Glenn Hubbers

Elections to the EU parliament were held this week.  I have to admit that I’ve not really been paying too much attention, or really even know how their electoral system works, other than that is it a Proportional Representation system.

But the twittersphere and my google search for “Green Party” sure have been busy sending updates.

Of all the comments I read so far though, I like this one the best: (emphasis mine)

THOMAS KLAU, Center FOR EUROPEAN REFORM:

“The most striking feature of the election results, and I’m speaking, of course, as of now, is the fact that the center-left parties across Europe, the Social Democrats and Socialists have not been able to give a plausible answer, political answer, to the economic crisis.

“We haven’t seen … a far-right wave washing across the European continent. That has not happened.

“The rise of the Green Party has been striking. The Green Party are the one political force in the EU that has (been) closest to creating a true European political party, a true European political movement … with a political message that is strong and plausible, pro-European, that looks for European answers to the big problems the world and European society are facing, starting with climate change, of course.

“This is something that a substantial part of the electorate has welcomed. The success of the Greens, I think, is a clear indication there is a substantial part of the electorate that responds positively to European parties that give a European answer to the big problems of the day.”

Glenn Hubbers Europe Votes!, Proportional Representation

The results of the BC election yesterday come as no surprise, although I am thoroughly disappointed in the results of the referendum on electoral reform.

That said, I am not particularly a fan of the STV system on the ballot. I think that the opposition movement made a lot of good points about the downsides of this proposed system.

THAT said, it’s still so much better than our completely skewed FPTP system that, had I lived in British Columbia, I would have voted for the change.

Which brings me to my main point here. What is the proper means to discuss and achieve (assuming that the majority agree on the need) a change in our electoral system?

I believe we need a 2 referendum approach.

First off, there are many people, I think the majority, who understand how wonky our existing First-Past-The-Post system is or at least agree on it’s weaknesses within a 2 minute conversation. This system in which parties can achieve majority governments with less than a majority of votes, and potentially (yes, it has happened) with fewer votes than the opposition party does NOT give us the government we want.

So the first question to be asked in a referendum is, “Do you prefer our existing FPTP voting system or would you prefer a more proportional system.”

This simple to explain as the second option merely means that the makeup of the legislature would reflect the popular vote.

You could even add a question on there such as, “Do you think it is important to maintain an element of local representation?” This is for information purposes to be used later.

Assuming this first referendum passes, and I think it would pass by a large margin, they we should commit to changing the system. The citizens assembly would then propose their top 2 systems (without releasing which was 1 and 2) and hold a second referendum to choose. But at this point, FPTP would be off the table. It would be done no matter what.

Note: You could do this with multiple voting systems on the ballot as long as the vote was to rank in order of preference, but this is just confusing the issue so I would not recommend it.

This way people could argue the merits of the two systems on their face and you would not have people who want reform falsely appearing to support FPTP.

Unfortunately, with the results in BC yesterday, proponents of FPTP will be arguing that people prefer it over electoral reform, and I think this is very likely not true.

Glenn Hubbers Proportional Representation

Elizabeth May was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of supporters at the Hockey Hall of Fame as her Green Train arrived in Toronto on Wednesday September 24.

The trip, plus the fact tha the via train was hours late, was made in part ot highlight one of the central theme’s of the Green Party’s campaign which is the dire need to invest in rail infrastructure in Canada.

Doing so would address both climate change / greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector, as well as provide a system for travel that is less dependant on depleting oil resources that our current method of moving ourselves and our products, cars and truck.

Here’s the speech in it’s entirety.  Sorry, had to break into two parts due to YouTube limitations.

Glenn Hubbers Canada Votes!, Climate Change, Elizabeth May, Green Policy, Proportional Representation, Strategic Voting, Transportation

Today started with a bit of catch up on emails after the weekend, and also to get my Twitter account working with my Wordpress site.  I’m still trying in vain to submit responses to the Make Poverty History web site.  If I hit the deadline and can’t make it work, I’ll have to email my responses.

The CPAC interview today went well.  They are doing a profile on what they are calling the “post Belinda riding.”  We spent a bit of time filming as I talked to folks in a local coffee shop, and then went for a walk in the Aurora Arboretum for a Q&A session.  This was much better than last election, when it was about -10C. They promise to let me know when it will air, though not having TV I’ll have to find a way to see it.

I spent the afternoon going to Crossland Public Elementary School to address what I thought would the the Grade 5 civics class.  Turned out to be a full on all-candidates debate with Tim, Lois, Dorian and myself in attendance and it was for the Grade 5 and Grade 8 classes.  I was a bit late since I didn’t know that Mollie had an appointment at the same time, and we only have one car.

The kids asked some great questions about the economy, environment, costs of post secondary education, our policy to legalize marijuana, transportation, tax shifting, the whole deal.

Since the format was not made clear, I was not aware of the expectation to make a 5 minute opening statement until asked to do so, so I had to wing it.  And this is a synopsis of what I said:

I’m pretty certain that all of you have heard enough and seen enough to know that all of the parties that we four represent have policies on all of the issues, such as the economy, the environment, poverty, health care, education, etc.  And I’m sure that we all sound the same when we say that our policies are the best.  And the Green Party certainly does have policies on all those issues and I certainly do think they are the best ones.

So I could say pretty much the same thing that you’ve heard before.  But rather than bore you, I’m going to use this time to talk instead about something different, something that I’ll bet none of the other candidates here are likely to have said before I arrived.

And then I used the remaining 4 minutes talking about the antiquated First-Past-The-Post system that they are learning about in class, that there are other systems in other countries, and that the Green Party is committed to electoral reform so that by the time they are old enough to vote, their vote will actually mean something.

Glenn Hubbers Canada Votes!, Green Policy, Proportional Representation