Don’t let them out of downtown without thinking about BC-STV

Hey there.  One more day to go.  Tomorrow is the big vote and we’ll see if the forces of reason win out over the forces of fear and lack of information (its a weak force )

Take  a look at the events map, there are some people planning to cover skytrains in vancouver and maybe bridges too so that no one can get home tonight without having to think about BC-STV again, at least for a second.

If you haven’t already, take a look at this video from Christy Clark, former Deputy Premier of BC and current host on CKNW.  Be sure to rate it with five stars and leave a comment. This has drawn some attention and some people think it may be turning the tide in our favour.  We’ll see tomorrow night.

Response to Globe Article on BC-STV

The Globe and Mail has had a few articles recently on the upcoming referendum, some fair and some quite uninformed.  The following is a recent response I sent in to one of the more reasonable articles that still needed a few comments:

Re: Residents to vote on election reform

The explanation of BC-STV given by Greg Jones is on the whole fair and balanced except for two points. 

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.  

Electoral Reform News from Around the Web

A few updates on interesting stories I’ve come across around the web in the past day or two about electoral reform.

Close but no cigar.

The Ubyssey campus newspaper had an interesting article on voter apathy today.  They rightly point out that the low turnout in the recent election was not just apathy it was a symptom of a deeper malaise about the nature of our democracy. 

What’s wrong with our vote?

Read this great article by Eric Nadal in the Ubyssey.