As noted by several commenters here on this subject, the number of complaints received by Elections Canada about automated phone calls increased exponentially during the last election – from a few hundred in previous years to more than 31,000 in 2011. Whatever the cause involved, something awry must have precipitated
Continue readingTag: 2011 Canadian Election
Red Tory v.3.0.3: Dirty Deeds…
Apparently not done dirt cheap. In fact, as the Postmedia reporter indicates, whoever was responsible for attempting to suppress the vote for the benefit of the Conservative candidates in tightly contested ridings required money, organization and voters lists. Doesn’t exactly sound like a formula for some obscure “rogue” now does
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Harper’s anti-democratic senate appointments.
Harper has appointed three senate seats from among his party. Here is the kicker: these people just lost their election campaigns to be MP’s.
Opposed to supporting democratic influences it is actively rewarding loyal party members even thought they l…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: After an election about personalities, not policies, we can and must do better
We have just witness an election which while historic in many ways was not one of any significance in terms of a discussion of actual issues or policies. The political choices of all four major leaders – and we the audience who responds to them – focus…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Electoral math II: vote splitting in the Liberal ridings the Conservatives won
While there was an enormous transfer of seats towards the NDP from the Bloc and to a lesser extent the Liberals, the Conservatives managed to move from a minority to a majority largely due to 26 seats they picked up from the Liberals. Three weeks ago, …
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Harper’s centralization of the democratic process: the litmus test for the next four years
Leaving all policy discussion aside, one of the most disheartening aspects of the last five years of minority government under Harper has been a consistent erosion of the adversarial process in our democracy. The list is long but includes: centralizi…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Parkdale-Highpark Riding All Candidates Debate Response
I recently attended the all candidates debate for the Parkdale-Highpark riding hosted by the BWVRA and wanted to share my thoughts on the debate, the candidates and various issues that were brought up. While this post will undoubtedly be specific t…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The NDP surge and its consequences
The largest political story of the week has nothing to do about policies, it is about the fact that after months of poll numbers that stubbornly refused to budge the NDP has actually experienced a considerable surge in popularity confirmed by a half do…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Strategic voting depends on your ridings poll numbers.
The majority of ridings are essentially a lock before the election even happens. A minority have a good competition and a small number end up being too close for poll aggregates to predict the day before the election. There is thus a reasonab…
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