Freak By Night Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 I'm disgusted. Time to make voting mandatory. No vote, no paycheck. story here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 Some mandate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 I was talking to my bro out in Calgary last night, asking him if he voted. He didn't. And then launched into a fifteen minute spiel in which he pretty much systematically ripped apart every option on the ticket. He didn't vote because he thought noone was worth voting for. And that's allowed right? So I suppose mandatory voting for him would end up in a spoilt ballot, a few extra k's on his car and maybe a dollar or two in gas. Worth it? I don't think so.My vote goes to electoral reform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 i think i posted a story somewhere a while ago about a russian election where there was a 'none of the above' option. or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
can-o-phish Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 I'm disgusted. Time to make voting mandatory. No vote, no paycheck. story here I've enjoyed reading your posts Birdy and I have to assume that this is just bitter sarcasm...I voted but it meant nothing...there wasn't one leader or party that spoke to me or reached me in any way...no ispiration, a TOTAL LACK of leadership from all parties...This is a low point in Canadian politics...I did laugh when I saw our leaders casting their ballots into our state-of-the-art hi-tech cardboard box voting machines...no, I'm not saying we should be punching buttions and pulling levers like the good ol' USofA; kinda like the small-town feel...But I'm still wondering, like many, "Why the hell were we voting?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 also, 63+% of the vote went to the left, yet we have a right-leaning government. i'd vote for electoral reform. but there's a good chance my vote wouldn't mean anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 .no, I'm not saying we should be punching buttions and pulling levers like the good ol' USofA; kinda like the small-town feel. And conveniently, paper ballots make their own paper trail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 .no, I'm not saying we should be punching buttions and pulling levers like the good ol' USofA; kinda like the small-town feel. And conveniently, paper ballots make their own paper trail Two paper trails, actually: there's a tear-off strip on the ballots, which gets torn off (just before you deposit your marked ballot) and placed in a separate container. My guess is that if there's thought to be any problem with the ballots that are found in a ballot box, the ballots in the box can be compared to the separately collected "receipts." Aloha, Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 (edited) I don't know what the answer is really... i'm just throwing stuff out there. Maybe that it came after a long weekend of lots of food and people were just feeling too stuffed and lazy to get out there. Maybe we should have mandatory voting, but I suppose if you don't care and spoil your ballot, we'd just have to fork out more money for the process of counting all those scribbles. Maybe the left needs to unite (shudder ) or maybe the right needs to disunite. Maybe electoral reform has the potential to get people thinking more about their local candidate and what she/he can do for them, and not moreso about the big foot in Ottawa. Maybe we should all be libertarians or anarchists and resign to the fact that government isn't the be all end all of the world. The list of maybes is endless. I think it's apparent though something has to be done. And I'm afraid it's going to take awhile after our referendum in '06 to see something change. Edited October 15, 2008 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 (edited) I liked the volume of emails, twitters and the like that CBC was getting last night re: electoral reform. For a long time CBC Radio One dismissed talk of federal electoral reform / PR as something that listeners aren't interested in, not a sexy enough issue, etc.. Maybe they will reconsider if that is still the case.[edit:] I should add that my schedule is no longer such that I find myself regularly listening to Radio One in the mornings, so possibly this already had changed. Edited October 15, 2008 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hal Johnson Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 (edited) also, 63+% of the vote went to the left, yet we have a right-leaning government.i'd vote for electoral reform. but there's a good chance my vote wouldn't mean anything. I was thinking the same thing. Strange how that works out. Edited October 15, 2008 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgnor Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 Two points of Paranoia - - That the Green Party is a ruse. May, a former peripheral Conservateur, abandons her party due to "entrenched" opinions regarding the environment at a time when the Liberal party also heard mumblings about the issue, even from Cabinet (through Dion and others). She begins a new party that expresses little of it's platform besides a totally new direction on environmental issues... traditionally left-wing territory due to the intransigence of religious and other climate change Denialists in the right. Later on, to gain momentum of those who are hopeful but somewhat too grounded to vote on only one issue, May releases an excellerated version of a Conservative platform, frightening away some Cons who feel she might move reclessly, and hieghtening the attraction for those on the left eager for a legitimate alternative. We have here born the makings of perpetually split left-wing votes between the two parties legitimately differentiated by philosphy, and one trumped up sham-show of a party that only seeks to gather disenfranchised leftists, and truly progressive right-wing voters who have always been trouble for the unity of the right. Thus, Conservative minorities become the "unity option" of the right while momentum, principle and subterfuge keep the left so highly disorganised and defensive that even coalition threatens to loose face for one or the other who make concessions.- That Danny Williams "ABC" Campaign is an incrementalist plan to leave the Liberal party a mute puppy in a decrepit financial situation. By doing the will of the hero Williams, the good people of NFLD & LBRD are left in this 40th Parliament with no possibility of a Cabinet Minister that comes from the ruling Party. The Federal Conservatives, concilliatory and eager to retain public support in Eastern Canada, succeed to demands and name a Liberal or more likely an NDP or Independant MP to Cabinet, sparing themselves the trouble of appearing "Prairie-centric". Williams claims victory for himself at home while publicly stressing the need to move on. The new non-Con. Cabinet member (NNCCM), and newly muted as far as the possibilities of successfully forwarding suggestions, becomes a vote to push through what they must to save face with their own constituents. This hamstrings their effective participation in their own party due to the stresses of continually voting in support of the Conservative minority. The ineffectual participation of the NNCCM leads to voter dissatisfaction, leaving the divided left even more vulnerable. In the event