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Broadcasters reject Trai's tariff order, say it will impact jobs, growth
Passenger vehicle sales dip 1.24% YoY in December; car sales down 8.4%
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Economists prefer capex route to boost demand amid economic slowdown
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Shriram Properties planning to launch IPO after Union Budget, this year
The company has an approval to raise around Rs 1250 crore through primary and secondary markets
Gireesh Babu | Chennai Last Updated at January 10, 2020 15:11 IST
https://mybs.in/2YK5XkJ
Sitharaman's first Budget gives breather for delay in payments towards GST
Thyagarajan to fill in when Ajay Piramal quits as Shriram Capital chairman
Charticle: Top stocks that FPIs, MFs bought and sold during June quarter
Piramal will have to raise Rs 3,033 crore to meet financial commitments
A Budget for expenditure
Shriram Properties, the real estate arm of Shriram Group, has said that it will go for an Initial Public Offer (IPO) after the Union Budget, this year. The company is planning to raise Rs 750-800 crore through the IPO.
The proposed IPO is expected to mobilise money for company's future expansion and will help investors partially dilute the stake.
"Stock market has been going through rough weather for some period now. Large caps are doing well, while mid- and small-caps are struggling. We expect the budget is going to be a great one. Immediately after the budget we will look at our IPO," said M Murali, chairman and managing director, Shriram Properties Ltd. The company has received a regulatory approval with validity till April 2020, to go for IPO.
While the company has an approval to raise around Rs 1250 crore through primary and secondary markets, considering the current situation, it would be looking at raising around Rs 750-800 crore, Murali added.
Around Rs 250 crore would be raised through the primary market, while the rest would be raised in the secondary market.
"We have raised around $800 million from private equity capital so far, including the project-based funding. In the holding company, around 58 per cent is held by the private equity investors," Murali said.
In the last three years, the company has seen growth in its business, It developed 2.4 million sq ft of real estate in 2017-18, around 3.5 million sq ft in 2018-19, and expects to develop 4 million sq ft during the current fiscal year. Next year, it would develop 5 million sq ft, he added.
The company is focusing on affordable and mid-market segments in real estate and has seen growth in office space development. Demonetisation, Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, has brought in huge changes in the sector and at present, there are around 50 to 60 large players, who caters to around 90-95 per cent of the market.
Read our full coverage on Shriram Properties
First Published: Wed, January 08 2020. 20:42 IST
READ MORE ON "Budget 2020"
Budget 2020: Realtors' body seeks 'bold measures' to resurrect sector
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Oil mixed with spices, mix with chicken - set aside in the refrigerator for approx. 30 min.
Onions cut into eighths, fry in hot oil for frying adding a teaspoon of honey, then remove from pan.
Chicken fry gold on the onions' fat, then add cranberries, chopped nuts and vitrified onions - a moment together stew.
Add the cream, stir and bring to a boil.
Serve with fried dumplings or noodles with millet.


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Criterion Theatre
Criterion Theatre Tours
Beneath the buzz of Piccadilly Circus, the Criterion Theatre offers an intimate West End experience at 30 feet (9 meters) below street level. Built in 1874 as part of an entertainment complex, the Grade II–listed venue seats fewer than 600 across three levels, and is known for its comedy shows, charity work, and Victorian features.
Book in advance for the theater's current production, and benefit from a choice of packages to suit your schedule and budget, whether you're after a midweek matinee or all-inclusive evening show. Located beneath one of London's busiest landmarks, the theater is a top spot to unwind after hours of sightseeing. Take advantage of tours concluding on Piccadilly Circus to seamlessly check off several city attractions in one day.
Guests with special access requirements must book directly through the theater.
The theater has two wheelchair-accessible spaces in the dress circle.
Headsets are provided for hearing-impaired theatergoers.
The theater has two bars and a small cloakroom; large luggage can't be accommodated.
Take cash to avoid the 10-pound minimum for card payments.
Be prepared to walk down 54 stairs to the stalls.
The theater is less than a 1-minute walk from Piccadilly Circus station, and a short walk from Leicester Square and Charing Cross. Local and hop-on hop-off buses serve the major junction regularly. With a box-office-validated ticket, evening or weekend attendees who are driving can avoid the Congestion Charge and receive a 50 percent discount in the nearby Q-Park Trafalgar Square lot.
Matinees take place every Saturday and Sunday, while evening performances are typically scheduled daily except Monday—though some smaller productions run on this day too. If you're there in winter, don't miss the Leicester Square Christmas market or the festive light displays along Regent Street, both within easy reach of the Criterion.
West End Comedy
From traditional farce to modern stand-up, the West End offers plenty for comedy fans. Other popular venues include the big-name-attracting Leicester Square Theatre, the independent Covent Garden Comedy Club, and the Comedy Store—a tourist favorite visited by more than 3,500 people each week.
Address: 218-223 Piccadilly, St. James's, London W1V 9LB, England
Admission: Varies
Admission Tickets (1)
The Comedy About A Bank Robbery Theater Show in London
See one of the most comedic productions on London's West End when you book advanced tickets to The Comedy About a Bank Robbery. A story about a sleepy security guard, six incompetent thieves, and one very large diamond, the family-friendly show is a humorous crime caper. Choose between evening showtimes or weekend matinee performances; you can also upgrade to add a pre-theater meal at Planet Hollywood to your itinerary.
0 Tours and Activities to Experience Criterion Theatre
Should I book Criterion Theatre tickets in advance?
We recommend booking e-tickets ahead of time to secure your spot since Criterion Theatre can get crowded. If you book with Viator, you can cancel at least 24 hours before the start date of your tour for a full refund. See all 0 Criterion Theatre tickets and tours on Viator.
How much does it cost to visit Criterion Theatre 2021?
Currently, an entrance ticket to Criterion Theatre costs USD 82.53. Guided Criterion Theatre tours start around USD 82.53 per person. See all 0 Criterion Theatre tickets and tours on Viator.
What's the best way to experience Criterion Theatre?
The best ways to experience Criterion Theatre are:
See all Criterion Theatre experiences on Viator.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


So, as I sit in a darkened living room, with my laptop where it should be (on my lap), just under two weeks from departure, I feel compelled to capture some thoughts.
I've been a Christian for some 15 years now, and have had the privilege of working with all different kinds of faith communities. I've witnessed a lot of differing approaches to ministry some of which are wildly successful and others that are wholly underwhelming. What is interesting is that in all of these relationships I have witnessed a very consistent undercurrent within the universal body in America.
Well I asked and you guys delivered, so here we go. This week I am writing on the topic of how we speak to one another, not only as brothers and sisters in the faith but also in how we dialogue with other people in general. Now I had always known that scripture had quite a bit to say on this topic, but I had underestimated how much it had to say. So without writing a book…I am going to focus on one or two texts in particular and go from there.


Super Gathering Fail: The attempt at the largest gathering of comic-book characters didn't even come close to breaking the world record set by 1,530 people in China in 2011.
They may have the nerve to don Spandex in public, but a dozen "Superheroes" don't have the power to break a world record on Friday.
Exactly 237 people gathered for the Awesome Con - a comic book and toy convention - in Washington, attempting to conjure something miraculous and smash the record for the largest gathering of individuals dressed as comic-book characters, AFP reported.
But they didn't even get close to the record-breaking 1,530 that hit Changzhou, China in April 2011.
Volunteers used about 150m of rope to create an enclosure from which no Awesome Con participants could enter or leave without being counted by two hand-tally clickers, Washington Post reported.
Because the previous record was set with only comic book characters, participants could only don costumes of characters approved by Guinness.
Once they were in the enclosure, they had to remain there for at least five minutes for the record to count.
"I'm a fat guy, I shouldn't even be dressed this way. I'm probably the fattest guy you're ever going to see in a pair of tights, at least today."
