The Longest Ballot Committee crybabies have reached a high—or low—by organising some hundred candidates to be on the ballot for the Battle River—Crowfoot byelection, and they want to reach 200 when the nominations close on the 28th. It’s ridiculous and abusive, and they’re now full-on masturbating in the media insisting this is about the purity of democracy and that it’s not even about protest when this is about trying to force the government to hold a citizen’s assembly for electoral reform, because they don’t think politicians should write their own rules. Erm, except that’s what self-government means. Politicians write their own rules so that the King doesn’t. Revolutions were fought for this ability.
As for citizen’s assemblies, they are demonstrably bullshit—they’re tools used to launder accountability because there is no way to hold them accountable because you can’t vote them out for the decisions they make, and most of the time, they are easily manipulable to deliver the kinds of answers you want them to give, usually by gaming the “experts” who guide them. It’s another form of manufacturing consent, much like how referendums are easily manipulable by the government who organizes them, by shaping the questions and the conditions of those referendums to deliver results they want, at which point they manipulate the responses they get. In this case, they want this citizen’s assembly to deliver proportional representation for them (which system of PR? Who can say? But yes, that matters), because they’re crybabies who seem to think that if the person/party you vote for doesn’t automatically win, then your vote is “wasted.” There’s a technical term for that—it’s “sore loserism.” And Parliament really needs to get their shit together to close the loopholes in the rules so that the Longest Ballot organisers are stopped.
Meanwhile, the push to lower the voting age has been given a new push because the voting age is being lowered to sixteen in the UK, amidst complaints that Labour are trying to put their thumbs on the scale of the next election because their popularity is plummeting. I’m not a big fan of lowering the voting age to sixteen—teenagers make a lot of dumb choices, and just yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed that youth frequently don’t have the moral blameworthiness to know the severity of consequences in criminal activity, but they would for voting? I can guarantee you that it would mean that voter turnout percentages would plummet even further, just like they did when the voting age was lowered to 18, and we’d be in for a whole new round of handwringing about that. If teenagers want to be politically active, they should join political parties and learn how to organise, and participate in nominations and leadership contests (which is another reason why we need to reinvigorate grassroots party democracy). I’m just not convinced that lowering the voting age to 16 is going to solve any problems.
Ukraine Dispatch
A mass Russian drone attack overnight has killed at least one person when they struck apartment buildings. Russian forces claim to have taken control of three villages along different parts of the front lines. Ukraine’s top commander says that their forces are holding firm outside of the key city of Pokrovsk.
Good reads:
- Mark Carney plans to meet with Inuit leaders in Inuvik, NWT, on the 24th.
- Canada and New Zealand settled a CPTPP trade dispute over supply managed dairy imports, and have agreed to technical changes.
- David McGuinty has instructed the military to look at civilian jurisprudence to consider a policy for dismissal for unwanted sexual touching on a first offence.
- Here is an explainer of the protection measures for the steel sector.
- Canadian permanent residents will be required to pay a $250 “visa integrity fee” to enter the US (as if Canadians needed another reason not to visit the US).
- Surprising nobody, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers want their members to reject the Crown corporation’s “final offer” when put to a vote.
- The CBC investigates the public clubs where the country’s most notorious white supremacists have been training.
- Carney has named Senator Pierre Moreau as his new Leader of the Government in the Senate (but is not naming him to Cabinet).
- Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie’s backers are trying to head off a leadership review vote saying that this is only playing into Doug Ford’s hands.
- Danielle Smith is throwing a tantrum, demanding an apology from Jasper for the report saying the provincial government was a hindrance during the fire.
- Four members of BC’s Expensive Drugs for Rare Diseases committee resigned after public outcry when they cut off funding for a girl with a rare incurable disease.
- Supriya Dwivedi suggests that the Conservatives have a choice to make between Poilievre’s terminally online brand, or something that is actually winnable for them.
Odds and ends:
For National Magazine, I delve into Friday’s two Supreme Court of Canada decisions on sentencing decisions for youth criminal justice.
Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.
I totally agree with every word in this. I fear changing the voting system is inevitable, because the proponents are so fanatical.
It was unjust when 18 year-olds were subject to being drafted into the military (at least in the US) but couldn’t vote till they were 21. I don’t think there’s any similar situation for 16 year-olds. Voting should be treated as important enough that the two years between can be spent in all the activities you suggest. Maybe it should be formalized, even.