that another Conservative minority appears likely in the next and apparently not far off Campaign, the need to have a "real" member in Cabinet for NFLD & LBRD becomes dire as the continued economic crisis is sure to be quietly overlooked by the Con. Government in the interest of gains in an upcoming election. Viola. Steve and Danny make up, campaign together in the interests of the province and, a blue tide washes across the screetch stained lands of The Rock like a chilling Atlantic wind.Too long term? Too devious? Too possible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamilton Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 Why spoil a ballot when you have the option of declining one? I've done it before. You show up, hand in your stuff, and then when they offer you a ballot you inform the people that you want to decline. It gets registered as such. A spoiled ballot, on the other hand, could be somebody who just screwed up with their ballot, and not voting could be construed as apathy. At least a declined ballot sends a message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanada Kev Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 Why spoil a ballot when you have the option of declining one? I've done it before. You show up, hand in your stuff, and then when they offer you a ballot you inform the people that you want to decline. It gets registered as such. A spoiled ballot, on the other hand, could be somebody who just screwed up with their ballot, and not voting could be construed as apathy. At least a declined ballot sends a message.Interesting. I like that avenue much better. You took the time to come out and vote and sent the message to Ottawa that all the parties need to do better to earn your vote. In some ways I wish I had done that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 She begins a new party that expresses little of it's platform besides a totally new direction on environmental issues...Except the Green Party has been around forever.Other than that I like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgnor Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 (edited) 15 years isn't forever... even in a weed haze. Edited October 15, 2008 by Guest :) Laytonjust promised to work hard with his caucus... hehe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 15 years isn't forever... even in a weed haze.Founded in 1983 according to Wiki. I'd guess that's right because they've been around ever since I've been politically aware.Lizzie didn't join until 2006. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgnor Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 (edited) The same Wiki Article - "Elizabeth May is the current leader of the party. She was elected on the first ballot by 65% of voting party members on August 26, 2006." "About one month before the 1980 federal election, eleven candidates, mostly from ridings in the Atlantic provinces, issued a joint press release declaring that they were running on a common platform. It called for a transition to a non-nuclear, conserver society. Although they ran as independents, they unofficially used the name "Small Party" as part of their declaration of unity - a reference to the "small is beautiful" philosophy of E. F. Schumacher. This was the most substantial early attempt to answer the call for an ecologically-oriented Canadian political party. A key organizer (and one of the candidates) was Elizabeth May, who is now leader of the Greens. The Green Party of Canada was founded at a conference held at Carleton University in Ottawa in 1983. Under its first leader, Dr. Trevor Hancock, the party ran 60 candidates in the 1984 Canadian federal election.[5]" so, where was I? That's right I was correcting my colloquial date to twenty-five years ago... good enough? geeeesh. Edited October 15, 2008 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgnor Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 BTW, whatever happened with that Mulroney-Schreiber-Harper thing? Did we get the right kind of judges in there to throw this thing out yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 Regarding the inquiry: "I think if the Liberal party thought twice about it, it is a power they would not want to give to me." .... "Would the Liberal party, for instance, like me to launch an inquiry into Mr. Chretien's interests in various golf courses or hotels and the actions of the federal Business Development Bank? "Would the Liberal party like me to have an inquiry on Canada Steamship Lines and decisions that may or may not have been made by the federal Department of Finance?" Harper asked. Chretien should be in jail. If Mulroney is being protected as an advisor to Harper, I think they would have seen at least one or two Conservative wins in Quebec. I'm a little of the opinion that our RCMP is paid to do this kind of dirty work, as they were paid for thirteen years between 1990-2003, researching this case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgnor Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 I think we should privatise the RCMP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 Now you're thinkin! KIDDING! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phishtaper Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 Why spoil a ballot when you have the option of declining one? I've done it before. You show up' date=' hand in your stuff, and then when they offer you a ballot you inform the people that you want to decline. It gets registered as such. A spoiled ballot, on the other hand, could be somebody who just screwed up with their ballot, and not voting could be construed as apathy. At least a declined ballot sends a message.[/quote']Interesting. I like that avenue much better. You took the time to come out and vote and sent the message to Ottawa that all the parties need to do better to earn your vote. In some ways I wish I had done that.is this possible at the federal level? i know you can "refuse" a ballot in Ontario (i did it once and freaked them out) but i wasn't aware of being able to do it during a federal election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 i know you can "refuse" a ballot in Ontario (i did it once and freaked them out) but i wasn't aware of being able to do it during a federal election. Well, I guess they can't force you to take it Found this on wikipedia: While Canadian federal elections do not allow a ballot to be refused, the provinces of Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Alberta, as well as the Yukon Territory, all allow voters to "refuse" their ballot at a polling station, which is then recorded as having been refused.During the 2000 Canadian federal election, a number of voters (chiefly in Edmonton, Alberta) ate their ballots, as part of what they dubbed the Edible Ballot Society, to protest what they saw as inherently unfair elections. The stunt led Elections Canada to propose that there be legislation allowing federal ballots to be officially refused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamilton Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 Hmmmm. Maybe I did it in a provincial election. It was over ten years ago, things are a little fuzzy... but not so fuzzy that I don't remember the confusion on their faces when I did it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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