A question I'd love Nathan Cullen to pose to the other candidates at Sunday's NDP Leadership debate:

Hypothetical question: Imagine if Elections Canada declared that 20 by-elections need called in light of the robo-calling. Many of the affected ridings in the last election had a Liberal candidate place 2nd behind a Conservative, sometimes by less than a few dozen votes. Would you want to field an NDP candidate in those by-elections, knowing that by doing so, a Conservative could win again, and risking the Conservatives keep their false majority until 2015? Or do you advise NDP candidates in those ridings to support the Liberals for mutual gain, and in so doing, likely allow the NDP to form head of coalition against the Conservatives?

(Potential follow-up: if you accept the sense in the latter strategy, why not allow for cooperation in a general election where individual ridings want to do it?)

Any Canadians who follow me, please read on. I really think this is important.

I think it's fair to say that many of those watching me are young adults, and for the most part fairly progressive-leaning. It's also true that 60% of voters in last years election voted for non-Conservatives, yet Harper holds a majority of seats and is pushing through legislation that is unpopular. Mega-prisons and fighter jets? Pushing through online spying bills and Canada's version of SOPA? Helping corporations, selling out our natural resources, and all sorts of things bad for the environment.

The next election probably won't be until 2015, and with our flawed voting system - which I've railed on about for years - Harper might well win again. But, something's happening now that you can be a part of that I think can change the game tremendously.

The NDP are choosing its next leader after the unfortunate death of Jack Layton.

The candidates are good people, but one in particular is who I'd urge you to look at: Nathan Cullen. He is the only one with a realistic plan to remove Harper from power.

While the other NDP candidates and Liberals are intent on fighting each other as they always have to try to grow their seats - and thereby split the vote under First-Past-the-Post, giving Conservatives seats - Cullen proposes individual riding associations have the opportunity to have joint nominations between the NDP, Liberals and Greens.

One progressive candidate against the Conservative. It can work (see this study). Not a merger. But working together for the common good. And after winning the seats to form a coalition government, Cullen will bring about electoral reform to a system of Proportional Representation.

He's very environmentally-minded (he's been fighting oil tankers and the pipeline plans in his home of northwest British Columbia), fluent in English, French (and Spanish), and charismatic.

Here's how you can help:

• If you become a member by FEBRUARY 18, you will be able to vote for Cullen as the next leader of the NDP.


• Joining the NDP is easy - and cheap. It's $25 in Ontario, but $10 or less in most other provinces. It's as little as $1-$5 if you're age 26 or younger.


• Read his letter on his site.


• Read this story about Cullen


• Talk to your family, coworkers and friends, ask them to join the NDP and support Nathan


• Post to your own journals, Twitter, Facebook, etc. to promote him (he's @NathanCullen on Twitter).

Sorry to get political, but - this is a golden opportunity to set in motion a huge shift in politics in this country, for the better. Please don't be apathetic - this is our future at stake. You can make a difference.

Thank you.

I received a card in my mailbox today for the local Guelph CPC candidate, Marty Burke. It was covered in clips of apparant news articles that try to paint the other leaders - particularly Ignatieff - as horrible people who want to destroy Canada, and show Harper as the only one providing stability.

Rather than just throw it in the trash, I decided to look up the actual articles the clips are from, and try to put them into some context rather than just some choice words on a page. They're probably used on similar campaign materials elsewhere in Canada.

( The cards and analysis... )

In Conclusion...

I would urge everyone to read this article by Lawrence Martin on iPolitics.ca - in it, he discusses the erosion of democracy in Canada under Harper.

Rick Mercer had a fantastic article on Macleans discussing the Harper campaign, which is illuminating about how our Prime Minister and his team conduct themselves.

Also, please look at my earlier post about why I refuse to vote for the Conservative party. Even ignoring Harper's unethical behavior, I feel that the CPC has been acting shamefully with respect to environmental, human rights, and health care policy - and much more.

The Conservative Party of Canada is nothing like the Progressive Conservatives of the past. Harper is creating a dangerous, "presidential" prime ministership with no checks or balances - the CPC is, in a former strategic guru's own words, a "garrison party", basically existing to "go to war against opponents, raise money, and bow at the leader's feet".

I sincerely hope that on May 2nd, Canadians collectively vote "no" to this style of politics. We deserve better. Listen to the polls and mood in your riding, and vote smart - our unfair electoral system unfortunately demands it. With luck, we might get electoral reform soon so we don't have to go through this kind of thing again. :/

I'm sorry, [CPC-Candidate-Name]. You might be the most likable person in the world, but I cannot in good conscience vote for you.

The Conservatives first came to power railing against alleged corruption in the Liberal Party, but since taking power Mr. Harper has made a history of unethical conduct: the "In and Out" election campaign financing scandal (whereby they broke the law to spend more than legally allowed in a past election); covering up torture of Afghan detainees; funneling money into a Conservative-held riding under the guise of G8/G20 hosting expenses; defending Bev Oda's modification of an already-signed CIDA memo... and lest we forget, the Conservatives were found to be in contempt of Parliament for evasiveness and outright lies to committees seeking information about budget expenses (the first time any Commonwealth government has been found in contempt).

