From the BC Greens' media release:
April 15, 2009 - 19:05 — Philip Stone
Vancouver False Creek: At a media conference held on the front steps of Vancouver City Hall, BC Greens today highlighted the opportunities for women and minorities in Government offered by a new system of voting that will be put to the test on May 12, 2009.
The Green Party of BC is backing the chance to change the way the province elects its MLAs, from the current 'first past the post' system – in which voters have just one vote to elect one MLA and may see a party taking a majority of seats without a majority of the vote - to the BC Single Transferable Vote (BC-STV) system, in which voters can rank their support for candidates in order of preference to make sure their ballot always counts.
In other countries, STV has enabled more women and minority candidates to be elected to Government because it more accurately translates votes into seats.
Damian Kettlewell, BC Greens' Deputy Leader and party spokesman for electoral and government accountability reform, pointed to Western Australia as an example - where women hold 47% of the Legislative Council seats under an STV system but only 20% of the seats in the Legislative Assembly, where candidates are elected using the 'first past the post' method.
"BC-STV is a chance to give all candidates – including women, independents and those from smaller parties – greater parity on the ballot," he said.
"Voters have more choice under a proportional system, which will make sure that our Legislature is a more accurate reflection of support on the ground – and that all candidates must work just as hard to earn the chance to serve."
STV was recommended as a fairer voting system for BC in 2004, by a panel of 160 ordinary people drawn at random from across the province to understand and research all the options.
They concluded that BC-STV will:
Make more votes count and virtually eliminate ‘wasted’ votes: 80-90% of voters will get one of their choices for MLA elected, compared with only 40-50% at the moment;
Give voters more candidates to choose from;
Ensure that the Legislature is more representative of voters’ views.
For more information on BC-STV, visit http://www.stv.ca/.
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15 April 2009
Toronto Star, Your Bias is Showing
Since when is providing equal Employment Insurance benefits to all parts of this country a "radical" idea?
Note from your own article TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond having said:
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Note from your own article TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond having said:
standardizing access to EI (and for the most part also standardizing the length of benefits) at the same qualification standard is a fairly common recommendation made by many, including ourselves.
Recommend this post
Politicians: Change your Tune
Last night I attended a political gathering. The first one in a very long time.
I was expecting the usual rhetoric I often observe from tuning in to other forms of media and was surprised to find little of that in evidence. Some, yes, but the main message was that it is time for a change. A BIG CHANGE. A change big enough to shift voter apathy. A change that will give everyday people a reason to become re-involved in their own governance.
What impressed me more were the people who where present. I was included in a group made up of a number of familiar faces, some friends, representatives from a green-community building effort, women living well below the poverty line, small farm owners and a few professional types, to name a few. The overall feeling was of wanting to be heard and heeded by someone who would truly represent them once they were elected.
The person who was asking us to vote for them was listening to us. We were asked to speak. We did speak. We were heard. I'll admit it is a little scary to trust that, once elected, the words will turn into action but it was good to sense a genuine interested inclusion from the political representative.
Recommend this post
I was expecting the usual rhetoric I often observe from tuning in to other forms of media and was surprised to find little of that in evidence. Some, yes, but the main message was that it is time for a change. A BIG CHANGE. A change big enough to shift voter apathy. A change that will give everyday people a reason to become re-involved in their own governance.
What impressed me more were the people who where present. I was included in a group made up of a number of familiar faces, some friends, representatives from a green-community building effort, women living well below the poverty line, small farm owners and a few professional types, to name a few. The overall feeling was of wanting to be heard and heeded by someone who would truly represent them once they were elected.
The person who was asking us to vote for them was listening to us. We were asked to speak. We did speak. We were heard. I'll admit it is a little scary to trust that, once elected, the words will turn into action but it was good to sense a genuine interested inclusion from the political representative.
Recommend this post
14 April 2009
F-Word Blog Awards: Not yet voted?
... Then get to it! There's just hours left in the elimination round. Then it's on to the Finals!
Either vote for Challenging the Commonplace (in two categories, no less! - see links in the square at top right of this page) or vote for another blog. But Vote to show your support for feminist blogging everywhere!
And don't forget the other categories!
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Either vote for Challenging the Commonplace (in two categories, no less! - see links in the square at top right of this page) or vote for another blog. But Vote to show your support for feminist blogging everywhere!
And don't forget the other categories!
Recommend this post
13 April 2009
Our Medical Culture and Mental Disorder Overdiagnosis
There's growing dissent in the mental health industry concerning the over-diagnosis of mental disorders, particularly Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Its strongest dissenters are US veterans.
