Worth Reading – March 14, 2013

Catherine Fife, MPP for Kitchener-Waterloo, has introduced a bill to change the rules on prorogation. However, it may not be that simple. The Globe and Mail raises some problems with the plan. 

Los Angeles recently had its local city election. The turnout there was 16%. As the writer Steve Lopez says, “Stop with the excuses, non-voters. Cynicism is acceptable, surrender is not. Read the paper, for crying out loud. Educate yourself. If we pull together in the runoff, a 25%-30% turnout is possible.”

Speaking of voting, Andrew Coyne came out in support of the RaBIT campaign (Ranked Ballot Initiative of Toronto). I wrote about RaBIT for this Tuesday’s post.

Ontario Projections has compiled an amazing resource for anyone interested in politics and campaigns. They have categorized all the census divisions in Ontario and analyzed various groups correlations to the political parties. For example, if a neighbourhood in your riding has cluster “352 – This Is How We Do It Here”, which is middle-aged areas with older housing stock, and high school education favoured the NDP. Therefore the NDP can target their messaging to these neighbourhoods that appeal to those voters. On a side note I found the descriptions of my surrounding areas interesting as they both revealed familiar information and unexpected results.

En français, despite seven years in office Stephen Harper (CPC – Calgary Southwest) has failed to put together a significant legacy. Compared to other long-term Prime Ministers Harper has failed to achieve a lasting policy achievement, so far. 

The Manning Networking Conference was last week. One of the remarkable thing was the way the Harper Conservatives failed to live up to the expectations of these conservative activists. For example, Ron Paul’s criticism about government over-reach could only sound wounding to the current Canadian government. Andrew Coyne asks how long the cognitive dissonance between the conservative movement and the ConservativeParty can continue. 

This a really wonky piece, but it is worth considering. The blog Transport Politic analyzed why federal support for transit is important. Basically, the cities and populations who most need transit are least able to pay for it.

Earlier the Liberal Party of Canada proudly announced that nearly 300,000 people had signed up with the party, but there’s a problem. A series of errors may mean that the vast majority of that 300,000 will be unable to vote for the next leader...

John Lorinc at Spacing counters the casino argument. Supporters highlight the potential jobs and investment at the Canadian National Exhibition. Lorinc demonstrates the opposite case where casinos fail and become a major burden on the public.