Oh, Maryam Monsef. I try so hard to be optimistic that your democratic reform mandate won’t be one big gong show, and yet I keep finding myself disappointed. The latest example – Monsef insisting that First-Past-The-Post is okay for fledgling democracies, but “mature” democracies can “do better.” And then my head exploded. If there is anything that makes me insane is this notion that somehow proponents of FPTP are just too stupid to grasp all of the wonderful things about various other voting systems (most especially the unicorns-and-rainbows that fans of proportional representation will extol), when some of us are quite learned, thank you very much, and have no interest in alternative voting schemes because they’re predicated on a lot of emotional bunk rather than solid civics. The cries that somehow FPTP is “unfair” or ensures that “votes don’t count” are the siren songs of sore losers who are actually the ones who don’t understand the way our system works, and when you try and point out the inherent flaws in their logic, they get huffy and try to change the goal posts. (I have had innumerable conversations like this. They always wind up the same. Always). And no, proportional representation won’t increase voter turnout. That’s been proven. Declining voter turnout in western democracies is part of a broader problem that is tough to grasp, but I would hazard that a lack of civic literacy is the bigger problem there – just like Monsef’s argument that somehow FPTP isn’t a “mature” system. I’m going to turn that around – I think FPTP is a mature system, and it’s one that, if we were a mature democracy, we would actually understand its intricacies as well as is pleasant simplicity, but no – we are a civically illiterate culture who doesn’t learn about how the system works, so we complain instead that it’s somehow “broken,” when what’s broken is our understanding and political discourse around it. If Monsef wants legitimate democratic reform, then tinkering with the system with abhorrent notions like online voting, lowered voting ages or alternative voting systems aren’t going to actually solve anything. What will solve our democratic deficit is a real push for civic literacy that will re-engage Canadians with the system. But that’s a hard, long-term problem, and everyone wants a quick fix. Those quick fixes will only serve to make things worse, as they always have (and past quick fixes are part of what’s broken about our system as it exists), and Monsef needs to start grasping this reality. One would think that a “mature” democracy would have that level of self-awareness, but I fear we’re not there yet.

Good reads:

• The Canadian Forces released an update on their response to ending sexual misconduct in their ranks. Maclean’s has an interview with General Vance.
• The government is looking to streamline approval processes as hundreds of millions of infrastructure dollars are lapsing.
• The employment minister is promising some immediate changes to the EI system coming “soon,” while fundamental reform will take longer.
• CBC tries to follow up about leaks of tax data to CSIS, and it looks like one person has either been fired or resigned, but no one is talking.
• Oh noes! Adding the new Senate government “leader” will cost more money, as there will essentially be three leaders. How terrible!
• Oh noes! MPs travelling to other Commonwealth countries to learn more about comparable parliamentary systems costs money! How awful!
• A high-level deputy minister committee commissioned a report on the sharing economy to help policy makers figure out how to best regulate it.
• Stephen Harper tried to pull Canada out of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Barack Obama had to convince him otherwise.
• Irving insists that the problems with the Coast Guard ships they built are all minor, then gave examples that weren’t what were pointed out.
• Kady O’Malley offers the 101 on supply days (aka opposition days).

Odds and ends:

New Liberal MP Stephen Fuhr is now on the defence committee, which is notable as Fuhr is a former CF-18 pilot.

An employee of Dean Del Mastro’s cousin plead guilty her role in an illegal donations scheme, as said cousin’s trial gets underway.

Politicians, including a couple of MPs, talk about their tattoos.