It's not only PTSD which gets over-diagnosed in North America. When an entire industry devotes itself to looking for evidence of deviation from a norm - that norm itself defined in increasingly narrow terms and by that very same industry -, people of the commons should be alarmed. WE are the subject pool, after all, over which the industry turns its diagnostic eye.
Not only does psychiatric over-diagnosis do harm to individuals. It harms entire cultures. It creates a society in which too many individuals who are going through normal processes in response to atypical conditions come to view themselves, and get treated as sick. This in turn deflects attention from the social and environmental factors causing these atypical conditions and so politicians, whose policies allow such conditions to thrive, are not held accountable and the conditions continue or worsen.
Wearing sickness labels can do irrevocable harm, by diminishing our view of ourselves in terms of our strengths. If there are very many of us out there who shouldn't have been diagnosed with a mental disorder, that harm also diminishes society's potential to advance to the benefit of all. Harm is also done to those who do have a verifiable mental disorder: treatment may be withheld due to the over-extension of the system.
In fact, the only ones who benefit from over-diagnosis is the industry doing the over-diagnoses.
It's long overdue for the psychiatric industry to undergo a thorough mental health examination.
Recall the book and film The Corporation, which notes the psychopathic nature of corporations. One might suppose the same with respect to an industry whose robust continuance and flourishing depends on the sickness of others, as diagnosed by itself.
Recommend this post
In 2006, soon after returning from military service in Ramadi, Iraq, during the bloodiest period of the war, Captain Matt Stevens of the Vermont National Guard began to have a problem with PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Stevens's problem was not that he had PTSD. It was that he began to have doubts about PTSD: the condition was real enough, but as a diagnosis he saw it being wildly, even dangerously, overextended.
Stevens led the medics tending an armoured brigade of 800 soldiers, and his team patched together GIs and Iraqi citizens almost every day. He saw horrific things. Once home, he said he had his share of "nights where I'd wake up and it would be clear I wasn't going to sleep again."
He was not surprised: "I would expect people to have nightmares for a while when they came back." But as he kept track of his unit in the U.S., he saw troops greeted by both a larger culture and a medical culture especially in the Veterans Administration (VA) that seemed reflexively to view bad memories, nightmares and any other sign of distress as an indicator of PTSD.
"Clinicians aren't separating the few who really have PTSD from those who are experiencing things like depression or anxiety or social and reintegration problems or who are just taking some time getting over it," Stevens says. He worries that many of these men and women are being pulled into a treatment and disability regime that will mire them in a self-fulfilling vision of a brain rewired, a psyche permanently haunted.
It's not only PTSD which gets over-diagnosed in North America. When an entire industry devotes itself to looking for evidence of deviation from a norm - that norm itself defined in increasingly narrow terms and by that very same industry -, people of the commons should be alarmed. WE are the subject pool, after all, over which the industry turns its diagnostic eye.
Not only does psychiatric over-diagnosis do harm to individuals. It harms entire cultures. It creates a society in which too many individuals who are going through normal processes in response to atypical conditions come to view themselves, and get treated as sick. This in turn deflects attention from the social and environmental factors causing these atypical conditions and so politicians, whose policies allow such conditions to thrive, are not held accountable and the conditions continue or worsen.
Wearing sickness labels can do irrevocable harm, by diminishing our view of ourselves in terms of our strengths. If there are very many of us out there who shouldn't have been diagnosed with a mental disorder, that harm also diminishes society's potential to advance to the benefit of all. Harm is also done to those who do have a verifiable mental disorder: treatment may be withheld due to the over-extension of the system.
In fact, the only ones who benefit from over-diagnosis is the industry doing the over-diagnoses.
It's long overdue for the psychiatric industry to undergo a thorough mental health examination.
Recall the book and film The Corporation, which notes the psychopathic nature of corporations. One might suppose the same with respect to an industry whose robust continuance and flourishing depends on the sickness of others, as diagnosed by itself.
Recommend this post
12 April 2009
Try Voting in a BC-STV Election
... and then watch how it works!
Granted, not all parties are likely to run as many candidates in all STV electoral districts as they are running in the 85 districts during this election.
No one knows what the parties will do if BC-STV becomes our new voting system. But that's an issue for the parties.
An electoral system is not about addressing party concerns. It's about addressing the needs of voters.
This test assumes the number of candidates that parties will run is the same as it is for the election to be decided on May 12th, when we also vote to decide between BC-STV and the current First Past The Post (FPTP) system. It also assumes no additional independents.