Also present were Spider-Man, Wonder Woman and a variety of other characters such as Jubilee, a sidekick of Wolverine.
The failed record attempt came before the opening of the fan convention.
Organiser Ben Penrod, 31, said he was disappointed not to have set a record, but was buoyed by the growing success of Awesome Con.
He said: "We were in 18,000 sq ft last year, we're in 230,000 sq ft this year, so it's over 10 times (the size)."


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HomePosts tagged 'ERRE'
Canadian Dog Whistle Politics or #ProportionalRepresentation?
February 18, 2017 February 20, 2017 Laurel L. Russwurm Canada, civics, Civil Rights, Culture, Electoral Reform, Politics, public good	#ERNow, Canadian Politics, Chaque Vote Compte, democracy, Dog Whistle Politics, e-616, electoral reform, Engaged in Electoral Reform, ERRE, FDR, Harry Truman, Iqra Khalid, Motion 103, Not Fine With 39%, Perform On Reform, Private Members' Motion, Proportional Representation, Tom Mulcair, Trudea Keep Your Promise, William Lyon Mackenzie King, Winston Churchill
For those who don't know, at the end of Second World War the victorious Allies governments imposed Mixed Member Proportional Representation on West Germany.
They did this specifically to prevent the rise of another Hitler. Although these powerful government leaders clearly understood this, they chose not to follow the same path for their own nations. Presumably they believed such limitation on their own power wasn't necessary. Just as Canada's current Prime Minister doesn't feel his power needs limitation.
Here's the thing: it doesn't matter if there is a good Prime Minister or a bad one. It doesn't matter if there's a bad government in place or not.
What matters in a representative democracy is that voters secure representation in Parliament. All Canadians need representation, period. Just as Canadians need the Charter, in times of good or bad. Like the Charter, representation provides citizens with security.
Had Harry Truman implemented such a change on the USA, the likelihood of a Trump presidency would be nil.
Had Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King implemented some form of Proportional Representation in Canada, Canadians would not see be seeing a rise in dog whistle politics. My brother wrote about this phenomenon before either of us knew the term.
Winston Churchill knew Proportional Representation was a defence against fascism.
Here's the thing: fear and dog whistle politics are a powerful tools used over and over again in winner-take-all systems because they work. One of the things so dreadfully wrong with winner-take-all politics is that the governments we elect are so unaccountable to voters, it isn't a question of whether they will keep all their promises, it is a question of which promises they will keep. And, incredibly, we accept that. We have been conditioned to understand they won't keep all their promises. No doubt this is a major reason the young and the idealistic don't engage in politics: they see it for a sham, and choose to invest their energies elsewhere.
Dog Whistling Islamaphobia
MP Iqra Khalid's Private Member's Motion is not the first to reference House of Commons e-petition (e-411).
The Canadian MSM is now reminding us that all the MPs in Parliament — including those Conservative Leadership Candidates seeking to ride a wave of prejudice to 100% power in Parliament — voted in support of Mr. Mulcair's October Petition. This was long before 6 Quebec Muslims were murdered at prayer.
Mr. Speaker, following discussions with all parties in the House, I hope you will find consent for the following motion. I move:
That the House join the 69,742 Canadian supporters of House of Commons e-petition (e-411) in condemning all forms of Islamophobia.
— The Honourable Thomas Mulcair, Hansard, House of Commons, October 26th, 2016
NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair's Islamaphobia motion received unanimous assent in the House of Commons on Oct. 26, 2016
So what has happened? Do these Conservative Leadership Candidates feel a majority of their constituents approve of gunning down Muslims at prayer?
I don't believe that for a minute.
But our winner-take-all political system allows for the distribution of a disproportional amount of power.
In a winner-take-all system like ours, Ms. Leitch doesn't need a majority of Conservative Party Members to support Islamaphobia in order to win her party's leadership crown. Nor does she even need to attract a majority of voters to become the Prime Minister of Canada.
So long as we continue to use this First Past the Post Electoral System, the right dog whistle can win a 39% (or less) majority.
It doesn't matter if we have a few women or minority MPs in the House of Commons.
We are staring in the face of the polarization inherent in FPTP. This whole hullaballoo starkly contrasts what happens when a powerful old white male MP puts forward a Motion condemning Islamaphobia with what happens when a young ethnic woman MP does.
And it is a not pretty picture.
But it happens. And it will keep on happening so long as we retain an electoral system that rewards dog whistle politicians with more than their fair share of power.
Canada needs real Real Change.
It does not have to be this way. In spite of his totally specious arguments to the contrary, Prime Minister Trudeau's disavowal of his electoral reform promise not only paves the way for institutional racism, it fuels Islamaphobia. If Ms. Khalid (and other Liberal MPs) want to change this dreadful FPTP side effect, it is time they told their leader he must restore the Electoral Reform process and show leadership to get Proportional Representation legislation through Parliament by October.
Because if Canada wants to be a healthy multicultural democracy, we must have Proportional Representation.
Sign The Electoral Reform Petition
At this time of writing, Petition e-616 is up to 120,651 signatures. If everyone who has already signed it can convince 2 Canadians to sign it our chance of having Proportional Representation implemented by 2019 will be greatly improved.
#ERRE Submission by John Filliter
October 9, 2016 October 9, 2016 Laurel L. Russwurm Canada, ERRE Submissions, Politics, Proportional Representation, public good	ERRE, John Filliter, Submission
Submission to ERRE, the House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform
by John Filliter, Private Citizen
at Fredericton, New Brunswick
The following are my views alone. They generally should be regarded as arguments and opinions rather than assertions of fact.
To review a bit of legal context, political theory and the history of Canada's electoral system:
Sections 40 and 41 of the Constitution Act, 1867 both begin "until the Parliament of Canada otherwise provides". Section 40 deals with division of the original provinces joining Confederation into Electoral Districts. In the past, there were some multi-member ridings, for example. Section 41 continued existing election laws in the four provinces, including qualifications and disqualifications of candidates and voters, and proceedings at elections. The suffrage has been extended to include women, for instance. So it appears that Parliament (i.e., the Governor General, the Senate and the House of Commons under Section 17 of the Act) has the authority to reform proceedings at elections, etc. This is likely to be subject to court challenges, of course.
One provision which might prove problematic is Section 52, which states that Parliament may increase the number of MPs as long as this does not disturb the proportionate representation of provinces prescribed by the Act.
Section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it "subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society".
Section 3 of the Charter describes the first of our Democratic Rights to be the right of every citizen of Canada to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons … . Section 15(1) of the Charter provides that every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination…
(My italics)
Equal benefit of the right to vote implies that the votes of all Canadians should carry equal weight, subject to Section 51A guaranteeing all provinces at least as many MPs as they have Senators.
One glaring problem that can be seen in the 2015 election results is the share of seats that was generated by the number of votes cast for parties, namely:
First Past the Post (FPTP) clearly did not translate votes into seats accurately; rather it produced a False Majority.
When Canada inherited FPTP from Great Britain in 1867, it worked reasonably well because there were only two significant parties at the time. Before 1921, there were 13 Majorities, 11 True and 2 False. (A "true" majority means one where the victorious party won over 50% of the votes.)
In 1896, Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals won a majority of 118 seats with only 45.1% of the popular vote compared with Charles Tupper's Conservatives and Liberal/Conservatives who took 46.3%. Tupper won 416,640 votes to Laurier's 405,506! This was our first federal election "stolen by the system".
Since 1921, Canada has had a Multi-Party System featuring at least three substantial parties contesting each election. During that 95-year period, we have elected 18 Majorities (4 True, 14 False) and 11 Minorities, and 4 more elections were stolen by the system (1926, 1957, 1962 and 1979). The only True Majorities since 1921 have been in 1940, 1949, 1958 and 1984.
