Watch today's Fair Voting BC meeting video stream online, right now! (video)

Live stream of Fair Voting BC below:

Jonathan Kay on STV: liar

How much disinformation can one spread without lying? Well, it seems to be getting harder for Jonathan Kay, the asswhole writing for the junk paper "The Corporate Ghost".

Lie number one:

The STV system was developed by B.C.'s Citizens' Assembly, "an independent, non-partisan assembly of 160 randomly selected British Columbians [...]

STV has been in use long before BC considered it. Wikipedia knows:

The Single transferable vote (STV) [...] was pioneered in Tasmania, Australia, where it has been in constant use in the Tasmanian House of Assembly since [1906].

Lie number two:

Under STV, the tabulation process requires a computer.

If that was the case, then Tasmanians invented the computer in secret, long before anyone else did: while Tasmania's STV is from 1906, the invention of the first computers that most people know of took place in the 1940s. Way to go Tasmania!

Jonathan Kay's convenient lies
Let's face it, Jonathan Kay is nothing more than mouthpiece for the corporate elite in this country. Corporate Canada doesn't like STV because it would be a lot harder to rig the results under STV to the same extend as it can be done under FPTP.

National Post sucks, sucks, sucks!
The fact that the National Post prints Jonathan Kay's "inaccurate" junk should give you enough reason to avoid this paper like the pest. Not to mention that the NP was one once started by one of Canada's most corrupted business magnate (yes, Conrad Black, and he's is in jail too), and currently owned by one of Canada's biggest bigots on Israel's Apartheid issue.

Links
- I'm Jonathan Kay, and I lie for a living
- We are the National Post: Why WOULD we produce sound journalism when selling our personal biases as media is a) far more profitable and b) a lot more fun?

Last pitch for STV (and why it's clearly more proportional than MMP)

I hope everyone will go out to vote in BC today, especially in favour of STV, because it's the most proportional system available.

Why STV is more proportional than MMP
One major problem with MMP, especially in the way it is used most, is strategic voting.

Under MMP, one makes two votes, one is by the single-winner-method (such as FPTP), the other is for the party.

Especially the FPTP candidate will often be selected strategically (as is currently the case in Canada) to not see one's vote wasted. By definition this vote is NOT a voter's first choice, but the choice the imperfect MMP system forces onto the voter.

It's transferable to beat strategic voting, stupid!
STV does away with strategic voting (this is the main part of the transferable part). One can, with confidence, vote for the person one really wants without being afraid of wasting ones vote by ranking their favourite candidates: their real choice with 1, their strategic choices with 2, 3, and so on. Only in case their favourite does not get elected, their strategic vote kicks in.

The negative effects of strategic voting under MMP are not visible in the Gallagher index, and therefore any claims that STV is less proportional based on the index are false.

Vote for STV
STV is not perfect, no electoral system is. But it's the most proportional electoral system that is compatible with BC's riding based voting system, and, even more important, we can vote for it today.

Now get off your ass, and vote for it!

I want my, I want my, I want my STV

I apologize to my readers: things have gotten too busy over the last few months and I had little time left for simply staying sane...

Vote for STV
Nevertheless, I do hope everyone in BC will go out to vote tomorrow. This time around I couldn't care less about what party you vote for (they both stink); there's little choice and both major parties running stink. But be sure to vote for STV!

STV It is a far more democratic electoral system that I believe ALL Canadians deserve. And why not have electoral reform start in BC?

Macleans supports STV!
Even Macleans is behind it. Read Andrew Coyne's post here, and the latest supporting post by Macleans here.

Who doesn't support STV?
Hell, I don't know, but must be pretty stupid to not support it. Here's a list of endorsements without end:
http://www.stv.ca/endorsements

Need more info?
Still not sure what STV is about? There is lots to learn here (ready to be downloaded).

Now don't let me down......

Corporate media refuses to report on failure of FPTP; it's now up to the majority of the House of Commons to introduce a new electoral system

A "letter to the editor" nobody should miss.

Lawrence Hearn from North Vancouver, writer of the letter, starts of with the problem of our FPTP system:

Dear Editor:

The federal election once again has shown that Canada's electoral system of first by the post results in an unrepresentative government.

The parties' percentage of popular vote was: Conservatives 37.6 per cent; Liberals 26.2 per cent; NDP 18.2 per cent; Bloc 10 per cent; Greens 6.8 per cent.

In other words, Canadian voters soundly rejected the Conservative agenda yet they still get to form the government, fortunately with a continuing minority preventing them from doing the nasty on all and sundry without hindrance.

The corporate media's refusal to report on this failure of the electoral system amounts to nothing less than collusion with the anti-democratic forces of the extreme right in the Conservative party.

The solution follows:

The simplest way to introduce a fair and representative electoral system would be to use the ranked choice voting system in use in San Francisco and some other U.S. jurisdictions.

How it works:

Candidates must receive more than 50 per cent of votes to be elected. Voters, instead of simply marking an X, would rank (one, two) their choices.

Candidates failing to get 50 per cent would move to an instant runoff where the lowest candidate is dropped and the second choices of that candidate's voters distributed to the remaining candidates.

If no one gets the required 50 per cent plus one then the next lowest candidate would be dropped and the second choice votes distributed and so on until a candidate achieved the required threshold.

Why this system is preferable above other options:

The ranked choice voting system would require the least change to the present system with the maximum result.

Who can introduce changes to our electoral system?

Hopefully, the House of Commons majority can move to introduce such a system (or any better system) before the next election, thereby establishing a more representative system of government in Canada.

Lawrence Hearn

North Vancouver

LINKS

- Canada.com: Reform our electoral system
- Wikipedia: FPTP
- Wikipedia: Why FPTP sucks

ProgBlog, Cherniak and MMP

For those who haven't been following the latest MMP vs. FPTP battle, Jason Cherniak is one of the few Liberals that does not seem to have a problem with the current FPTP system; on the contrary, he and his cronies claim that FPTP is superior to all other systems. This is how they put it: it's "By the People, Of the People, and For the People... And not for the parties!" Yeah, whatever.

What bugs me most about Jason's position, is that he thinks he can get away with this kind of crap. I mean, if you're a progressive (progressive-bloggers-banner still on Jason's site? Check... he's got two!! he's got two!!), then shouldn't you at least share the opinion that democratic reform is desperately needed? Does democratic deficit ring a bell, Jason?

MMP might not be the best system in the world (I personally prefer STV), but it's at least a BIG step forward from the antiquated FPTP. And, if MMP isn't the right system for you, then what system is in your vision Jason, a better one than the current?

Nothing from Jason and his conservative cronies, no alternatives given. That means that the No-MMP camp isn't really against MMP, but it's against progress. Why? Because they give no other alternatives to the current misere of FPTP.

Isn't sticking with the old stuff, merely because it's NOT the new stuff called conservative? When will ProgBlog finally dump the hypocrite?

UPDATE: If you agree with me that Mr. Cherniak should be removed from ProgBlog, then please send a message to the ProgBlog moderators, as described by Scott in the comment section.

The ProgBLog email-addresses can be found on the home page of ProgBlog (bottom left corner); take action and keep ProgBlog progressive!

- Jason Cherniak: Campaign to defeat MMP
- NO to MMP
- Progressive Bloggers
- Wikipedia: STV | MMP