Still, it should give you an idea of how the process for BC-STV works.
As for me, I'm tickled pink that (so far) of the four MLAs my new STV district (Mid-Island) would elect, one is my first choice candidate!!! And two women and two men get elected!! Gender equality!
Enough with the exclamation marks. LOL.
Clearly, I've caught BC-STV fever.
Recommend this post
Granted, not all parties are likely to run as many candidates in all STV electoral districts as they are running in the 85 districts during this election.
No one knows what the parties will do if BC-STV becomes our new voting system. But that's an issue for the parties.
An electoral system is not about addressing party concerns. It's about addressing the needs of voters.
This test assumes the number of candidates that parties will run is the same as it is for the election to be decided on May 12th, when we also vote to decide between BC-STV and the current First Past The Post (FPTP) system. It also assumes no additional independents.
Still, it should give you an idea of how the process for BC-STV works.
As for me, I'm tickled pink that (so far) of the four MLAs my new STV district (Mid-Island) would elect, one is my first choice candidate!!! And two women and two men get elected!! Gender equality!
Enough with the exclamation marks. LOL.
Clearly, I've caught BC-STV fever.
Recommend this post
UPDATED - Citizens! Fund the Journalism You Want
... while providing work for laid-off journalists. It's a match that could potentially serve democracy a whole lot better than the media model we have now.
An interesting phenomenon is happening over at The Tyee, which I wrote about yesterday and then unexpectedly became a part of.
It has come to the attention of at least one dead-tree media outlet. [Woo hoo! Now the CBC has caught onto the story!]
Actually, as of about 24 hours ago Beers reported donations to be at $8560.00 "and counting..."
Here's something else of interest reported in the Winnipeg Free Press article:
Hmm...
With all the journalists getting laid off in Canada, one would think there might be a few enterprising souls who would be eager to run with this idea and create a Canadian and/or provincial and/or regional and/or community-based version of Spot.us.
Then again, perhaps we do have something like that and I've just not heard of it. Anyone?
Recommend this post
An interesting phenomenon is happening over at The Tyee, which I wrote about yesterday and then unexpectedly became a part of.
It has come to the attention of at least one dead-tree media outlet. [Woo hoo! Now the CBC has caught onto the story!]
British Columbians who say the media is ignoring the most pressing issues in next month's provincial election now have an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is.
The Tyee, a B.C. online web magazine, is collecting pledges from its readers to fund its election reporting.
Those who donate can tell the magazine's brass what election issue ... their money should go towards covering.
It's a handing over of editorial control that David Beers, the Tyee's founder and editor-in-chief, admits is somewhat nerve-racking.
"Editors like to be the boss. They want to figure out what the issues are and then find reporters that cover them. In this case, I'm turning the reins over a bit to our readers," Beers said.
And those readers seem to be running with that opportunity. The Tyee hoped to raise $5,000, enough to hire an extra reporter for each day of the election campaign. Donations are already nearing $7,000 with the pledge drive slated to run until April 14.
Actually, as of about 24 hours ago Beers reported donations to be at $8560.00 "and counting..."
Here's something else of interest reported in the Winnipeg Free Press article:
While community-funded reporting may be a new phenomenon in B.C., to David Cohn it's quickly becoming old hat. Cohn, a 26-year-old graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, founded Spot.us, a project through which the public can commission journalists to do investigations. The San Francisco-based non-profit has been up and running for 20 weeks, during which 20 different stories have been funded.
Cohn said the organization is currently working on a major investigation of Bay Area police forces. "There was a young man named Oscar Grant who was shot by (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police officers and it was caught on video," he said. "The investigation of the police department continues to expand because since the Oscar Grant shooting they've been under a microscope."
Cohn, who received a grant from the Knight Foundation to launch Spot.us, said it's grown so quickly that he's now trying to pull back on the reins to ensure the quality of the work remains high.
Hmm...
With all the journalists getting laid off in Canada, one would think there might be a few enterprising souls who would be eager to run with this idea and create a Canadian and/or provincial and/or regional and/or community-based version of Spot.us.
Then again, perhaps we do have something like that and I've just not heard of it. Anyone?
Recommend this post
What an Absurd Survey!
Most Canadians believe country 'a Christian nation'. Such is the survey result and blaring headline.
Well, duh!
Am surprised that the result is so low. I'd have expected 80 or 90 percent, at least. But perhaps people were confused (an intended result by the survey designers?) between what they'd LIKE Canada to be versus what it IS.
