Politics

When Not in Rome…

When in Rome, do as the Romans do, they say. Well, we aren’t in Rome. Perhaps Ottawa is our Rome. Well, I’m not in Ottawa either. I don’t remember that idiom having a line to tell us what to do when not in Rome, but I think I will assume we can go ahead and be ourselves.
So I’m going to talk about a strange new idea. Don’t worry, my strange is very different than Ottawa election strange. It also isn’t actually a new idea at all, but a fairly old idea. Old enough that it counts as new because history in this day and age is ancient history.

Eying the Public Face that is Facing the Public Eye

Well, a chill is in the air. Not the weather, I mean the federal election. It could be that the chills are the thrill of living in a democracy and flexing our democratic authority like few in history have been able to do.
No. It’s the chill caused by measuring the reality of the election against that potential.
Given the timing of this posting you might worry that I’m going to blather on about Justin Trudeau in blackface. I won’t do that! Just kidding. Of course I’m going to talk about that.

How to Get There from Here: Bridging the Electoral System Debate – Part II

The Liberals came to power with a promise that 2015 would be the last election with the stodgy old electoral system. So here we are! On the dawn of a new age! A new and exciting election system this fall!
Well, something happened on the way to the bank, I guess. Proportional representation was just a bridge too far. Where we should be going is more like an intersection than a bridge.