On Pipeline Safety

Given Calgary's recent designation as the "greatest city in Canada" and the entire province enjoying sainthood status under the current Prime Minister, it is with some trepidation that I draw your attention to a story that could get me labelled as divisive and an environmental terrorist.

In a column that challenges government 'truth' on the safety of oil pipelines, The Star's David Olive has the temerity to suggest that there might be something not quite safe or environmentally sound about plans to enrich Alberta even more through the transport of tarsand oil.

Read discreetly. Be aware of who may be looking over your shoulder.

Happily, in my present location I at least need not fear the long arm of the Edmonton police.

Rick Salutin on Proportional Representation

The problem with parties is they don’t exist to represent the views of the public, or even sections of it, or even their own members. Maybe they once did, or maybe not. But now they exist to win elections. They’re “election-day organizations,” to quote political scientist Donald Savoie. They take public opinion into account mainly in their strategic calculations.

Is some form of proportional representation the answer to the 'democratic deficit' reflected in the above excerpt from Part 2 of Rick Salutin's series on democracy?

Salutin admits to an ambivalence about a reform he once enthusiastically embraced. The most popular version, called the Single Transferable Vote, is explained by the writer:

You indicate your second, third, etc., choices along with your top choice so if your No. 1 is at the bottom and gets dropped after the first tally, your vote is transferred down the line until a set of winners — ridings are larger but total numbers of reps stays the same — emerge. It’s complex but it means most votes actually matter and something proportional emerges.

In my mind, that version would be effective only with a very engaged and informed citizenry, something that I'm not sure we have ever had in Canada, and certainly absent in the current political landscape, where complex ideas are reduced to cartoonish stereotypes, a strategy that the Harper Conservatives seem to have perfected, aided and abetted by buffoons in the media, Ezra Levant and the rest of the crew at Fox North being prime examples.

Until Canadians manage to cure their addiction to sound bites and simplistic bromides and platitudes and begin demanding substance and integrity from our politicians, I very much doubt that any systemic reform will be effective.

New Crime Discovered in Edmonton

Known in legal circles as politicius pontificus interruptus, Edmonton police are doing everything within their power to prevent this terrible crime from spreading and becoming a national scourge.

The Conservatives' Contempt For Truth

If Canada feels different, it’s because it is. Under Harper, we have become strangers to ourselves, a foreign country run by an angry and hostile regime. The world has noticed, but is too preoccupied with its own problems to do anything more than fret.

The above is a brief excerpt from Christopher Hume's analysis of the Harper Tories' contempt for, and relentless efforts to suppress, scientific truths that interfere with their ideological agenda.

Well-worth reading for anyone who wants government policy to be based on sound data rather than demagogic sound bites.

Defining Democracy

Just back from a very brief holiday in western New York, I'm still feeling a bit too relaxed to post anything lengthy, but I do have a reading recommendation for anyone concerned about democracy in its various forms.

Earlier this year, The Star's Rick Salutin took time off from his weekly column to do research on democracy. The results of that research begin today in the first part of a series. Entitled Democracy: Thinking outside the box, the piece offers some surprising statistics that challenge the notion that elections are the pinnacle of democratic expression.

Despite the fact that Tunisia was the birthplace of the Arab Spring, it turns out that when elections were finally held, only 55% cast their ballot, a statistic that leads Salutin to reflect upon notions of democracy and disaffection.

By examining various countries and systems, the writer goes on to opine that perhaps government consultation with the people is more important than the election experience as democratic expression.

Personally, it is an opinion I take issue with, as I see a quite intimate relationship between an engaged citizenry at election time and the responsiveness of government to its people. In other words, given the kind of poor turnout at the polls we experience in Canada, it is hardly surprising that we currently have a government that represents only a very small minority of its constituents.

While the above may sound like a gross oversimplification, for me, fear of electoral retribution is the beginning of wisdom for our 'representatives'.

I look forward to the next installment of Salutin's series in tomorrow's paper.

A Short Respite

Recharging my blogging batteries.

The Hour of The Gun

This article from The Edmonton Journal offers an interesting explanation of why 'black guns' are growing in popularity amongst gun 'hobbyists'.

Were I a conspiracy-minded individual (which, of course, I am not), I might wonder about the relationship between two of the major industries discussed within.