Given that almost all of Canada's statutory HOLI-days are centred around Christian days of celebration, it's a no-brainer that this country was both born out of and continues in the tradition of Christianity.
I'm an atheist. I say that without any hesitation, although with a sense of despair.
Uh huh.
Once the whole damned country doesn't have to dance in step with the timing and traditions of YOUR celebrations, Mr. Hexham, THEN you can talk of intolerance by non-religionists. Not before.
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Well, duh!
The survey ... found ... 58 per cent identified the country as Christian. Among those who believe in God, 61 per cent think Canada is a Christian nation, while fully 48 per cent of non-believers feel that way.
Am surprised that the result is so low. I'd have expected 80 or 90 percent, at least. But perhaps people were confused (an intended result by the survey designers?) between what they'd LIKE Canada to be versus what it IS.
Given that almost all of Canada's statutory HOLI-days are centred around Christian days of celebration, it's a no-brainer that this country was both born out of and continues in the tradition of Christianity.
I'm an atheist. I say that without any hesitation, although with a sense of despair.
Irving Hexham, a professor of religious studies at the University of Calgary, says there are many social issues that create disagreement ... but the real narrow-mindedness ... doesn't come from other faiths but rather Canadians lacking religious ties of any kind.
"It's the atheists and agnostics," says Hexham, an Anglican. "They're very intolerant of any traditional Christians, despite the fact they want tolerance for everybody else."
Uh huh.
Once the whole damned country doesn't have to dance in step with the timing and traditions of YOUR celebrations, Mr. Hexham, THEN you can talk of intolerance by non-religionists. Not before.
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Vancouver Event: A Vote for STV is a Vote for Women
Expert panel discussion April 17, 12:00 - 1:00 pm, YWCA Welch Room, 535 Hornby St.
What we lack are enough women candidates. There are many factors that make it difficult or unappealing for women to run. However, even if we want to run, our current electoral system places barriers in our way.
First Past the Post has the worst record on women’s representation of any electoral system. Fortunately we can get rid of these structural barriers by voting for BC-STV in the May 12th referendum. Come for lunch and find out more.
Forward this invitation to other women who might be interested.
RSVP by April 15th by calling 604-637-3551.
Lunch is provided. Donations to help cover costs would be greatly appreciated.
h/t Antigone Magazine.
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- Judy Rebick - former president, National Action Committee on the Status of Women;
- Tricia Marwick - Scottish MP and successful advocate for STV in local elections;
- Shoni Field - alumnus of the BC Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform.
What we lack are enough women candidates. There are many factors that make it difficult or unappealing for women to run. However, even if we want to run, our current electoral system places barriers in our way.
First Past the Post has the worst record on women’s representation of any electoral system. Fortunately we can get rid of these structural barriers by voting for BC-STV in the May 12th referendum. Come for lunch and find out more.
Forward this invitation to other women who might be interested.
RSVP by April 15th by calling 604-637-3551.
Lunch is provided. Donations to help cover costs would be greatly appreciated.
h/t Antigone Magazine.
Recommend this post
11 April 2009
Nominated for 2009 F-Word Blog Awards
We blushingly advise readers that Challenging the Commonplace has been nominated for an F-Word 2009 Blog Award. In two categories, no less!
If you like our blog and support our nomination, please vote for us here, in the first of two elimination rounds:
Our thanks to Beijing York, GD Kitty and Antonia for having given us the nod. And a special thanks to Dr. Prole and Pale over at A Creative Revolution for being the creative geniuses they are.
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If you like our blog and support our nomination, please vote for us here, in the first of two elimination rounds:
Our thanks to Beijing York, GD Kitty and Antonia for having given us the nod. And a special thanks to Dr. Prole and Pale over at A Creative Revolution for being the creative geniuses they are.
Recommend this post
10 April 2009
UPDATED: Want to Support BC-STV and Excellence in Independent Media?
CHALLENGE ISSUED. SEE COMMENTS SECTION.
You can do both by donating to The Tyee's fund-raising campaign aimed at presenting the most thorough provincial election coverage ever. The Tyee is asking donors to specify the election issue which they consider the most critical.
I, of course, would say (and have said, repeatedly) electoral reform! No other issue comes close: not the environment, not poverty or homelessness (and I say this as a poverty activist), not violence against women (which I and women I've known closely have experienced), not education, not corruption. And there are some eminent feminists who agree with me.
