PEI is a Proportional Representation Beacon #CDNpoli

[reblogged from Whoa!Canada Proportional Representation Series: PEI picks Proportional Representation]

Electoral System with Majority Support
Mixed Member Proportional Representation
# of Votes 19,418
% of Votes 52.42
Total Valid Votes 37,040
Total number of votes required to achieve threshold 18,521

Eligible Electors 102,464

Voter Turnout 36.46%

— Elections Prince Edward Island Plebiscite Results

PEI picks PR (Brigitte Werner's photo dedicated to the Public Domain with CC0)

I have no doubt that good media coverage helped the process along. The PEI Guardian endorsed Dual Member Proportional, the made in Canada system proposed by Sean Graham. I was able to include Sean’s system in my Electoral System Roundup. I was able to include Sean’s system in my Electoral System Roundup, and I know Sean made a presentation to the federal ERRE Committee. His system may be a real solution for the wide open spaces problem faced when looking at Federal Electoral Reform.

Unlike previous electoral reform referenda in Canada, the PEI process did a pretty good job of informing voters. If you watch the video below and those that follow, you’ll see the array of very nice explainer videos put out by Elections PEI

The tiny province of Prince Edward Island has taken the first step in leading Canada toward better democracy. Bravo!

5 November 2016

The #WRGreens want some #ERRE

WRGreens Community Dialogue poster

In Waterloo Region, as in most of Canada, although there is support for the Green Party, there are no elected Green MPs. This does not mean there is no support for the Greens, it just means there isn’t enough support to elect many Greens when votes cast for Green Party Candidates aren’t as powerful as votes cast for bigger parties. That’s what’s wrong with Canada’s electoral system in a nutshell:

Some votes count more than others,
but most votes don’t count at all.

In spite of the grievous unfairness of Canada’s winner-take-all electoral system, there are Green supporters all across Canada. And while the dropping vote share for Green candidates seems to suggest the party is losing support, the reverse is true. Unfortunately all too often, too many would be Green voters chose to vote strategically for a candidate they don’t actually want to elect, to prevent one they really hate from winning the seat. This isn’t just bad for the Green Party, it’s bad for all Canadians, because the parliament that results fails to reflect the intentions of most voters.

Even though we have no Green MP in Waterloo Region (or even Ontario), we held our own Community Dialogue. Ours was not a partisan event, and we did attract non-Greens, but it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that an overwhelming majority of those in attendance supported adopting some form of Proportional Representation.

One young woman in my small group dialogue told us that her 2015 vote had actually elected someone for the very first time. But instead of making her feel good, it left her feeling hollow because now she has an MP she didn’t want that she helped elect. When our votes don’t count, how can anyone count on getting the government policy we want?

Temara Brown explains electoral systems

A group of Liberals in the Conservative Brantford-Brant held their own multipartisan Community Dialogue Event, inviting our own Temara Brown to participate. And the sitting Conservative MP attended as well.

One good thing is that a majority of Canadian voters (that is to say, those sixty-something % of eligible voters who voted) voted for candidates and parties that supported electoral reform. Since the Liberals promised an end to First Past The Post elections, and Mr. Trudeau promised to make every vote count, we’ve had a whirl wind Parliamentary electoral reform Consultation. Thousands of Canadians have participated across Canada, and everything we hear suggests predominent support for Proportional Representation.

And now the all party ERRÉ (Electoral Reform Reforme Électorale) Special Committee on Electoral Reform has begun deliberating over everything they’ve heard, from the experts as well as public input. The problem is that comments made by Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Monsef sound as though the Government is beginning get cold feet. It is, after all, hard to get a government that won majority power with a minority of votes under a First Past The Post system to adopt a system of Proportional Representation that will limit their power to what they earn in votes.