FPTP has produced some other serious distortions of the votes of Canadians. Consider 1993, for example, when Jean Chretien won 177 seats with 41.32% of the vote. The Bloc Quebecois formed the Official Opposition with 54 seats, but only 13.50% of the vote. The Reform Party came third with 52 seats based on 18.72% of the vote. The NDP won 9 seats with 6.87% and the PCs were last with only 2 seats but 15.99% of the popular vote!
The 1993 results demonstrate the danger of regional divisions that can be caused by FPTP, not to mention the undermining of national unity. It is not healthy for democracy to have parties shut out of provincial or regional seats because of FPTP.
Democracy is defined as "a system of government by the whole population, usually through elected representatives". The first Canadian colony to be granted Representative Government was Nova Scotia in 1758, though in reality the 'family compact' continued to govern for another 90 years. In 1848 Nova Scotia became the first province to be granted Responsible Government.
What is the role of an electoral system? It should translate the votes cast across the country into seats that reflect the proportion of votes each party received, not distort the election results to produce a majority government. If the people vote for a minority government, that is what the system should give them. The current system is a broken one that has been antiquated for 95 years. It needs to be replaced. Now. FPTP often does not truly represent how the people voted. This is neither democratic nor fair.
Is there any way of correcting this problem?
There are basically two types of electoral systems – Majoritarian and Proportional Representation (PR) ones – plus combinations of the two.
Majoritarian Systems are winner-take-all systems designed to come up with a winner by fabricating a majority, if possible; they do not support majority rule per se, rather assist a party to attain a majority by such gimmicks as having seats solely determined at the local level, dropping candidates off the ballot and redistributing their votes, holding run-off elections, etc.
PR systems are designed to allocate seats to the parties based on their share of the votes cast in a general election.
Canada must adopt some form of PR if we are to enjoy real democracy in the one elected arm of Parliament.
There are many forms of PR systems in use around the world – a majority of democratic countries and over 80% of OECD countries use some form of PR, including Germany, Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, most European and Latin American countries. Canada is one of only three major developed democracies that don't use it.
This Committee is best qualified to choose the form and features of PR that would be most appropriate for Canada, which faces some unique geographical and demographic challenges.
My preferences include a Mixed Member Proportional system with:
(a) provinces divided into Regional seat groupings comprised of up to 12 or so existing seats; a province with 12 or fewer seats would comprise one Region;
(b) these seats being divided into Local MPs and Regional MPs almost equally;
(c) electors voting for a Local MP, party and/or up to the maximum number of Regional MPs to be elected;
(d) voting by Open List ballots under which electors could split their Regional MP votes among candidates from different parties if they wish, or simply vote for an entire "party ticket";
(e) parties being awarded Regional MPs based on their share of the provincial popular vote, to the extent of under-representation in seats won by Local MPs;
(f) a party's candidate(s) who received the highest number of votes but weren't elected as Local MPs becoming its Regional MP(s);
(g) if after provincial PR was calculated, there remained some national dis-proportionate representation, parties still under-represented in seats would be awarded Nationally Guaranteed Seats provided that they garnered at least 4% of the valid votes cast nationally and they contested at least 95% of the ridings.
(h) Under-represented parties that qualify should be entitled to 3.38 seats for every full percentage point of the national vote that they win, minus any partial seat and any Elected MPs. They would have to select their MPs for Nationally Guaranteed Seats in a manner that would maintain proportional representation of provinces.
(i) candidates would continue to be elected by a plurality: plurality winners are as legitimate as those who might pass them as preferred second or third choice candidates.
(j) If the Committee or the House takes the view that Local MPs should be elected by a majority rather than a plurality, ranked or preferential ballots should be used. (Run-off systems take too long and cost too much.) However, rather than counting only second choice ballots of the lowest candidate, all ballots should be considered when second (third, fourth) choices are counted. Why should second choices of only voters who supported the least popular candidate be counted? Every ballot should be treated equally. Moreover, when second and succeeding choices are counted, they should be weighted by dividing by the number of the round. (Second choice ballots by 2, third by 3, and so on.) The original number for a majority should be maintained. (The same logic would apply if Single Transferable Vote were adopted: all second choice votes of a candidate who attains the quota should be counted, not just the votes remaining when the quota is achieved.)
(k) The ballot should give voters an option to vote for "None of the above candidates", especially if mandatory voting is adopted. Voting is supposed to be secret and in our last provincial election, some voters were asked whether they intended to spoil their ballots when the voting machines indicated that they hadn't voted for anybody.
To address the Guiding Principles that the House of Commons has identified for consideration:
PR would restore the Effectiveness and Legitimacy of voting because the system respects and reflects how electors actually voted. It would reduce the distortions between the percentage of popular vote a party receives and its share of the seats. The electoral result would closely mirror voter intention and should bolster public confidence in the system.
PR would promote greater Engagement and Participation in the democratic process because electors would see that their votes had a much greater chance of being effectual in electing MPs or party. Under-represented groups would be encouraged to participate in the process if they believed this would give them some influence. This would probably reduce some of the apathy, cynicism and alienation that results from a system which distorts how citizens voted. Studies have shown that PR tends to increase voter turn-out by 7 to 8%, improve civility and collaboration among opposing politicians, and reduce regional divisions.
Accessibility and Inclusiveness of all eligible voters: under PR a greater diversity of views and minority groups are usually represented. There should be simultaneous initiatives to make voting easier for electors who face accessibility challenges of any kind, including physical, visual, intellectual and regulatory ones. Elections Canada should work with ethnic groups across the country to produce videos explaining how to vote in every language and dialect, and these should be available online. Civics courses and kits should be provided by the government. Documentation requirements to establish identity and residence should be relaxed and optional Canadian Voting Cards considered. The more citizens participate, the stronger our democracy is.
Online and Electronic Voting may make voting easier and more accessible but I have serious reservations about them. This may be because of my ignor-ance of modern technology but I wouldn't entrust elections to it. I have con-cerns that foreign hackers could alter the outcome of our elections and we might not even realize it. If foreign hackers can get into the databases of some of our largest government departments, how can the security of our elections be guaranteed? Within the last two months Australia's online voting plan was derailed by a DDOS attack. A computer programmer testified before a U.S. Congressional Committee that he had coded computers to rig elections. There are also issues about establishing the identity of who cast a vote online, or whether undue influence was exercised over a voter, or a vote was "sold".
Most importantly, just as justice must be seen to be done, so too ballots need to be seen by scrutineers of the parties to verify that they aren't spoiled, fake, awarded to the wrong candidates, or counted incorrectly. In short, these proposed innovations are at best premature.
With regard to Mandatory Voting: forcing citizens to vote against their will is a bad idea. Some may object for religious reasons; some may not feel informed enough on the issues or candidates; some may face serious access-ibility, time, literacy or financial challenges. Those who do vote under duress may just vote for the first candidate(s) on the list, which could skewer results.
Lowering the Voting Age to 16 might lead to higher voting by a younger cohort in the future, especially if accompanied by classroom civics training on how to vote and discussion of issues. However, lowering the voting age in the past did not lead to a spike in voter turn-out.
With regard to avoiding undue complexity in the voting process, while PR presents voters with more choices, I don't think it involves "undue complexity". Choosing a party in addition to a Local MP candidate is hardly a daunting task; in fact, many if not most MPs are probably already elected on the basis of their party affiliation. Choosing among candidates from other parts of a Region would present more difficulty because voters would be more familiar with closer candidates; for those not comfortable with investigating candidates from distant communities, there should be the option to simply vote the "party ticket". If citizens of over 90 countries have learned to use PR, I am confident that Canadians can do so too.