Why are we so adamant that electoral reform is THE issue? Unless voters are powered with the means to elect MLAs whose jobs depend on listening to and heeding their constituents rather than to their party bosses, little will change. VOTERS voices will continue to go unheard, our issues go unresolved.
So if you want to make this message heard by politicos LOUD and CLEAR. If you would like to support the best damn alternative news site in British Columbia, perhaps in the country, then visit The Tyee, make a donation and specify Electoral Reform and the May 12th BC-STV referendum as your number one priority.
Go! Don't wait. Donate now! Deadline: April 14.
ETA: See related, follow-up post. This has got the attention of other media outlets!
Recommend this post
You can do both by donating to The Tyee's fund-raising campaign aimed at presenting the most thorough provincial election coverage ever. The Tyee is asking donors to specify the election issue which they consider the most critical.
I, of course, would say (and have said, repeatedly) electoral reform! No other issue comes close: not the environment, not poverty or homelessness (and I say this as a poverty activist), not violence against women (which I and women I've known closely have experienced), not education, not corruption. And there are some eminent feminists who agree with me.
Why are we so adamant that electoral reform is THE issue? Unless voters are powered with the means to elect MLAs whose jobs depend on listening to and heeding their constituents rather than to their party bosses, little will change. VOTERS voices will continue to go unheard, our issues go unresolved.
So if you want to make this message heard by politicos LOUD and CLEAR. If you would like to support the best damn alternative news site in British Columbia, perhaps in the country, then visit The Tyee, make a donation and specify Electoral Reform and the May 12th BC-STV referendum as your number one priority.
Go! Don't wait. Donate now! Deadline: April 14.
ETA: See related, follow-up post. This has got the attention of other media outlets!
Recommend this post
Well done, BC! - Naturopaths, Midwives, RNs Get Broader Licence
Naturopaths, midwives and registered nurses will now be able to prescribe drugs, order diagnostics.
Naturopaths will be able to prescribe drugs "making them the first alternative health-care providers in the country to do so."
Midwives with the requisite certification will be authorized to induce or augment labour, apply acupuncture, and assist M.D.s with caesarean sections.
Registered nurses will be able to offer a number of additional services including:
Medical doctors have had a lock on the acute care system for far too long. Which has meant a disproportionate emphasis on medical intervention - or treatment after the fact - rather than an emphasis on prevention of illness and the promotion of wellbeing.
The door has opened a crack to other health specialists. Now opened, there will be no turning back.
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Naturopaths will be able to prescribe drugs "making them the first alternative health-care providers in the country to do so."
Midwives with the requisite certification will be authorized to induce or augment labour, apply acupuncture, and assist M.D.s with caesarean sections.
Registered nurses will be able to offer a number of additional services including:
- suturing, tuberculosis screening and managing labour in hospital when the primary care provider is absent
- order diagnostic ultrasounds and X-rays
- dispense or administer prescription medications in urgent situations, including for severe allergic reactions, drug overdoses, post-partum bleeding and communicable disease prevention and management
Medical doctors have had a lock on the acute care system for far too long. Which has meant a disproportionate emphasis on medical intervention - or treatment after the fact - rather than an emphasis on prevention of illness and the promotion of wellbeing.
The door has opened a crack to other health specialists. Now opened, there will be no turning back.
Recommend this post
BC NDP Partisans - CUT IT OUT!
As a NON-PARTISAN, I tuned into Joe Easingwood's program on CFAX a short time ago to listen to Green Party leader Jane Sterk.
The topic was NDP complaints about Greens running candidates in this election - which the NDP complains about EVERY election. According to these partisans, the Greens "have no chance of winning" and "are hurting" NDP chances to form the new government. By insisting on running candidates, the Greens are "splitting the left."
Callers to the program reiterated, loudly and with an astonishing sense of entitlement, the same arguments.
This is what I wrote in an email to Joe Easingwood:
My riding's NDP candidate, Bill Routley, has rubbed many people in this community the wrong way, including typically ardent NDP supporters. For example, he has run roughshod over grassroots initiatives. Which supports rumours of his candidacy having been rushed through, bully fashion, and other nominees being treated unfairly.
No doubt he'll win the riding anyway, given he was the longtime president of the local branch of the United Steelworkers, but his manner has done little to win him new friends and caused him to lose others.
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The topic was NDP complaints about Greens running candidates in this election - which the NDP complains about EVERY election. According to these partisans, the Greens "have no chance of winning" and "are hurting" NDP chances to form the new government. By insisting on running candidates, the Greens are "splitting the left."
Callers to the program reiterated, loudly and with an astonishing sense of entitlement, the same arguments.
