Canada Proves That It Has Election Flaws As Well
In the U.S., the 2000 election problems in Florida are now a part of flawed election history. 57,746 voters placed on a felon "scrub list", that were not verified by the use of social security numbers to properly identify whether the exact identity of the name on the ballot, where all with the same name were denied the right to vote. The infamous "butterfly ballot" where many elderly votes accidently voted for Pat Buchanan, instead of Al Gore. "Hanging chads", where the hole on the ballot failed to completely punch through. Election workers failing to count some ballots because of some problems of assigning the ballot to the wrong districts. U.S. serviceperson ballots that were doctored with missing information by election officials and nasty lawsuits with frayed nerves and anger. All of this compounded by the continued reliance on antiquated electoral college, which amplified all the little election problems in Florida and made the vote in this single state vital to the election outcome.
Well, not only the U.S. is about to hold a flawed election. In Canada, the Conservative Party was able to capture just a mere 36.25% of the votes, yet is able to rule 100% of Canadians. Left leaning parties such as the Liberal Party, the socialist New Democratic Party, many in the French separtist Bloc Quebecois, and the Green Party were still the vast majority of Canadian voters, yet are unable to form a government in Canada. Instead the Conservative Party can now set social and economic policy in Canada for 100% of Canadians, despite only winning just over a third of the vote. Is this democracy?
posted by Paul Hooson @ 4:25 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Found your blog randomly. Figured you should know you're completely off on how Canada's electoral system works. The Conservatives won 124 out of 308 seats in Parliament, meaning they have a minority government and would need the support of at least one of the other parties (all of which are more progressive than them) in order to pass legislation. While the Canadian system surely has its flaws, this result in no way means the Conservatives have 100% control of anything.
I deeply appreciate your input, DS. Inclusion of any other party should help to moderate the right wing policies of the Conservative Party and hopefully force some compromies. But it is regrettable that the Liberals who won 103 seats and New Democratic Pary which increased their number od seats to 29 cannot draw in some members of Bloc Quebecois and still maintain a progressive government. Vote wise, the Conservative Party on won a mere 36.25% of the vote, which means that 63.75% of voters actually voted for more progressive parties such as the Liberals, New Democratic Party, Greens and many in the Bloc Quebecois.
Post a Comment
<< Home