With regard to Safeguarding the Integrity of the voting process, PR would ensure that the will of the people, as reflected by their votes, is respected. If online or electronic voting were implemented in conjunction with PR, however, the integrity of the voting process might not be secure.
PR would preserve the Accountability of Local Representation similarly to under FPTP: if a Local MP does not serve up to voters' expectations, he or she can be defeated at the next election. Moreover, if a party's Regional MPs do not perform well, the party too may pay the price at the ensuing election. 7
Regional MPs provide a choice of representatives for voters too, which would provide Local MPs with some "competition" which might improve their performance. It is true that Local MPs would be expected to serve an area double their old riding, which would probably result in more communication by technological means, but this would not likely lessen accountability. Local MPs would also have about twice the number of constituents to serve; how- ever there would be Regional MPs to share the workload. Some Regional MPs might develop expertise in dealing with particular problems and referrals from Local MPs could be made to those specializing in a field of service.
Summary of Recommendations
I recommend replacing FPTP with a Mixed Member PR system featuring:
(a) Regional seat groupings comprised of up to 12 or so existing seats;
(b) these seats being divided equally between Local MPs and Regional MPs;
(c) electors voting for a Local MP, party and/or up to the maximum number of
Regional MPs to be elected;
(d) voting by Open List ballots under which electors could split their Regional
MP votes among candidates from different parties if they wish, or simply
vote for an entire "party ticket";
(e) awarding parties Regional MPs based on their share of the provincial
popular vote, if under-represented in seats won by their Local MPs;
(f) a party's candidates who received the highest number of votes but weren't
elected as Local MPs becoming its Regional MPs;
(g) if after provincial PR was calculated, there remained some national dis-
proportionate representation, parties still under-represented in seats being
awarded Nationally Guaranteed Seats provided that they garnered at least
4% of the valid votes cast nationally and they contested at least 95% of the
national ridings;
(h) under-represented parties that qualify being entitled to 3.38 seats for each
full percentage point of the national vote that they win, minus any partial
seat and any Elected MPs. Also, they would have to select their MPs for
Nationally Guaranteed Seats in a manner that would maintain proportional
representation of provinces;
(i) candidates continuing to be elected by a plurality;
(j) If the Committee or the House takes the view that Local MPs should be
elected by a majority rather than a plurality, ranked or preferential ballots
should be used. However, rather than counting only second choice ballots
of a lowest candidate, all ballots should be considered when second (third,
fourth) choices are counted. Moreover, when second and succeeding
choices are counted, they should be weighted by dividing by the number
of the round. (Second choice ballots by 2, third by 3, and so on.) The
same number for a majority should be maintained in subsequent rounds.
(k) Ballots should provide a "None of the above candidates" option.
Elections Canada should produce videos on how to vote in every language and dialect and make them available online.
The federal government should provide civics courses and kits for citizens.
Elections Canada should relax the documentation requirements to prove identity and residency, and possibly issue optional Voter ID Cards.
Lowering the voting age to 16 might get cohorts of younger voters engaged in voting in the future but probably wouldn't create any spike in voter turn-out.
To butcher a famous quote from JFK, "Ask not what electoral reform can do for your party; ask instead what electoral reform can do for your country."
We Canadians have a glorious opportunity to move our electoral system from the 19th century into the 21st and to achieve a far more democratic, egalitarian, equitable, sensible and honest one. Let's make the most possible votes count, and give electors what they voted for.
John Filliter
#ERRE Submission by Laurel L. Russwurm
October 7, 2016 June 1, 2017 Laurel L. Russwurm Electoral Reform, ERRE, Proportional Representation, PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION for CANADA	Electoral Reform Consultation, ERRE, Special Committee on Proportional Representation, Submission
This is the twenty-third article in the Whoa!Canada: Proportional Representation Series
After more than thirty years of casting votes that have never elected an MP, I am a Canadian who can't wait for our First Past The Post electoral system to be replaced with some form of Proportional Representation.
• First Past The Post is not working
• Single MP ridings are virtual monopolies that fail to represent too many voters
• Don't replace it with another winner-take-all system like Alternative Vote
• I want Proportional Representation for more representative Representative Democracy
• I want Proportional Representation so we can vote for what we want and maybe get it
• My preferred type of proportional system is Single Transferable Vote
• Any form of Proportional Representation will be an improvement
• Lower the voting age to 16
• Mandatory voting with rewards not punishments
• Voting Holiday
• No voting machines
• No online voting
• No referendum
• Permanent constituency offices
Note: In discussion of possible Proportional Electoral Systems I have completely ignored List PR because I have accepted the notions that
(a) it wouldn't work very well within Canadian Geography, and
(b) Canadians tend to value our local representation.
I have completely ignored Fair Vote Canada's Rural-Urban system because
(a) I don't believe it will function as promised,
(b) local representation for rural voters will continue to be an effective monoply, and
(c) I think it would manufacture an unnecessary polarizing divide between rural and urban communities.
The problem is that we are voting in an inherently unfair electoral system, a system that was adopted because it was unfair.
Effectiveness and legitimacy
I have no confidence at all that our First Past The Post system will ever translate my vote intention into representation in Parliament because it never has.
The Alternative Vote system would be even worse, because it would raise the bar and make it even more difficult to elect women and minorities than it is now. Such winner-take-all systems almost always leave a majority of voters under represented in multiparty politics.
How effective can votes be in any winner-take-all system when some votes are worth more than others, but most votes don't count at all?
How legitimate is a system where more voters didn't vote than voted for a "majority" government?
Representative Democracy is supposed to allow voters to secure representation in Parliament. When only 39% of the votes cast elect a "majority" government, far too many voters are left unrepresented.
Systems that produce Proportional Representation seek to represent as many voters as possible. For this reason, only a proportional system will provide voter equality, effectiveness and legitimacy.
After decades of voting without electing anyone, I was starting to think the whole thing might be futile, and there was a time not so long ago that I was considering giving it up as a lost cause. The discovery that more than 90 other countries use Proportional Representation systems (some for more than a century!) was a real eye opener. But I know how close I came to disengaging.
My son tells me his friends don't care at all about voting. And I've talked to young people willing to carry signs and demonstrate for issues they are passionate about, but don't vote because they believe it's futile. And I can't say I blame them.
Adopting Proportional Representation would go a long way to remove the feeling of futility so many Canadians have. Proportional Representation will give candidates in small parties a fair chance to get elected. Once running for office stops being an exercise in futility, I have no doubt we will see even more good potential candidates (particularly women) willing to throw their hats in the ring.
Any form of Proportional Representation would certainly foster greater civility and collaboration in politics because cross party co-operation would become necessary to get things done in the more consensus style of government that will result.
The very best way to increase voter turnout would be to lower the voting age to 16. If our young people establish the habit of voting early, they are more likely to keep it up.
Mandatory Voting
I used to disagree with the idea of mandatory voting because the very idea of compelling people to vote has an undemocratic feel, but lately I've been wondering if it might not be such a bad idea after all.
Many people don't vote because they don't feel qualified, informed or even entitled to vote. If voting was mandatory, those eligible voters would understand they are expected to vote, and I am inclined to think most would do their best to make an informed choice.
Others don't vote because they don't like the choices. And if voting becomes mandatory, it would be essential to institute a "none of the above" choice with teeth (if a majority choose it, a new election must ensue.
The part I don't like is the idea of punishing voters who choose not to vote with a fine. I would be happier providing a nominal reward. Just as most Canadians are willing to conform to privacy law without any teeth, it many not even be necessary to have a fine or a reward, simply passing a Parliamentary motion that voting is mandatory would encourage many non-voters to vote.
I also like the idea of making voting day a statutory holiday. Maybe the mandatory voting reward could be a "get out of work free" card that voters get in exchange for voting.