This is what I wrote in an email to Joe Easingwood:
If Simon Lindley, the Green candidate in my riding, were not running in this election, I would vote for NO ONE. Instead, I'd reject my ballot.
The NDP, and certainly their candidate here, do not represent my values. Neither do the Liberals. And it's insulting to Green supporters to be told that the Green Party shouldn't run candidates because they block the NDP from winning.
Well, too bad! Parties have to EARN votes. They're not entitled to them.
My riding's NDP candidate, Bill Routley, has rubbed many people in this community the wrong way, including typically ardent NDP supporters. For example, he has run roughshod over grassroots initiatives. Which supports rumours of his candidacy having been rushed through, bully fashion, and other nominees being treated unfairly.
No doubt he'll win the riding anyway, given he was the longtime president of the local branch of the United Steelworkers, but his manner has done little to win him new friends and caused him to lose others.
Recommend this post
09 April 2009
BC-STV Campaign Tops Online Buzz
April 9, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BC-STV campaign tops online buzz
Online momentum growing as citizens demand electoral reform
Vancouver, BC – As election 2009 kicks off, the BC-STV campaign for electoral reform is creating the biggest buzz online, outpacing all of the main political parties in BC. Thousands of British Columbians who support electoral reform have joined the campaign online creating extremely valuable social media and fundraising networks. In fact, on the popular social networking site, Facebook, the YES for BC- STV group (Single Transferable vote), has attracted nearly double the number supporters than have joined the NDP and BC Liberal party Facebook groups. And, online support for BC-STV is growing daily.
“This amazing groundswell of support online on sites such as Facebook and Twitter and to our website underscores the grassroots foundation of our campaign,” said Tony Roy, deputy campaign manager. “We're not a political party. We're just average folks of all ages and party stripes who are coming together,
many of us for the first time, to help create real and lasting change to our political system.”
As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, 2009 here is how the current numbers stack up:
Blaize Horner Reich, a professor in the SFU Segal Graduate School of Business and a specialist in technology and innovation, agrees.
“We saw the remarkable impact of social media on the recent election of President Barack Obama in the United States,” said Reich. “The desire for change is a powerful force and we are seeing a groundswell of British Columbians coming together online to demand a fairer electoral system in our province.”
Voters can join the online conversation about electoral reform in the Facebook group YES for BC-STV and at Twitter or by visiting the BC-STV website for more information.
On May 12, in a province wide referendum on electoral reform, voters will have a chance to make history and choose between the current “first-past-the-post” system and the STV system that was recommended overwhelmingly [146 to 7!] by the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. In the last election, BC-STV received more votes than any political party, nearly 58 per cent. However, the referendum requires 60 per cent approval to be adopted by the government.
-30-
Hey Greens! Get a move on, will you? Become a friend of Jane Sterk and join the BC Greens Facebook group!
Recommend this post
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BC-STV campaign tops online buzz
Online momentum growing as citizens demand electoral reform
Vancouver, BC – As election 2009 kicks off, the BC-STV campaign for electoral reform is creating the biggest buzz online, outpacing all of the main political parties in BC. Thousands of British Columbians who support electoral reform have joined the campaign online creating extremely valuable social media and fundraising networks. In fact, on the popular social networking site, Facebook, the YES for BC- STV group (Single Transferable vote), has attracted nearly double the number supporters than have joined the NDP and BC Liberal party Facebook groups. And, online support for BC-STV is growing daily.
“This amazing groundswell of support online on sites such as Facebook and Twitter and to our website underscores the grassroots foundation of our campaign,” said Tony Roy, deputy campaign manager. “We're not a political party. We're just average folks of all ages and party stripes who are coming together,
many of us for the first time, to help create real and lasting change to our political system.”
As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, 2009 here is how the current numbers stack up:
- Yes for BC-STV: 4244
- No for BC -STV: 147
- BC NDP: 1300
- BC Liberal Party: 854
- BC Greens: 901
- Gordon Campbell: 1395
- Carole James: 1457
- Jane Sterk: 118 [Actually, that number refers to the wrong profile; the correct profile has 276 - Ocean]
Blaize Horner Reich, a professor in the SFU Segal Graduate School of Business and a specialist in technology and innovation, agrees.
“We saw the remarkable impact of social media on the recent election of President Barack Obama in the United States,” said Reich. “The desire for change is a powerful force and we are seeing a groundswell of British Columbians coming together online to demand a fairer electoral system in our province.”
