lougheed's Progressive-Conservatives. With only 46 percent of the vote they took more than 60 percent of the seats. NDP received 11 percent of the vote but elected just one (Grant Notley*), instead of the nine MLAs it was due. *father of our last premier Rachel Notley
Alberta Views published my LTE on Estonia Pro-rep
The Jan/Feb 2021 Alberta Views carries my letter to editor on proportional representation
Entitled "RE 'Online Voting, anyone?'", it refers to a short article in the November Alberta Views on how online voting has been a success in Estonia.
But I point out that it would do Canada more good if we copied a different aspect of Estonia elections - the use of pro-rep...
My point was that not only did STV elect mixed representation but also it eliminated the partisan skewing of the vote by the intentional drawing of artificial provincial district boundaries in such a way as to manufacture waste of opposition votes and to split up voting blocks. ...
=======================================================
Sections of Sandford Fleming's 1893 book Essays... on Rectification of Parliament
Essay No. 11 by "Equality" in three parts:
Fleming - Essays on Rectification of Parliament.
Part 5 - Essay No. 11 by "Equality" Part A
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/fleming-essays-on-rectification-of-parliament-part-5-essay-no-11-by-equality-part-a
Essay No. 11 in Sandford Fleming's 1893 book Essays... on Rectification of Parliament was submitted under the pseudonym "Equality".
The author was likely a U.S. writer.
Fleming - Essays on Rectification of Parliament.
Part 6 - Essay No. 11 by "Equality" Part B
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/fleming-essays-on-rectification-of-parliament-part-4-essay-no-11-by-equality-part-a
Updated: Apr 7 Essay No. 11 by "Equality" Part B From Sandford Fleming's 1893 book - Essays on Rectification of Parliament
Fleming - Essays on Rectification of Parliament.
Part 7 - Essay No. 11 by "Equality" Part C
https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/fleming-essays-on-rectification-of-parliament-part-4-essay-no-11-by-equality-part-b
Updated: Apr 7 From Sandford Fleming's 1893 book Essays on Rectification of Parliament. Essay No. 11 by "Equality" (identity unknown) Part C Chapters 5 to 7 plus Appendix
===============================
Comments