Accessibility and Inclusiveness
People keep telling me that our First Past the Post electoral system is simple.
Mechanics of Voting
If we look at the mechanics of voting from the user perspective, First Past The Post is easy to use because marking a single "x" is simple.
But the same is true in the Dual Member Proportional (DMP) system being offered in the upcoming PEI referendum: it needs only a single "x".
Mixed Member Proportional is only a little more complicated; voters must mark two "x"es.
Single Transferable Vote (STV) and Alternative Vote (AV) are considered the most difficult to use. Instead of a simple "x," voters need to rank their preferences. Now I am inclined to think the way to gauge voting difficulty would be to look at how many ballots are spoiled. And since there are fewer spoiled ballots in Ireland with STV than here in Canada with our "simple" FPTP ballots, I can't imagine it is all that difficult.
All of this suggests the mechanics of how voters will mark ballots are not much of an issue. But how we mark the ballot isn't the only measure of difficulty.
Quality of Representation
In Canada there are an awful lot of people — like me — who know we have a Representative Democracy but couldn't quite understand why we never actually got the representative we asked for. There are also too many voters who feel obliged to work the odds so they can vote strategically in hopes of gaming the system that doesn't otherwise work for them. Perhaps the worst part of this is that "strategic voting" invariably involves being told how to vote.
I've heard people suggest Alternative Vote would do away with strategic voting, but the evidence from Australia, the only country in the world that has used that winner-take-all system for any length of time, is that strategic voting has become institutionalized, with political parties distributing "how to vote" cards.
The best thing about Proportional Representation is that voters can vote for the candidate that will best represent them — with a reasonable expectation of getting representation they want. When most voters stand a reasonable chance of electing an MP who will represent them in Parliament, our democracy will truly be representative.
This is my assessment of the electoral systems elements Any electoral system can be implemented, Integrity: that the proposed measure can be implemented while safeguarding public trust in the election process, by ensuring reliable and verifiable results obtained through an effective and objective process that is secure and preserves vote secrecy for individual Canadians;
This is my assessment of the elements of the potential electoral systems that might be implemented would impact on the public's trust in the election process.
• What you see is not what you get: % votes ≠ % seats
• Single member ridings result in a monopoly government voice, often leaving a majority of voters without representation in Parliament.
• "Majorities" manufactured out of 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc preferences
•.Increased voter inequality: first preference ≠ third preference
• Votes for any but the top parties are futile
• Has been known to install 3rd place plurality candidates in office
• Proportionality is achieved naturally with no fiddly math.
• Most voters secure representation
• Multi-member ridings allow different local opinions to be heard and represented in Parliament
• Fiddly Math
• Parties have an edge over Independents
• Local MPs
• Multi-member ridings allow different opinions to be heard and represented in Parliament
• The role of the top-up MPs seem to cause confusion in the Multi-member regional ridings
• Simple one "x" ballot
• Fiddly Math required to achieve moderate proportionality
• Independents have an edge
• More voters secure representation
Voting Machines
I'm digitally literate enough to know the only ballots I will trust are paper ballots.
Digital technology might be employed in the process of counting paper ballots; but I would only trust such machines that run on open source (and verifiable) software.
I categorically oppose online voting. My most important reason is that convenience can possibly counteract the loss of the Secret Ballot.
Even if it was possible to devise a secure system, (so far, not) it would again need to use open source software to be verifiable.
But a very serious integrity issue can arise when votes are cast in private, because there is no way to prevent voter coercion, or sold votes.
Perhaps most interesting is that the young people I've spoken with don't like the idea.
I can't imagine how the ERRE Committee could even consider such a thing without talking to system security experts.
Local Representation
Proportional Representation ensures accountability because votes that count require much more respect than those that don't. I believe local representation is important. What I disagree with is the idea that the only way to achieve this is by keeping electoral districts geographically small.
The first geographic riding I voted in was geographically massive, and over the decades I've been voting, ridings have been subdivided into smaller and smaller chunks. This leads me to believe the geographic size of the ridings served by Canada's earliest Parliament would have tended to be quite large too.
Today's Members of Parliament could serve enormous ridings much more easily than any could have in 1867. I don't believe there were constituency offices in those day, because the work MPs did was pretty much confined to Ottawa as transportation was by horse or train, and written communication travelled by postal mail. Both transportation and communication technology has improved dramatically since then.
With planes, trains and automobiles, today's MPs can travel far and wide to meet with constituents. They can converse with far flung constituents through email and social media to help them understand local conditions. But with only a single MP per riding, it means only one view of local needs can be properly advanced at the national level.
By combining several already large sparsely settled ridings with similar characteristics into really large electoral districts, the same amount of representation would be available, but bring more points of view to the table. People who live in large rural ridings understand the realities of scale. Applying the idea if "local representation" to a larger area would have the net result of providing better local representation for more citizens.
Constituency Offices
Since MP constituency offices are paid for by the Federal Government, wouldn't it be a lovely idea to establish permanent offices for each riding? I think it would be of benefit to new MPs, who wouldn't need to spend the early months of their service scrambling to find a place to rent, and it would offer continuity to riding residents.
It has been suggested that there is something democratically wrong with a consultation process that fails to engage the entire population.
The fact is that most Canadians have no idea a consultation is under way.
That isn't at all unusual, it's normal. Canadian Consultations always attract a self-selected group of participants who have opinions to express. We tell them what we want, what we think, how we feel, and the Committee puts it all together and presents its findings to Parliament. Isn't that how the Parliamentary consultation process is meant to work?
I must say one of the most surprising things I've learned in my own voyage of discovery is that Canadians have been clamouring for electoral reform since before Confederation, and waves of discontent have followed ever since. Even when championed by Canadians like Sir Sandford Fleming who offered a prize of 1,000 1892 dollars to anyone who devised an antidote to FPTP.
Is it any wonder Canadians as a whole are uninformed about electoral alternatives? It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone as most of us have little or no experience or exposure to anything but First Past The Post.
Even though serious concerns about democratic deficits inherent in FPTP have been repeatedly raised federally and provincially with increasing frequency in recent decades, not a single change has occurred.
The extraordinary absence of our main stream news media from ERRE proceedings across Canada is not unexpected from an industry that has clearly signalled its attachment to the status quo.
Canadians know something is wrong with our system, even if most of us don't know how to fix it.
Decreasing citizen engagement reflected in low voter turnout was is a sign something wasn't working.
Strategic voting become a reasonable mainstream option for voters, to the point where so many voters find it imperative not to vote for the candidate who will best represent them. In a situation like this, voter intention can hardly be gleaned from how voters vote.
The urgent need to modernize our voting system could not have become any more clear than it did when four of the five parties that won seats in the 2016 election campaigned for some form of electoral reform. That was extraordinary.
It concerns me that some of the expert witnesses have suggested Canada needs more time to learn about electoral reform before we can proceed with actually making change.
Choosing another electoral system is a complex subject, which is why the citizen's assemblies in BC and Ontario had 6 months or a year to study the alternatives before making their recommendations. It isn't surprising most Canadians lack the time or inclination to becoming electoral reform experts, or to even to participate in the Consultation process. But it isn't our job—it's yours as our elected representatives. We elect you to help make policy choices on our behalf.
But you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Study after study has recommended variations of Single Transferable Vote or Mixed Member Proportional Representation.
One of the worst consequences of the winner-take-all electoral system we stuggle with is the four year electoral cycle. As a consequence, anything that can't be accomplished in four years just doesn't get done. Adopting any form of Proportional Representation would help change that with more stable long standing governance built on a much wider base of support.
Electoral System
The only way to make every vote count is with Proportional Representation.