Voters can join the online conversation about electoral reform in the Facebook group YES for BC-STV and at Twitter or by visiting the BC-STV website for more information.
On May 12, in a province wide referendum on electoral reform, voters will have a chance to make history and choose between the current “first-past-the-post” system and the STV system that was recommended overwhelmingly [146 to 7!] by the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. In the last election, BC-STV received more votes than any political party, nearly 58 per cent. However, the referendum requires 60 per cent approval to be adopted by the government.
-30-
Hey Greens! Get a move on, will you? Become a friend of Jane Sterk and join the BC Greens Facebook group!
Recommend this post
08 April 2009
Good one, Ms. Sterk!
Can't say I've been impressed with Jane Sterk, the new leader of the BC Greens. However, given the dearth of coverage of the Greens in our Canwest-saturated media, perhaps that's not surprising.
It happens to be just such a point which Sterk raises in her letter to the editor of the Times Colonist today.
Way to go, Jane!!
Recommend this post
It happens to be just such a point which Sterk raises in her letter to the editor of the Times Colonist today.
I find it breathtakingly disrespectful to the 15 per cent of people who say they support the Green Party of B.C. and the 10 per cent who vote for us that the Times Colonist would include the name of the B.C. Liberal candidate in its article on Carole James' nomination, but not list Adam Saab, the Green candidate in the Victoria Beacon Hill riding, in an April 6 article on the front page.
The Green Party of B.C. is the third party in B.C. and while the Times Colonist might be more comfortable pretending we have a two-party system because our unfair voting system leads to a two-party result, there are multiple parties running in this election, as well as independents. I encourage voters to express their distaste for an electoral system that takes some people's votes for granted and makes the votes of more than 50 per cent of the population irrelevant.
On May 12, vote for B.C.-STV (BC Single Transferable Vote). That way, the NDP and the Liberals and the mainstream media cannot ignore the fact that a majority don't vote for either one of them.
Way to go, Jane!!
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Un- or Under-employed? Have a Shovel-Ready Trade?
Then get yer shovel in hand for some (temporary) employment!
Infrastructure. Shovel-ready projects. Traditional male jobs.
Men will gain temporary employment (not a bad thing). However, in the meantime women will see no benefit and will continue to be employed in part-time jobs which pay sub-par wages and few, if any, benefits. In other words, the "he-cession" and this "stimulus" changes nothing for the "second shift."
Since women do most of the household spending, the logic of the Conservative "stimulus" plan fails to impress.
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Public Works Minister Christian Paradis says his department is spending $400 million over two years to repair government buildings and bridges....
"The money will go to repairing and making public buildings accessible to the handicapped and to repair four government-owned bridges....
"The government is also spending $2 million on planning for the historic Le Manege military complex."
Infrastructure. Shovel-ready projects. Traditional male jobs.
Men will gain temporary employment (not a bad thing). However, in the meantime women will see no benefit and will continue to be employed in part-time jobs which pay sub-par wages and few, if any, benefits. In other words, the "he-cession" and this "stimulus" changes nothing for the "second shift."
Since women do most of the household spending, the logic of the Conservative "stimulus" plan fails to impress.
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ENOUGH - Alberta is NOT "The West"
You want to alienate "The West"? This is how you do it.
Have read two blog posts this morning, both referencing this article in the Winnipeg Free Press. In turn, it references "an explosive new book" which assesses December's "constitutional showdown."
We are told that this book was written by "15 of Canada's leading parliamentary experts." Actually, it's 17 and here they are.
I am sick and tired of British Columbia being lumped under "The West."
The HarperCons did NOT do well out here. It's Alberta which is Harper country, not "The West."
Damn it all! I wish people would stop perpetuating the myth that The West is one big Harper love-in! Or that British Columbians, Albertans, Saskatchewanians and Manitobans all hold to the same political, neocon ideology.
Note to all of you in "Historic Canada" - or in Alberta, for that matter: Alberta is NOT The West.
Got it?
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Have read two blog posts this morning, both referencing this article in the Winnipeg Free Press. In turn, it references "an explosive new book" which assesses December's "constitutional showdown."
We are told that this book was written by "15 of Canada's leading parliamentary experts." Actually, it's 17 and here they are.
Canada's two solitudes are no longer Quebec and English Canada. Today, the two solitudes are Historic Canada and The West.
Polls taken during the crisis found that Historic Canada - Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes - backed parliamentary democracy and the Liberal-NDP coalition supported by the Bloc Quebecois. Under parliamentary democracy, the government of the day must win and maintain the confidence of a majority of the members of parliament to retain power.