Justin Trudeau's Liberal 2015 Campaign Promise: We will make every vote count

We need to encourage the ERRÉ Committee to work toward a truly fair system ~ and that can only mean some form of Proportional Representation. We can let the ERRÉ Committee what we want by writing to them ourselves. The folks at Fair Vote Canada have made this easier for us with their automated tool that will send a letter urging the committee to recommend PR.

http://fairvotecanada.good.do/thankyou/keepthepromise

NOTES: Although it may look like it, you do *not* have to make a donation to Fair Vote unless you wish to. After your message is sent just close the browser tab. If you choose to use the FVC tool, bear in mind doing so will give Fair Vote Canada your contact info. [Every time you give anyone your contact info online there is always a chance they will keep it so they can contact you in future. If you are concerned about these things, you can still borrow useful bits from their letter and make your own that you send directly to:

Postal Mail:
Special Committee on Electoral Reform
Sixth Floor, 131 Queen Street
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
Canada

E-mail: ERRE@parl.gc.ca
Fax: 613-947-3089
Website: parl.gc.ca/ERRE-e

The best part is we don’t have to send Fair Vote’s letter. You can start with it, or edit it to say whatever you like, or start completely from scratch. No matter how you choose to get it done, it certainly can’t hurt to remind the Committee and the Government that we are still watching, and, more importantly waiting to see what Canadian Proportional Representation will look like.

31 October 2016

Answers to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Petition

A Canadian Taxpayers Federation ad in my Facebook feed says:

Justin Trudeau wants to tax carbon to impact climate change.
The Problem: Canada isn’t producing enough to make an impact.
Sign The Petition!
Click “Sign Up” to sign a petition to demand Trudeau Stop the Implementation of a carbon tax.

I was curious to see what the Petition actually said, so I did click on the link.

Canadian Taxpayers Federation Petition — But instead of a petition,

screenshot-2-facebook-opera — what popped up was an attempt to harvest my personal data.

astroturf

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised after reading the recent CBC article, “Canadian Taxpayers Federation has 5 members — why should we care what they think? that busts the Canadian Taxpayers Federation as astroturf (a fake “grass roots” organization).

Even so, lots of people are going to read this and be misled.
A look at the top of the comments gave me a couple of excellent rebuttals:

Dave Urquhart writes:

Canada is home to 0.56% of the population.

If you do the math, we’re emitting at a level 3 times greater than the average of the rest of the world.

If you take into consideration that emissions stay in our atmosphere for millennia, the 1.65% number isn’t even close to what our contribution has been toward climate change. It will take a world war mobilization type effort to avert runaway climate change.

I don’t agree with a cap and trade system, and believe that the generous subsidies that we provide for the fossil fuel industry should be eliminated as well, but a price on carbon will be required to get the masses out of their emissions comfort zones. The tax amounts to 2 cents a litre in the first year and only 11 cents in the last year. We seem to have been able to handle those kinds of increases in the past without substantial hardship. You will be affected far less if you reduce your emissions, that’s what the tax is intended to do. Or is it easier to throw others (who are geographically and financially more vulnerable) under the bus? The mindset that got us into this mess, certainly won’t get us out of it. It’s time to move away from the use of fossil fuels – if we do that – there will be no burden from the tax.

Like Dave Urquhart, my preference is not for Cap and Trade.

Michael Nabert writes:

When the largest collective scientific effort in human history tells us that we clearly need to be shifting away from fossil fuels as rapidly as possible, the best the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has to offer is the equivalent of my college roommates letting the dirty dishes pile up in hopes that someone else will wash them first.

Let’s look at the numbers to see how well the “we’re such a small part of the problem that we’re not worth bothering with” argument stands up to logic. Canada is the 8th largest emitter in the world, and has contributed more to combined historical emissions than all but seven other nations. With less than half of one percent of the global population, Canada emits 1.67% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

http://www.statista.com/statistics/271748/the-largest-emitters-of-co2-in-the-world/

Canada has 0.475% of the world’s population. That means that of total current global emissions, Canada takes up 3.52 times our fair share of a number that is collectively far too large to begin with. That number is also clearly artificially low because the way it is calculated leaves out a number of glaringly obvious considerations. In any honest assessment we also bear responsibility for emissions from factories that were offshored in order to slash wages but that are still producing products exclusively for sale in North American markets, because that’s our stuff and therefore clearly our responsibility. Canada is also responsible for the emissions resulting from burning the roughly 5% of global fossil fuel exports that come from us. So we’re emitting several times more than our fair share. Any argument that Canada should not act is, by definition, irresponsible.

