Dion expresses support for preferential voting

[confusion]

What many of you are failing to realize is that Dion is and will be a good leader. He is popular with the Liberals for a reason. Unfortunately, the "game" of politics has skewed our vision of this man and really failed to let us see his vision and goals. I truly believe he wants what is best for our country. Something I cannot say for the NDP or the Conservatives.

 

[afransen]

Beez, a candidate who spends the entire campaign cavassing would be hard pressed to bang on every door. Our ridings are too big for that.

 

[Tewder]

What many of you are failing to realize is that Dion is and will be a good leader.

Wow, 'good leader'? I'm sorry but that is simply not a quality that I, or the majority of Canadians it would seem, would attribute to him. The man can hardly string a sentence together in English for starters...

Dion indignantly accuses the Conservatives of not achieving in barely a two-year minority mandate that which the Liberals refused to achieve themselves in about a thousand years of majority rule. How rich! He claims to be a 'new' liberals in the same way that McCain claims to be a 'maverick' Republican. Anybody buying? Sounds like snake oil to me

 

[afransen]

Actually, I'd say his grasp of English is pretty strong, the problem is his accent. Reading transcripts of his speaking reveals pretty well-formed thoughts, with the odd mis-conjugated verb.

 

[unimaginative2]

I've never claimed to be an expert in anything, nor to have run in any campaigns. What I do know though, is that unless your MP has good reason for staying away, he/she should be in their riding canvassing for votes, not sending their minions.

Every election campaign in the democratic world, and in Canada since Confederation, has used volunteers at the riding level. There is absolutely nothing wrong with committed supporters of a candidate campaigning for him or her. I have no doubt that Rae has also knocked on many doors in the riding, both in this campaign and in the recent by-election. If the Conservative candidate in your riding hadn't been expelled from his party for bizarre and offensive comments about gays and women, I'm sure Conservative volunteers would have visited your door too.

 

[lordmandeep]

True, Chretien could not really speak English well at all however he was still very understandable...

 

[kEiThZ]

True, Chretien could not really speak English well at all however he was still very understandable...

I think we should stop making Chretien out to be larger than life. He won because he ran against an incredibly unpopular incumbent.....and I dont mean Kim Campbell. I doubt he'd make as much headway if it was today's environment where most voters aren't really certain who they want. Also, there were back then issues which motivated the electorate....gst, free trade, those 'cadillac' helicopters, airbus affair, etc.

 

[Hydrogen]

Both Chretien and Dion can understand and speak English. Though their expression is not perfect, it's not an election issue.

 

[lordmandeep]

he still won 3 majority govts...


sure, he had elections every three years, but its quite a feat.

 

[King of Kensington]

Of course he does. It isn't PR and is probably just as unrepresentative as FPTP.

At the Citizens Assembly, runoff/preferential voting did not go over very well.

 

[Brandon716]

God forbid a Liberal supporter cross riding lines and support another candidate for their party by knocking on doors. Afterall, I can't imagine why any political party would actually campaign for their party to win. LOL

 

[kEiThZ]

Of course he does. It isn't PR and is probably just as unrepresentative as FPTP.

At the Citizens Assembly, runoff/preferential voting did not go over very well.

I am surprised it didn't go very far. Personally I think preferential voting would be supported more easily than the many PR systems, simply because most voters aren't die-hard ideologues and largely tend to have preferences for one party or the other.

While preferential balloting can be just as unrepresentative as FPTP, I doubt many would argue that it's worse. And for Canadians who largely prefer stable majority governments, an exclusion of extreme parties, and a simple ballot, one would think that preferential ballots would be a good system.

 

[CDL.TO]

At the Citizens Assembly, runoff/preferential voting did not go over very well.

Probably because preferential balloting doesn't 'solve the problem of non-proportional election results'. From very early, it was clear that the basis of the Citizens Assembly exercise was choosing a proportional system (which might not be a bad thing).

If the basis of the Citizens Assembly was to 'eliminate the need for strategic voting', then preferential ballots might have been their recommendation.

 

[afransen]

Yes. I'm not convinced that proportionality is the only dimension on which to measure the effectiveness of an electoral system. Stability, incentive to vote 'honestly' (vote your true preference, and not try to game the system), and direct accountability of elected representatives are also desirable.

If preferential voting is not proportional enough, we can use single transferable vote to approximate proportionality, while retaining a degree of local accountability.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Both Chretien and Dion can understand and speak English. Though their expression is not perfect, it's not an election issue.

Come on, how can you say that Dion's ability to understand and speak English is not an election issue? Have you been reading and watching any coverage of the election? I'd say Dion's English is definitely an issue of this election. Perhaps it's not an issue to you, or you do not think it should be an issue, but that's not the same thing as saying Dion's English is not an election issue.