The West overwhelmingly supported the populist outcome - a two-month prorogation allowing the minority Conservative government to avoid defeat on a confidence vote. Populist democracy, as promulgated by Reform Party leader Preston Manning, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his former chief strategist Tom Flanagan, favours the American presidential model of one directly elected leader not responsible to the legislature but answerable only to the people.
I am sick and tired of British Columbia being lumped under "The West."
The HarperCons did NOT do well out here. It's Alberta which is Harper country, not "The West."
Damn it all! I wish people would stop perpetuating the myth that The West is one big Harper love-in! Or that British Columbians, Albertans, Saskatchewanians and Manitobans all hold to the same political, neocon ideology.
Note to all of you in "Historic Canada" - or in Alberta, for that matter: Alberta is NOT The West.
Got it?
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"He-cession" Changes Nothing for the "Second Shift"
Not only are women, with their lower wages, pulling the heavier (non-shovel) load during this recession, but they continue to be stuck with the bulk of household and family chores.
'Course, these observations will make not one whit of difference.
"Stimulus" packages both north and south have been directed toward "shovel-ready" (read, 'manly') projects - primarily construction. Once again, men get the greatest advantage and women's wages and employment opportunities remain stuck in the 1950s.
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The Los Angeles Times is calling it the "he-cession." The stark facts show that the economic crisis is hitting men particularly hard: The official male unemployment rate just spiked to 8.8 percent, while the figure for women is ... now at 7 percent....
With women working more, there has been a role reversal of sorts, but it's hardly the kind feminists envisioned. As men lose their jobs, households are depending increasingly on the relatively meager wages of women to stay afloat. And the newly unemployed men aren't spending their freed-up time packing lunches and schlepping the kids to soccer games.... They're devoting those hours to looking for new jobs - and sleeping more, and watching more TV.
The picture of domestic life that emerges is not the gendered suburban dystopia of Revolutionary Road. But vestiges of that old order persist, mixing in new and potentially combustible ways with the legacy of feminism (the increased participation of women in the labor force), its unfinished business (their lower wages, and the lack of social supports for working motherhood), and the vagaries of this particular downturn, which has been especially merciless in male-dominated sectors like construction and manufacturing.
To put it another way, the "second shift" that sociologist Arlie Hochschild described in her classic book of that name is alive and well - even as it's increasingly women alone who are working the first shift.
'Course, these observations will make not one whit of difference.
"Stimulus" packages both north and south have been directed toward "shovel-ready" (read, 'manly') projects - primarily construction. Once again, men get the greatest advantage and women's wages and employment opportunities remain stuck in the 1950s.
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Power Up Your Vote! Video Contest Launched
Are you an aspiring videographer? Do you want to help promote BC-STV for the upcoming May 12th referendum on electoral reform?
Here are the rules:
If you haven't the equipment or skills to create your own video, you can still participate! Vote online for your favourite videos!
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Here are the rules:
- Video must not exceed 3 minutes in length or be more than 500 MB.
- Video must not contain any copyrighted material. That includes music.
- By submitting a video, you agree to have it used by Fair Voting BC and viewed by the public in an unrestricted manner until March 31, 2010. Fair Voting BC reserves the right to disqualify any material deemed unsuitable.
- Submission deadline: midnight APRIL 30, 2009. Enter as often as you like.
- You must be a legal resident of British Columbia to enter.
- Video must either educate the viewer about BC-STV or be supportive of BC-STV.
If you haven't the equipment or skills to create your own video, you can still participate! Vote online for your favourite videos!
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07 April 2009
Aaaawwww ... Cute Alert!
No, it's not a cat. Not a dog. Not a bunny. Not a chimp. Not any cute furry critter.
It's an adorable house on its own tiny piece of land which is selling for the whopping price of $5,000. That's right. FIVE THOUSAND dollars.
Not only is it cute, but this little one-bedroom house was built around 1880 and is under the protection of the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana.
Alas, there appears to be nothing like it in Canada.
Sigh... I want my own little place so badly it aches.
(Click the photo and you can search for other historical properties across the US.)
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It's an adorable house on its own tiny piece of land which is selling for the whopping price of $5,000. That's right. FIVE THOUSAND dollars.
Not only is it cute, but this little one-bedroom house was built around 1880 and is under the protection of the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana.
Alas, there appears to be nothing like it in Canada.
Sigh... I want my own little place so badly it aches.
(Click the photo and you can search for other historical properties across the US.)
Recommend this post
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