If we look at a more honest per capita measurement, we can see that the average Canadian is causing more than twice as much harm to the planet than the average Chinese citizen (typically the first direction fingers are pointed). China has increased the strength of its climate commitments aggressively several times in recent years. China is also well on its way to meeting or even exceeding its targets. Canada, on the other hand, not only has spectacularly weak emissions targets compared to the other industrialized nations, we are in no way even going to come close to meeting those targets. Here’s another comparison: China is investing 1% of its per capita income into renewable energy. Canada is investing 0.19% instead, making less than one fifth as much effort to move away from fossil fuel use.

Finally, there is a level of absurdity about overseas finger pointing. I don’t have the opportunity to lobby the governments of Saudi Arabia or China to change their oil policies, but even if they do the right thing and stop producing oil, our continuing to do so willy nilly would still be roasting our loved ones. Canadians do have the ability as well as the responsibility to impact emissions here at home.

http://www.statista.com/statistics/271748/the-largest-emitters-of-co2-in-the-world/

And that takes care of that.

Image Credits:

Canadian Taxpayers federation images used under education/criticism Fair Dealing exemption

Astroturf graphic by @laurelrusswurm is a remix of “Skagerak Arena turf” © by Rune Mathisen [bitjungle on Flickr] is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 License.

27 October 2016

An Enemy of the People

Waterloo Greens’ Richard Walsh is mounting a local production of a play about whistle blowing in a Water-Safety Crisis.

Although this is not a Green Party event, even if our esteemed colleague Richard was not involved in this production, the issues of whistleblowing, water, public accountability and the environmental certainly fall within the bounds of green interest.

Many of us remember incidents of severe water contamination in Grassy Narrows, Walkerton, Elmira, Ontario, and Flint, Michigan.

Do you also remember how some municipal and provincial or state authorities and local businesspersons tried to cover up the dangers to residents’ health?

That’s what the next theatre production by Christ Church Waterloo is all about: environmental and moral responsibility.

On November 10th-12th at 8 pm Christ Players presents in the sanctuary Richard Walsh’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s original 1882 drama, An Enemy of the People.

Richard has set the play in Canada 2016, abbreviated it, modernized the language, and incorporated audience participation. As well, after each performance audience members can participate in group discussion about the issues the play raises.

In the play the main character, “Dr. Thomas Stockmann,” who is his town’s Medical Officer of Health, discovers that the source of water for the town and its new healing baths is dangerous to use. He sets out to overcome cowardice and deception by the powers-that-be in the face of this crisis in public health. Despite his political naiveté, Thomas bravely challenges the town’s status quo for what he believes is the greater good. However, like all the characters in the play, he has personal flaws that make his attempts to resolve the dangers to his community difficult to achieve.

An Enemy of The People
November 10 – 12, 2016
8:00 pm

Christ Lutheran Church
445 Anndale Road, Waterloo

Tickets ($15 for adults, $10 for students) may be ordered in advance from the church office @ 519-885-4050.
Seating, which is general admission, is limited to 100 per performance.

(As this production contains some coarse language, it’s suitable for students from Grade 7 onwards.)All proceeds will be directed to the church’s community-outreach programmes.

20 October 2016

Waste Reduction in Waterloo Region

Waste Reduction Week in Canada is a national environmental campaign that builds awareness around issues of sustainable and responsible consumption, encourages choice for more environmentally responsible products/services, and promotes actions that divert more waste from disposal and conserve natural resources.

The program’s educational resources and “take action” messaging empower all Canadians to adopt more environmentally conscious choices. Waste Reduction Week in Canada further provides information and ideas to reduce waste in all facets of daily living, creating the solutions to the many environmental challenges we face including climate change, water pollution and preservation of natural resources.

Waste Reduction Week in Canada: Oct. 17 – 23, 2016

The University of Waterloo has a full schedule of activities to celebrate Waste Reduction Week. To find out what’s happening across Canada, check out their Event List and/or follow @WRWCanada on Twitter or Facebook

Although we have don’t have an event scheduled, WRGreens area always keen on ways to preserve the environment.

