Mark Crowley

Here’s the proposal: during the next federal election, the opposition parties agree to work together in key ridings to defeat Conservative incumbents. After the election, the NDP, Liberals and Greens cooperate to pass electoral reform and make sure our government better reflects the values and priorities of all Canadians. - Mark Crowley

Although the much-sought standard of 30-per-cent representation of women in the Commons has yet to be achieved, the 2011 result was considered a breakthrough. Women’s representation had stagnated around 20 per cent for two decades. - Mark Crowley

They did support reforming the country’s electoral system, voting to adopt preferential balloting in federal elections, rather than the current first-past-the-post system. Preferential ballots would ensure that only candidates who receive more than 50 per cent of the vote in their ridings would be elected to the House of Commons. - Mark Crowley

And this is wrong. Not clever, not amusing, not evidence of a more sophisticated political machine that works all the angles while others are asleep at the switch. Just wrong on every level. That it might work is not an explanation of why it should be allowed – it's a great argument for why it shouldn’t. Mr. Van Loan’s position is the same as saying one shouldn’t outlaw lying because the next thing you know, someone will be trying to outlaw truth-telling. It’s insulting, it’s beneath this government, and I'm sure it is an embarrassment to many good people in the Conservative Party. - Mark Crowley

Based on the results of Fair Voting BC’s democratic reform survey, Vancouver voters can be reasonably confident that the next city council will petition Victoria a third time to change the city’s charter to allow Vancouverites to choose their own voting system.  They can also expect more deliberative dialogue processes similar to the West End Mayor’s Advisory Committee and continued interest in online voting, coupled with some scepticism about whether online voting can be acceptably secure.  Depending on who gets elected, there will also be more or less openness to considering new ways to vote that might more accurately reflect voters’ true preferences. - Mark Crowley

Assuming a merger, is the new party almost guaranteed a majority in the subsequent election? The mathematics don’t work quite so neatly. It is one of the great conundrums of our “first past the post” politics that you can never predict, with total confidence, how it is going to shake out. - Mark Crowley

In an attempt to make voting easier for the elderly and disabled, Oregon is letting citizens in five counties cast their votes on Apple iPads. Election workers in the counties that make up that state’s 1st Congressional District are hitting parks, nursing homes and community centers to find voters who have trouble filling out traditional mail-in paper ballots, reports the Associated Press. The district is holding a special election to replace the seat left open by ex-Rep. David Wu, who left Congress in July after allegations emerged that he had had a sexual encounter with a young woman. Oregon is the first state to try voting via iPad, according to the report. - Mark Crowley

As Minister of State for Democratic Reform, Mr. Uppal, 36, is one of the most active members of the cabinet and is attempting to make government more democratic through several controversial bills: One is aimed at reforming the Senate; another makes the Commons more representative. This week, he introduced a bill to take big money out of politics by prohibiting loans to candidates and parties from corporations and unions. Yet to political opponents, it’s ironic that as he promotes a more democratic system, his government, with its majority, is limiting democracy through its repeated use of closure and time allocation to stifle debate in the Commons - Mark Crowley

SPRING 2012 GRADUATION Spring congregation will take place in May, 2012. All students expecting to graduate in May must apply to graduate. The application will open on the SSC in December 2011 and close at the end of February 2012. - Mark Crowley