In addition, they've racked up a huge deficit (squandering a surplus left by the previous government), yet want to lower taxes, spend billions on overpriced fighter jets and prisons (regardless of fact that crime is on decline in Canada)... while slashing human rights and environmental budgets (did you know that the subsidies to oil-sands companies is now larger than the budget for Environment Canada?). We've lost international standing with the loss of a UN Security Council seat, and are constantly the target of derision by other nations for Harper's attitude towards climate talks and policy. Harper has fired good scientists who speak out against his policies, which in unconscionable to me. Harper has talked openly of dismantling our public health care system, and doesn't respect a woman's right to choose, nor likes gay marriage.

Sadly, many Canadians don't seem aware of all of this. But they should be.

So I apologize, but a vote for you is a vote for Harper's continued abuses of his power and against the ideals that I value. I've been torn about who to vote for, but I do know our electoral system is deeply flawed and needs reform. My hope is that traditional conservative voters will realize that the CPC isn't working for the best interests of Canada, and we can get a government that better reflects our ideals.

Thanks for reading.

_{I posted a similar entry earlier, but this is re-worded for a letter to my local paper. Feel free to use bits of it and write to your own papers!}

The Conservative party (which had the most seats in Parliament, but not quite enough for a majority), led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, was brought down by a non-confidence motion by the other parties (Liberals, Bloc Quebecois, and NDP). Harper's government was found to be in contempt of Parliament for evasiveness and outright lies to committees seeking information about budget expenses (the first time any Commonwealth government has been found in contempt).

( more... )

Thanks for your time.

Dear Mr. Ignatieff,

In your recent statement, you said, "This election is not just an exercise in democracy, it’s about democracy."

You then lay out your "ground rules" for forming a government, should the Liberals win the most number of seats. Among them, you state that you would not enter into a coalition with other parties - especially the Bloc. Instead, you say you favour issue-by-issue collaborations on individual issues.

This is a noble stance, but we also need to consider the realities of our election system, and each party's platforms.

The Conservatives skew heavily to the right of the political spectrum, and despite the name, have made tremendous deficit spending in their years in power. This is very different than the more centrist, debt-reducing policies of the Martin/Chrétien governments. Many Conservative MPs are extremely loyal to the party line, so collaborating with them is going to be very tough.

If - and I'm sorry, but it's a big "if" - you get the most seats in Parliament, but not enough for a majority, you will need to garner the confidence of at least one other party, or else Harper will get a chance. Do you really think you can get the confidence vote without a coalition agreement?

And if Harper then gets a chance to form a coalition, he'll either strike a deal with the Bloc or NDP - unlikely after what brought down the last Parliament - or we'll be headed to another election.

The other scenario would be that the Conservatives again get the most number of seats - possibly even a majority - while gaining between 30-40% of the vote. We'll be back where we started. Either we have another election - likely with a similar result - or we'll have the Conservatives running the show for years more.

We have to face the fact that our electoral system is seriously broken. The Conservatives are gaming the system, having "unified the right" while the Liberals, NDP, and Greens split the left and centrist voters. The Bloc is a beneficiary of the system by having their supporters concentrated in one region. Our current system rewards the separatists and ensures they'll continue to have a large number of seats in the House. Almost a million people voted for the Green Party in the last election, and won no seats. The NDP received more votes than the Bloc but got less seats. And nationwide, over half the votes cast elected nobody - even Conservative votes in urban centres, and Liberals in Alberta. It's no wonder voter turnout has been on the decline for years. Why vote when you feel your vote won't matter? Why must many voters in every election feel pressured to compromise their choice and instead vote "strategically"?

You said "this election is about democracy". So let's really make it about democracy. We need to make the will of the Canadian people be accurately reflected in the House. Our First-Past-the-Post system is anti-democratic.

You are in the unique position of actually having a chance to make a historic advance for democracy in Canada. If you make a principled stand for electoral reform - one for a proportional representation system - then this election will truly be about democracy.

If you commit to reform, and appeal to the millions of voters who feel their votes can't elect who they really want to represent them, you will attract voters who want change, who want to make our government stronger. You may even draw votes from NDP and Green supporters, for this chance for change. As a long-time Green Party supporter, I know I would vote Liberal, if it meant in future elections my vote would matter.

You're asking us to vote for democracy. Give us electoral reform, and we will.

As 2010 draws to a close, I figured I'd try to summarize how it went for me.

Overall, it was a rough year, one I'd largely like to forget. There were some good parts, at least.

I did go on a number of trips this year; more than I usually do.

( PAXeast )
( Anthrocon )
( FurFright )
( MFF )
( The worst five months of my life (and perhaps the planet's) )
( Politics sucks )
( Work sucks too )
( At least there's been good video games )
( Broken Hand )

I suppose there were some slightly redeeming qualities to the year (the trip to PAXeast in particular, despite having a cold). But still, I have to grade 2010 an "F".

Much of just writing this has been difficult; but I wanted to get it down. If you got this far, thanks for reading.

Anyway, I certainly hope 2011 will be better...