Ranked ballots are wonderful when used in a Proportional Representation system like Single Transferable Vote. No doubt that's why almost 58% of BC voters voted to adopt BC-STV in their first electoral reform referendum. STV is my own favourite proportional system, in part because big parties don't get an advantage over small parties and independent candidates, and partly because voters needn't worry about the math because the proportionality comes naturally.
But although STV is my personal favourite, I will be pleased to see Canada adopt any form of Proportional Representation. Even those I like least would provide an enormous improvement over the level of representation we have now.
Canadians have been waiting for meaningful electoral reform for 150 years.
Please don't let us down.
#ERRE submission Deadline TONIGHT!
October 7, 2016 June 1, 2017 Laurel L. Russwurm Canada, Electoral Reform, ERRE, Proportional Representation, PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION for CANADA, public good	Canada, Deadline, Electoral Reform Consultation, ERRE, Make Every Vote Count
This is the twenty-second article in the Whoa!Canada: Proportional Representation Series
Submissions to the ERRE Consultation *must* be in before midnight tonight.
Participate in electoral reform consultations
Answer the questionnaire
Even if I didn't have a lot to say, I've had a look at the questionaire, and I don't like it much because the instructions about the electoral system questions are unclear. (If you "disagree" with the correct discription of an electoral system, does it mean you don't approve of that system or does it mean you don't want that system?) The worst part is that people can't just skip those; everything on every page must be answered in order to submit. Not good.
Submit a brief online
A "brief" may sound daunting, what it really is is a way for Canadians to tell them what we think. It can be a scholarly essay if you like, or it can just be a single line that says you want Proportional Representation. I can tell you just saying "I want Canada to adopt Proportional Representation" will be incredibly important; they will be crunching numbers. If 90% of the submissions say they want PR, we might just get it.
If you wish to say a little bit more, the actual election promise was,
We will convene an all-party Parliamentary committee to review a wide variety of reforms, such as ranked ballots, proportional representation, mandatory voting, and online voting.
— We will make every vote count
You can also offer opinions on other things, like lowering the voting age to increase voter engagement, restoring the per vote subsidy and limiting election spending.
The committee mandate is to find out what Canadians want, starting with the five principles:
We don't need to choose a specific electoral system; in fact, the best possible outcome would be for the committee to recommend a type of Proportional Representation, Mixed Member Proportional or Single Transferable Vote, and then direct Elections Canada to convene a panel of experts to work out details to best conform to the mandate.
You can check out my PR4Canada resources page (listed in the sidebar):
https://whoacanada.wordpress.com/pr-4-canada-resources/
Fair Vote Waterloo's
http://www.fairvotewrc.ca/resources/
This is our chance to be heard. Speak up!
#ERRE Library Info Session Tonight in Ayr @rwlibrary
September 29, 2016 Laurel L. Russwurm Canada	Ayr Branch, Don Fraser, ERRE, Fair Vote Waterloo, Info Session, Proportional Representation, Region of Waterloo Library
What WE Can Do for ERRE
September 10, 2016 June 1, 2017 Laurel L. Russwurm Canada, Electoral Reform, ERRE, Ontario, Politics, PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION for CANADA	#ERRE #Q, CDNpoli, Community Dialogue, E-CONSULTATION ON ELECTORAL REFORM, ERRE, Fairvote Waterloo, Guiding principles, Proportional Representation, ProportionalPlease, ProportionalRepresentation, referendum, Requests to appear, Special Committee on Electoral Reform, twitter, VoterEquality, WRGreens, Written Submission
This is the nineteenth in the Whoa!Canada: Proportional Representation Series
Although you'd hardly know it from our friends in the Main Stream Media, there is an Electoral Reform Consultation going on right now.
I've been trying to raise awareness of Proportional Representation because that is the only way we will get the *real* real change Canada so desperately needs. Like most Canadians, I used to think Government Consultations were just for experts. It never occurred to me that a consultation was meant to consult with all Canadians until I was found myself involved in the 2009 Canadian Copyright Consultation in 2009. More than eight thousand Canadians submitted written submissions, and my understanding is that was the best response any Canadian consultation has ever had until then.
The ERRE Special Committee on Electoral Reform wants facts from the experts, but they also want to find out what ordinary Canadians want.
Even though most Canadians lack the requisite background in electoral systems, we don't need to be experts to know the system we've been using isn't working. I don't understand how my car's engine actually works, but I certainly know when it doesn't. At this time, Canadians need to make sure the Special Committee on Electoral Reform knows that we do want Proportional Representation.
Stand Up For Proportional Representation.
The government needs to know Canadians are not satisfied with our electoral system and that we want Proportional Representation because we care about our democracy. Since a petition requires so little effort, although helpful, especially with many signatures) your signature on a petition is not given as much weight as a form letter. The most weight is given to personal contact. Talking to your MP on the phone ore in person has a lot of weight: it demonstrates how important the issue is to you.
Even if you don't say a word, even if you are just there to learn, attending any Electoral Reform discussion night or town hall near you is very important, because your presence demonstrates your commitment to electoral reform.
If your MP hasn't announced a town hall, call them up or send them an email. All our MPs are all supposed to have a Town Hall. Conservative MPs seem to be avoiding holding Town Halls. If your MP is Conservative, tell them Conservative voters deserve to be consulted too.
Attend a Community Dialogue, or even set up your own Canadian Community Dialogue
Fairvote Waterloo folks are hosting one every Tuesday in a local cafe. They have a list of questions (5 or 6) that a table of participants discus, the facilitator guides them through a list of questions & takes notes; at the end of the night the participants all sign the sheet which is then sent to the ERRE folks. The Waterloo Region Greens will be doing this on a larger scale with a Waterloo Region Community Dialogue on Electoral Reform on September 17th, 2016.
You can do this yourself on any scale, with a few friends at a picnic table in the park, around your kitchen table, the cafeteria or anywhere.
You can start with the ERRE suggested Potential Canadian federal electoral reform event dialogue topics and questions here.
Get the Canadian federal electoral reform dialogue hosting guide here.
3. Catch up on what the Committee has done in the meetings so far… I've included links to the video, as well as the evidence transcripts and the witness briefs that have been posted to find out what experts have been saying in their submissions.
Participate on Twitter
—TWITTER: The Committee monitored the Twitter feed #ERRE #Q for comments and questions from Canadians during the committee meetings, some Twitter questions were posed to the witnesses in real time.
Other hashtags:
#ERRE
#ERRE #Q
#ProportionalRepresentation
#VoterEquality
#ProportionalPlease
#Referendum
#CDNpoli
Even though the Ottawa Committee Meetings are over (I am not sure if there will be another round later) you can continue to follow the committee members on Twitter (links to members twitter handles here) and continue to tweet about #ERRE #Q. It seemed to me the most active on Twitter were @nathancullen, @MPRubySahota, @SherryRomanado and @ElizabethMay
Unfortunately, instead of helping inform their constituents, the Conservative members of the committee @ScottReidCPC@BlakeRichardsMP are working hard to delay or derail the Electoral Reform Consultation by concentrating their greatest efforts in demanding an Electoral Reform Referendum. Proportional Representation isn't a partisan issue; all it means is that voters will get better representation in Parliament.
The more we can share information through our social media accounts the greater the public awareness.
Make your own presentation to the ERRE Committee in person
—Requests to appear may be sent to the Committee by email (erre@parl.gc.ca) or by using the appropriate button on the Committee's website. Please note that the Committee clerks will contact only those who are selected by the Committee members to appear. Requests to appear must be submitted to the Committee no later than October 7, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. (EDT).
If you keep an eye out you may get a chance to jointhe Honourable Maryam Monsef and/or #ERRE Committee on their Electoral Reform Road Trip.
