From First Place to Bottom of the Class in One Bound
Canada’s election laws used to be the gold standard among the Anglo-Saxon parliamentary democracies and countries from around the world came here to learn how to ensure free and fair electoral contests.
Until, that is, the Harper Conservatives decided to blemish this country’s stellar reputation with their oxymoronic Fair Election Act now awaiting passage in the Senate.
That’s the inevitable conclusion of an analysis by Paul Thomas, Professor Emeritus of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba.
In an address to the Association of Retired MLAs/MPs of Manitoba in Winnipeg Monday, Thomas pointed out that not only has Canada slipped as the gold standard in elections, he fears the Fair Election Act “will weaken public trust and confidence in the election process, the one democratic activity in which a majority of Canadians participate.”
Even more foreboding is his worry that, despite Elections Canada doing everything possible to implement the new provisions, “there is the real possibility that both foreseen and unforeseen consequences will flow from the hasty and unilateral manner in which major changes to the law were formulated and adopted.
“I predict that as a result there will likely be administrative complications and political controversies associated with the next general election scheduled for October, 2015,” he warns.
http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2014/06/04/from-first-place-to-bottom-of-the-class-in-one-bound/#.U48K62xOXIV
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