The 5 Rs

There used to be only 3 Rs, but as we’ve become more attuned to the environment, now there are 5 — at least that I know of! Composting Green Bins

Refuse

Unnecessary packaging, which is almost always disposable plastics.
cloth and clothing made in third world sweatshops
disposable (usually) plastic products
cheaply made products that will break and fill up our landfills
ask suppliers to take back packaging materials for reuse

Reduce

Before we buy, ask ourselves… do we really need all that stuff?
Reduce what we buy through community sharing … join a community toy library
Do you really need to buy a car or even a bike when there are Community Car Share and Community Access Bikeshare?

Reuse

green-water-bottles_9477

Choose reusable glass or metal water bottles
hand-me-downs are the new black! Used clothing can be
- donated or traded through Trusted Clothes clothing swaps
- reused
- repurposed
- sold at yard sales, auctions
- donated
establish a place to collect used packaging, cord binding, envelopes and other materials that can be reused

Little Library

Start a Little Library
Reuse packaging materials for arts & crafts, or gift wrapping
- newspaper comics
- some photocopier paper is packed in decorated wrapping paper sleeves
- cloth gift bags
- pretty tea towels can serve as kitchen giftwrap
Reuse equipment parts and fixtures and repair furniture to reduce waste
Compost kitchen waste into rich composted using a worm composter if you are in an apartment or bear country, if you have a back yard get a composter, but if you don’t wish to compost your own, get a green bin do your food scrap waste will be composted and reused instead of landfilled.

Recycle

Recycling is a last option because unlike aluminum and glass, which can be recycled indefinitely, plastics will not be converted into new, similar objects. They will be turned into other products such as doormats, textiles, plastic lumber, etc. This is not recycling, but down-cycling. These products will still end in the landfill or as debris in waterways.

We Recycle

scrap paper, toner cartridges, plastic bottles, aluminium cans, etc
Donate old computers to Computer Recycling
appliances, electronics, appliances and furniture to charities or second hand shops

Replace

Ceramic Cups

paper or plastic cups and plates with glass, ceramic or metal reusable dishware
paper towels with cloth towels,
plastics with biodegradables and/or durable well made products of glass, wood or stainless steel instead
plastic seedling trays & planters with biodegradable peat or pressed paper (like egg cartons)
salt to melt snow & ice with sand for traction or mild fertilizer to melt ice instead
replace plastic bags with biodegradable bags
solvent-based paints with water based paints
Replace hazardous chemical products with environmentally friendly alternatives

17 October 2016

Dimitri Lascaris Town Hall @UofW

Tonight at 6:00 pm!
Monday, October 17th, 2016
University of Waterloo
PAS room 2083
200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON
(~MAP~)

Dimitri Lascaris graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1991, and is a practicing lawyer called to the bars of Ontario, the State of New York, and the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York. In 2012, Canadian Lawyer Magazine identified Mr. Lascaris as one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada, and in 2013, Canadian Business Magazine identified him as one of the 50 most influential people in Canadian business.

Lascaris is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Unity Project for the Relief of Homelessness, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Real News Network, an independent, not-for-profit media organization based in Baltimore, Maryland. He previously served as a Board member of Toronto 350.org. In the 2015 federal election, Dimitri ran as the Green Party candidate in the riding of London West.

In March 2016, Dimitri was named Justice Critic in the Green Party of Canada Shadow Cabinet. He was also the author and submitter of the Green Party resolution on “Palestinian Self-Determination and the Movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” that the GPC adopted as Party Policy at this year’s Policy Convention in Ottawa. This was the first (and only) party with representation in the House of Commons to publicly support elements of the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) as a means to pressure Israel to respect international law, and oppose efforts to “prohibit, punish or otherwise deter expressions of support for BDS.”

The Green Party quickly came under intense pressure from pro-Israeli organizations for its democratic adoption of the resolution. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May reacted by expressing her disagreement with the resolution, firing three members of her shadow cabinet who publicly supported the resolution, and calling a “special general meeting” on December 3-4 in Calgary to revisit, and potentially reverse, the resolution.

Tonight!

Join Dimitri Lascaris for a Town Hall discussion about freedom, dissent and BDS ~ with special guests Rehab Nazzal and Wendy Goldsmith.

