Saturday, March 29, 2014

A Simple Truth - UPDATED



But one, of course, that our political overlords have no interest in considering:

Re: Polls expert fears Bill C-23 imperils voters' rights, March 26

The response from Minister Pierre Poilievre’s office that “the Fair Elections Act simply requires voters to demonstrate who they are and where they live” shows a lack of understanding of the situation that many Canadians (by some estimates about 120,000) in remote areas, seniors homes and some students find themselves in. Many of these people simply cannot prove on paper where they live.

To disenfranchise them by eliminating the vouching alternative is patently unfair and is contrary to the democratic principle that all citizens have a right to vote. This clause, along with the one that restricts the right of the Chief Electoral Officer to encourage Canadians to vote, should be removed from the Bill.


Bill Wensley, Cobourg



H/t The ChronicleHerald

4 comments:

  1. Lorne, off the topic. What is happening with you Premier Ms. Wynne? There is a scandal of deleting some information. She had a lengthy press conference, I believe on Thursday, saying that it happened before she took over as Premier.

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    1. Ms Wynne's troubles seem to spring from the actions of her predecessor, Dalton McGuinty, although he denies any knowledge of impropriety, LD. So, as per usual in politics, it is all an innocent misunderstanding or a rogue employee, etc. I'm sure we will hear more about it in the weeks to come.

      The scandal, as I understand it, arises from the illegal deletion of hard drives that might have contained incriminating emails pertaining to the cancellation of two gas plants just around the time of the last election. The Liberals claimed that the costs of cancelling the plants would be, at most, around $200 million, when, in fact, it turned out to be well over $1 billion. There is the suggestion they knew the real cost long ago, and hence the deletion of emails that might have shown that prior knowledge.

      The real hypocrisy here, however, is this: both the NDP and Conservatives are demanding probes, but they don't want anyone to remember that they both had called for the cancellation of the plants as well.

      Did the Liberals cancel the plants to win seats? Undoubtedly. Would either of the other two parties have acted differently? Undoubtedly not.

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  2. Typical of politicians, Lorne. I hope it won't cause problems for her come election time. She sounds like a good Premier.

    Thanks for your detailed response.

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome, LD. As for election outcomes, it seems likely Wynne has more to offer than either the Tory's Tim Hudak or, increasingly, Anrea Horwath, who seems to be less worried about social outcomes than she is in consolidating and increasing her power.

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