Anyone can fill out the online questionaire as a submission here:
Special Committee on Electoral Reform E-CONSULTATION ON ELECTORAL REFORM
Make your own Written Submission
—WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS: Any person or organization can submit a brief to the Committee. To be accepted, the brief must be no more than 3,000 words in length (including the summary and footnotes) and be submitted to the Committee no later than October 7, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. (EDT). The Committee recommends highlighting any recommendations to support the principles set out in the motion mentioned above. Briefs may be sent to the Committee by email (erre@parl.gc.ca) or by using the appropriate button on the Committee's website. Once they are translated, briefs will be distributed to the Committee members and posted on the Committee's website.
It is probably best to begin with the principles defined by the Government:
Guiding principles for Canadian federal electoral reform
The following five guiding principles may help you think about what you want from federal elections, your Member of Parliament (MP) and your federal government. They can help you decide what is important to you when it comes to potential changes to our democracy at the federal level by considering how any proposed reforms might:
Restore the effectiveness and legitimacy of voting, such as by reducing distortions and strengthening the link between voter intention and the electoral result
Encourage greater engagement and participation in the democratic process, including by underrepresented groups
Support accessibility and inclusiveness of all eligible voters, and avoiding undue complexity in the voting process
Safeguard the integrity of our voting process
Preserve the accountability of local representation
Why are these principles important?
The principles were identified as a means to encourage a thoughtful, substantive dialogue about what Canadians expect from their electoral system. Potential changes to Canada's federal electoral system can be assessed through questions such as:
How could any proposed reforms strengthen effectiveness and legitimacy by better reflecting the democratic will of Canadians?
How could any proposed reforms foster civility, cohesion and openness in politics that will help encourage Canadians to take part?
How could any proposed reforms enhance the sense among Canadians that they can contribute to, participate in and influence politics?
How could any proposed reforms support accessibility and inclusiveness for all Canadians in our diverse society?
How could any proposed reforms ensure that Canadians can trust election results?
How could any proposed reforms affect MPs' accountability to citizens?
Then it might be an idea to take a look at some of the written submissions other Canadians have posted here. (Unfortunately the submissions from the experts and ordinary Canadians are jumbled together. Some people who submit are experts but this is a way for all Canadians to be heard. Although I have absorbed far more than I ever wanted to know about this, I am not an expert. And I will be writing my own sumbission, which I will post here in Whoa!Canada so you will be able to read it (and maybe borrow some of my ideas for your own submission). The idea is to let the Government (through the ERRE Committee) know what you want them to do.
Your written submission does NOT have to be a scholarly essay (although it can be if you want it to be). The maximum size is 3,000 words.
This isn't a test, there are no wrong answers, the government is only asking for our opinions if we have them, and if we do, this is a chance for us to be heard. This process is really for us.
Your submission is entirely up to you; it can be as detailed or not as you like. If you have only one thing to say, it might just as easily be a single sentence. Maybe something like:
I want Canada to adopt some form of Proportional Representation.
Proportional representation please!
No referendum! Proportional Representation.
Canada should adopt (fill in favourite electoral system here) [Summaries of the different systems can be found here]
Talk to your FAMILY and FRIENDS about this. At home, on social media, at work, at school, wherever you go. You don't need to be an expert, share links.
Canadians who wish to follow the Committee's work may do so by visiting its website (http://www.parl.gc.ca/Committees/en/ERRE).
If the ERRE Committee is appearing anywhere near you, go, and bring as many friends & family as possible.
Movies work better for many people, including me. This is my YouTube Electoral Reform playlist. Share the list and/or specific videos. I hope to make a few more soon.
This article is part of my Proportional Representation for Canada series to help demystify electoral reform. More info is available on my PR 4 Canada Resources page, and I keep adding material as I find it. Please share any articles and materials about electoral reform you may find helpful. If I haven't answered your questions yet, ask in a comment or send me an email.
I hope you will participate in one way or another.
Just being part of the process — even if it is just quietly listening at an Electoral Reform Town Hall — is a help because your participation will give them an idea whether we care about electoral reform.
Oh, and I almost forgot… the Ontario portion of the ERRE road show will be coming to Toronto on September 21st, 2016.
DIY Electoral Reform Info Sessions
September 7, 2016 June 1, 2017 Laurel L. Russwurm Canada, Electoral Reform, Politics, Proportional Representation, PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION for CANADA	Ayr Library, Byron Weber Becker, community dialogues, Elmira Library, ERRE, Fair Vote Waterloo, Info Sessions, Kitchener Public Library, KPL Central Branch, Make Every Vote Count, New Hamburg Library, Roundtables, Waterloo Region Public Libraries
This is the eighteenth in the Whoa!Canada: Proportional Representation Series
No matter where you live in Canada, your Member of Parliament should be hosting a Town Hall to consult with you about electoral reform.
But we don't have to wait for them because a large component of the ERRE Consultation Process is effectively "do-it-yourself." That's why Fair Vote Canada and other grass root organizations will be conducting their own community dialogues and information sessions across Canada. Any local community groups ~ anyone ~ can host their very own consultation or discussion night! If you're interested you can get Fair Vote Waterloo's Make Every Vote Count presentation.
September is the busy season for Electoral Reform as Canada's Consultation process heats up in the rush to get it done.
Kitchener Public Library presents
Fair Vote Waterloo: Make Every Vote Count
@ Kitchener Public Library~Central Branch
Find out why Canada is planning to modernize our voting system, and and learn how the government plans to make every vote count for Canada's next election. Waterloo Region's local non-partisan grass roots organization Fair Vote Waterloo will present the information about different voting system options. [note: you must register for this event]
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm at KPL Central Library Branch
85 Queen St NKitchener, ON N2H 2H1
Even if you aren't local to Waterloo Region, there will likely be similar events taking place throughout the month of September across Canada.
Check out the Official Calendar of Electoral Reform Events, and look out for The Hon. Maryam Monsef's Community Dialogue Tour.