Rehab Nazzal is a Palestinian-born multidisciplinary artist and educator whose video, photography and sound works deal with the violence of war and settler colonialism. Recently, Rehab was shot in the leg by an Israeli sniper while documenting the noxious activities of Israeli skunk trucks in occupied Bethlehem.

Social worker and mother Wendy Goldsmith is a member of the steering committee of Canada Boat to Gaza, a representative at Freedom Flotilla Coalition and on the Media team for the Women’s Boat to Gaza. Wendy recently returned from Barcelona, Spain, Ajaccio, Corsica and Messina, Sicily where she participated in the sailing of the Zaytouna.

For more information tweet @laurelrusswurm or @bobjonkman or email bjonkman@sobac.com

16 October 2016

Fee and Dividend vs. Cap and Trade

Caterina Lindman represented the Citizen’s Climate Lobby at the Waterloo Region Climate Consulation at Kitchener City Hall in August. CCL is a strong advocate for the Fee and Dividend carbon tax; which is why one of the things she spoke about was the CCL recommendation to begin with a $30 per tonne carbon tax in 2018, with annual increases of $10 per year.

Caterina Lindman (Citizens Climate Lobby) speaks to discussion facilitators at the Waterloo Region Climate Consultation, August 18th, 2016

Earlier this month the Canadian Government announced its plan to implement a Carbon tax.

“It will start at $10 per tonne and increase by $10 each year, up to $50 a tonne by 2022. Trudeau added that the tax will be revenue neutral for the federal government. Proceeds from the tax will be returned to the provinces where they were collected.

“Trudeau said that details regarding implementation will largely be left up to the provinces. Each jurisdiction should decide on whether they want a cap-and-trade system (the sort of scheme favoured by the Obama administration) or a direct price on greenhouse-gas emissions (like with B.C.’s system for taxing air pollution).”

— Justin Trudeau announces national carbon tax will begin at $10 per tonne in 2018 and rise from there to $50

Although we are pleased Canada finally understands the need for a carbon tax, we would be much happier if the initial figure were higher.

The other issue is the federal Government’s failure to insist on the use of a Carbon Fee and Dividend plan instead of leaving it up to the provinces.

Let’s let this wonderful graphic created by CCL to explain why Fee and Dividend is the best option:

CCL Fee and Dividend infographic — Citizen’s Climate Lobby Canada explains How Carbon Fee and Dividend works.

Although it also puts a price on carbon, Cap and Trade works differently, more like a game of monopoly that allows wheeling and dealing with carbon emissions. Evidence from elsewhere demonstrates that it doesn’t really work, let alone foster a transition from carbon to sustainable energy. There is also growing evidence Cap-and-trade? Not so Great if you are Black or Brown.

Although it sounds lovely that the plan is revenue neutral to the Federal Government, but not if it becomes a cash cow to the provinces. But perhaps worse, instead of being revenue neutral, the carbon tax funds collected are not distributed among the people, it becomes a source of government income.

Can you remember the last time a government willingly gave up a source of revenue?

Me either.

Our Californian friends can tell us: Why fee and dividend is better than cap and trade at fighting climate change. Although it is not enough, even a weak carbon tax is a baby step in the right direction.

Energy East Pipeline

You can’t, however, say the same about fossil fuel pipelines.

Credits
Explainer video and Fee & Dividend Infographic by Citizen’s Climate Lobby
Energy East Pipeline and Caterina Lindman photos by Laurel Russwurm, released under a Creative Commons Attribution License

14 October 2016

Cross Cultures Town Hall with Dimitri Lascaris

Join Cross Cultures for a lively interactive town hall with Dimitri Lascaris who will address

* OUR FREEDOMS
* DISSENT
* B D S

Cross Cultures encourages everyone— especially those who disagree — to come and give their perspective…

… that is how we dialogue and that is how we promote mutual respect and understanding

… not by suppressing, censoring or avoiding sensitive issues …

All attempts to invite a speaker whose views are anti BDS to provide the counter point of view have been declined.

Dimitri Lascaris
is a lawyer called to practice in Ontario and New York State. After working in the New York and Paris offices of a major Wall Street law firm, Dimitri became a class action lawyer in Canada. His class actions practice focused on shareholder rights, environmental wrongs and human rights violations.

