5 Responded To This Post

9450. Glenn Hubbers said on October 13, 2007 at 7:19 pm

Nor am I convinced that Senate reform is even necessary.  I’ve always viewed it as a movement from Alberta to address a problem that wasn’t really there, but to be fair I’ve not thought about the Senate enough to really judge at this point.

9452. Drew Adamick (A PG Liberal) said on October 13, 2007 at 10:19 pm

Thanks for the free publicity, Scott :)

Electoral reform is not an issue that will die away lightly. The problem seems to be that all of those who support reform have their own little pet ideas for reform- so when one proposal is put against the status quo, those who do not like that particular form of electoral reform would vote against it, and, as a consequence, "support" FPTP.

Like I stated in my blog, we have to have a referendum on FPTP before we try ANY kind of reform. Only then can we truly move this country forward to a new democratic electoral system.

As regarding the Senate, while my personal preference would be for an elected one with equal seat distribution per province, it wouldn’t be the end of the world (for me at least), if it remained appointed. Abolishing the Senate, IMO, is not a good idea, for it would leave less populated areas of the country at the mercy of where the "votes" are. Changing the seat distribution is the only necessary thing for me regarding the Senate- does it strike you as fair that Nova Scotia has more senators than BC? All provinces should have the same number of senators in a body based on regional representation (supposedly).

Alberta’s major push for reform is- again, in my opinion- based on the fact that (for the most part) they want Conservatives and/or other right-wingers to stop the Liberal/Ontarian "barbarians at the gate".  Mine is based on the need for a legislative body reflective of balancing the need for regional representation along with sober second thought in contrast to the highly partisan House of Commons.

9461. ALW said on October 14, 2007 at 9:04 am

What? No discussion about the new federal polls out?  Can’t imagine why that might be.

9462. Scott Tribe said on October 14, 2007 at 9:14 am

Plenty of other Liberals and other progressives who blog that have talked about the one single poll from a pollster that generally has numbers more favourable towards the Tories then others, and with polling #’s that vary wildly, so if you wish to troll their sites and at least be on topic, go there.

 Since you bring it up, It doesn’t change my opinion on forcing an election, however.

9484. ALW said on October 15, 2007 at 8:35 am

Oh, sorry. I was just bringing up the obvious point that you salivate over polls to your liking, but ignore ones you don’t like.  But sorry for going "off-topic"

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