For more information check out the Resources page at Fair Vote Waterloo, as well as PR4Canada Resources
To the extent possible under law, Byron Weber Becker has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this Make Every Vote Count Presentation in any format. This work is published from: Canada. See http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/


text:
American Indian Lives
In Defense of Loose Translations
An Indian Life in an Academic World
By Elizabeth Cook-Lynn
Series American Indian Lives
UNP - Nebraska
In Defense of Loose Translations is a memoir that bridges the personal and professional experiences of Elizabeth Cook-Lynn. Having spent much of her life illuminating the tragic irony of being an Indian in America, this provocative... Learn More
Published: 1st October 2018
EPUB | £23.99
A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption
By Susan Devan Harness
In Bitterroot Susan Devan Harness traces her journey to understand the complexities and struggles of being an American Indian child adopted by a white couple and living in the rural American West. When Harness was fifteen years... Learn More
The Turtle's Beating Heart
One Family's Story of Lenape Survival
By Denise Low
UNP - Bison Books
"Grandchildren meet their grandparents at the end," Denise Low says, "as tragic figures. We remember their decline and deaths. . . . The story we see as grandchildren is like a garden covered by snow, just outlines... Learn More
Rights Remembered
A Salish Grandmother Speaks on American Indian History and the Future
Written by Pauline R. Hillaire, Edited by Gregory P. Fields
Rights Remembered is a remarkable historical narrative and autobiography written by esteemed Lummi elder and culture bearer Pauline R. Hillaire, Scälla–Of the Killer Whale. A direct descendant of the immediate postcontact... Learn More
Searching for My Destiny
By George Blue Spruce
George Blue Spruce Jr. is recognized as the first American Indian dentist in the United States. His life story reaches back to the ancient Pueblo culture cherished by his grandparents and parents and extends to state-of-the-art... Learn More
Tales of the Old Indian Territory and Essays on the Indian Condition
Written by John Milton Oskison, Edited by Lionel Larre
UNP - Nebraska Paperback
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Indian Territory, which would eventually become the state of Oklahoma, was a multicultural space in which various Native tribes, European Americans, and African Americans were equally... Learn More
Muscogee Daughter
My Sojourn to the Miss America Pageant
By Susan Supernaw
How American is Miss America? For Susan Supernaw, a Muscogee (Creek) and Munsee Native American, the question wasn't just academic. Throughout a childhood clouded by poverty, alcoholism, and abuse, Supernaw sought escape in... Learn More
Chevato
The Story of the Apache Warrior Who Captured Herma
Written by William Chebahtah and Nancy McGown Minor
Here is the oral history of the Apache warrior Chevato, who captured eleven-year-old Herman Lehmann from his Texas homestead in May 1870. Lehmann called him "Bill Chiwat" and referred to him as both his captor and his friend.... Learn More
Published: 1st July 2009
William W. Warren
The Life, Letters, and Times of an Ojibwe Leader
By Theresa M. Schenck
This is the first full-length biography of William W. Warren (1825–53), an Ojibwe interpreter, historian, and legislator in the Minnesota Territory. Devoted to the interests of the Ojibwe at a time of government attempts at... Learn More
Published: 20th March 2009
No One Ever Asked Me
The World War II Memoirs of an Omaha Indian Soldier
Written by Hollis D. Stabler, Edited by Victoria Smith
As a young adolescent, Hollis Dorion Stabler underwent a Native ceremony in which he was given the new name Na-zhin-thia, Slow to Rise. It was a name that no white person asked to know during Hollis's tour of duty in Anzio, his... Learn More
Elias Cornelius Boudinot
A Life on the Cherokee Border
By James W. Parins
Elias Cornelius Boudinot provides the first full account of a man who was intimately and prominently involved in the life of the Cherokee Nation in the second half of the nineteenth century and was highly influential in the opening... Learn More
Viet Cong at Wounded Knee
The Trail of a Blackfeet Activist
By Woody Kipp
It was at Wounded Knee, huddled under a night sky lit by military flares and the searchlights of armored carriers seeking him out, that Vietnam vet Woody Kipp realized that he, as an American Indian, had become the enemy, the... Learn More
The Vision of a Native Filmmaker
By Randolph Lewis
In more than twenty powerful films, Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin has waged a brilliant battle against the ignorance and stereotypes that Native Americans have long endured in cinema and television. In this book, the first... Learn More
Life, Letters and Speeches
Written by George Copway (Kahgegagahbowh), Edited by A. Lavonne Brown Ruoff and Donald B. Smith
George Copway (Kahgegagahbowh, 1818–69), an Ojibwe writer and lecturer, rose to prominence in American literary, political, and social circles during the mid-nineteenth century. His colorful, kaleidoscopic life took him from... Learn More
Published: 1st April 2006
LaDonna Harris
A Comanche Life
Edited by H. Henrietta Stockel, Written by LaDonna Harris
This book is the unforgettable story of a Comanche woman who has become one of the most influential, inspired, and determined Native Americans in politics. LaDonna Harris was born on a Comanche allotment in southern Oklahoma in... Learn More
Chainbreaker
The Revolutionary War Memoirs of Governor Blacksnake as told to Benjamin Williams
Written by Chainbreaker, Introduced by and Edited by Thomas S. Abler
One of the earliest memoirs by an American Indian, Chainbreaker presents the recollections of a Seneca chief, also known as Governor Blacksnake. A fighter in the American Revolution who lived more than a century, Chainbreaker... Learn More


The organization has redesigned their site to include some new as well as old features.
Create your own personalized holiday wish lists that can be e-mailed to family and friends. In addition, toys can be bought right from the site with a portion of the proceeds to fund work to test more toys.
Post a widget to your blog or website for quick searches of toy ratings for lead.
Contact your Congress Member, the largest toy manufacturer, and state organization responsible for full protection of children from toxic toys via the Organization's Take Action page.
Use the tell-a-friend feature to let your friends and family know about HealthyToys.org and about the different ways they can take action to help protect children from toxic chemicals in products.
Support HealthyToys.org's work. Make a tax-deductible donation to help the Organization to continue their work. It is a project of the Ecology Center. To learn about this Organization's other programs for a safe and healthy environment, visit them online at www.ecocenter.org.
By the way. Does anyone remember the camera pictured above?


text:
Odonata records from RSPB Reserves 1970-2009
This dataset contains all dragonfly records from RSPB reserves. The date range for the dataset is 1970-2009 but the majority of records are from the last 10 years. Recording effort varies widely between reserves, for some reserves this dataset gives a comprehensive record of Odonata species present but other reserves have few or no records. It is hoped that ongoing data review work will facilitate the addition of further records to this dataset.
Records come from across the RSPB's reserve network. As described above survey effort varies widely between reserves. Records are provided at 1km resolution where possible. For many of these records no grid reference was given, the location being marked instead by a site boundary. Where possible these have been converted to 1km or 10km grid squares, however in cases where a site overlaps multiple 10km squares the central 10km grid reference is given.
Data comes from a sources ranging from trained ecologists to members of the public and is likely to be of variable quality. The data have been verified to remove obviously incorrect records and to confirm records of scarce species. Where the identity of a species could not be confirmed, the record was removed from the dataset. Please contact the dataset administrator if you find a record you believe to be potentially incorrect.
Methods of data capture are numerous, in most cases records are simple field observations, others may be part of a targeted survey or regular transect. The count indicates the number of individuals seen.
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In order to verify records and validate the dataset, the data have been mapped and thoroughly checked. Geographical checks have included comparing the distribution with that shown in the literature and ensuring that records with the same area name are located close to each other.
Looking up... the number of records that can be accessed through the NBN Atlas. This resource was last checked for updated data on 21 Nov 2016. The most recent data was published on 21 Nov 2016.
Click to view records for the Odonata records from RSPB Reserves 1970-2009 resource.
DOI https://doi.org/10.15468/5iiqot 2 citations for these data


If you need an organic or natural SPF, I've got you covered! Today I'm sharing all of my favourites from facial SPF to lips, to body. There are some kid friendly options here too! I cover everything in the video, and below you will find close ups and further thoughts. Enjoy!
I discovered the Graydon SPF last year and I have been hooked ever since! It's the only product I have found that gives a truly matte finish. It doesn't alter other products, and it's kind of like a "nothing product" – meaning, after I apply it, I barely know it's even there.
Great for very sensitive skin.
It comes in a few different sizes, full size, medium, and also samples.
Next let's talk about tinted products. This is where things get a little tricky. All of the tinted products I have tried have a glowy finish. Some more than others. Let's start with the one swatched at the top.
These lipsticks are ideal for when you want to protect your lips, but also want a really nice colour. I like to keep one in my purse, so I never get caught off guard. They are especially great for summer days and outdoor events. There's nothing worse than getting a sun burn on your lips – so these are perfect!
I think this may be my favourite product I'm sharing today (if you watched the video, you probably noticed that, ha!) This spray SPF is AMAZING! A total life saver. My kids hate SPF, and will practically run at the mention of it. This has been the best I have found. It isn't sticky or thick. Basically all of the things we usually dislike about sunscreen, it isn't. It goes on very light, blends in beautifully, and is so easy to apply. It's a bit of a splurge, but in my opinion, it's so WORTH it! It makes my mom life easier, my kids are happier, and it works!
I use the Everywhere SPF for my kids face, ears, and neck. It also works great, blends well, and is the perfect size. The combination of these products makes me so happy! I'm no longer trying anything new, because I am so happy with these! I cannot ask for more.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about my SPF faves. Let me know if you give anything a try (pssst, pick the 100% Pure spray SPF, haha) But in all honestly, I really like all of the products I spoke about today and I think no matter what you choose, you will be very happy. Enjoy the sun!
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