The System is Broken but it sure is entertaining

This may be a good moment to clarify what’s good and bad about our democracy.  First-past-the-post is horrible and misrepresents the will of the people.  But parliamentary democracy is just awesome.

Discrimination? Wards are not the best answer

Kashmir Dhaliwal is correct. Vancouver’s block-voting electoral system does
discriminate against ethnic and political minorities, and Vancouver does
need a ward system. However we must be careful not to substitute one broken
system for another that is almost as bad: The FPTP system we use
provincially.  

It’s time for an electoral reform uprising

Where electoral reform and STV have been defeated, it has often been due to extensive mis-information campaigns right before the referendums by established interests with deep pockets. 

MP for UBC’s Federal riding named Democratic Reform Critic

via Joyce Murray, MP, Vancouver Quadra

Vancouver’s Municipal Election Results: A Lesson in Disfunctional Democracy.

The recent municipal election results illustrates how under our current voting systems election results ironically depend more on which parts of the political spectrum are united than on what voters actually want (This applies provincially and federally as well)!

I wrote an article about the recent municipal election that has now been published in the Ubyssey, the campus paper of UBC.

By: Bruce Krayenhoff

Competition and Choice: As Important in Politics as in the Market

By Bruce Krayenhoff and Eric Nadal

Previously Published in the UBC Graduate Magazine

Ujal Dosanj’s recent comments illustrate why I am again and again disappointed by elected politicians.

US election recap

Ten days after the US elections, the votes are still being counted in several states.  Preliminary estimates show a turnout of about 61.4% of eligible voters, the highest since 1968, which, combined with Canada’s historic low turnout in its recent federal election, means that for the first time in recent memory the US actually had higher voter turnout than Canada.

Meet the Candidates

FairVoteUBC interviews the candidates for Electoral Area A in Vancouver, never heard of it you say? Read on.

Municipal Electoral Finance Reform: It should be the AMS’ top lobbying priority.

Honestly, I haven’t been paying too much attention to the municipal election.  It’s just that the issues I care about most are not apparently being championed by any party, or even by the AMS.  Sure the AMS is trying

Lest We Forget

Today is Remebrance Day.  There are ceremonies all around the city and across the country today commemorating those who have died in past and present wars.  UBC has