In 2012, Canadian Lawyer Magazine named him one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada, and in 2013, Canadian Business Magazine named him one of the 50 most influential persons in Canadian business.

Until recently, Dimitri was the Justice Critic in the Green Party of Canada shadow cabinet. He is the author and submitter of the Green Party of Canada’s BDS resolution

“I am very happy to announce that, for our BDS town hall at the University of Waterloo on October 17, I will be joined by two extraordinary women, Rehab Nazzal and Wendy Goldsmith.

“Rehab is a Palestinian-born multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Toronto and Bethlehem. Her video, photography and sound works deal with the violence of war and settler colonialism, and have been shown in Canada and internationally. Recently, Rehab was shot in the leg by an Israeli sniper while documenting the noxious activities of Israeli skunk trucks in occupied Bethlehem.

“Wendy is social worker and mother of three from London Ontario. As a social worker she has worked with many marginalized and traumatized individuals, families and communities and began her work in Palestine after Operation ‘Cast Lead’ and saw through photos and direct accounts of the horror and devastation inflicted by Israel on Gaza. Wendy is a member of the steering committee of Canada Boat to Gaza, a representative at Freedom Flotilla Coalition and on the Media team for the Women’s Boat to Gaza. Wendy recently returned from Barcelona, Spain, Ajaccio, Corsica and Messina, Sicily where she participated in the sailing of the Zaytouna.

“It is an honour for me
to speak about the
GPC’s BDS resolution
with Rehab and Wendy.”

— Dimitry Lascaris

This event is open to the public.

WHEN: 6:00pm
Monday, October 17th, 2016

WHERE:
Psychology Anthropology Sociology Building
PAS room 2083
200 University Ave West,
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
(~MAP~)

12 October 2016

Why Online Voting is a Bad Idea for #ERRE

ballot-box Computer security people will be able to tell you:

You can have a secret ballot OR a secure system, but not both. Internet banking and commerce can be secure, but only because the bank knows who the customer is.

Fair Vote Waterloo says:
On Referenda, Consultations, and Postcards

Australian Computer Expert Vanessa Teague:
Election explainer: why can’t Australians vote online

Daily Dot takes a much more technical look:
Online voting is a cybersecurity nightmare

“The” computer security expert, Bruce Schneier agrees:
More Voting Machine News

Barbara Simons asks: Why can’t we vote online?

Online voting is one of the things Canada’s ERRE Special Committee on Electoral Reform has been tasked with studying, so WRGreens own Bob Jonkman framed this important issue in the Canadian context in his Submission to the ERRE Consultation:

“I am opposed to electronic voting and online voting. I am a computer consultant by profession, and nothing I see in my work shows that people’s home computers or even the computers in most businesses have the security capable of upholding the Integrity requirement, ensuring reliable and verifiable results.

“The main issue with online voting is not computer security, but a fundamental incompatibility between voter identity and the secret ballot.

“When voting takes place outside of a polling station it is important that voter identity is established to prevent fraud. It must be provable that the ballot filled in online was actually filled in by a registered voter, and not by someone impersonating that voter. To achieve this, voters need to be issued a ballot with a serial number or barcode to ensure that only that one ballot is filled in for that registered voter. But if every ballot cast has a serial number, then the completed ballot with the voter’s choices is identifiable with the voter’s name and registration information. The secret ballot is impossible, and the Integrity criterion cannot be met.

“When voting does not take place in a polling station then it is possible that a voter will be coerced into voting according to the demands of the “head” of the household, or voting at the workplace according to the employer’s demands. Without the scrutiny of Elections Canada, voting integrity cannot be ensured.

“But computer security is an issue too. People’s personal computers are constantly being attacked by computer viruses, malicious web sites, and denial of service attacks from compromised Webcams. And spam. The difficulty of ensuring online voting integrity is at least as great as is the difficulty of eliminating spam (unsolicited, unwanted e‑mail, sometimes commercial in nature, sent in bulk). If you haven’t experienced problems with spam then it is likely your E‑mail Service Provider is filtering your e‑mail for you – but how many good messages are being filtered accidentally? You’ll never know, because you’ll never see them.

“There are actually very few large-scale spammers on the Internet, maybe a couple of dozen at most. But they’re responsible for almost all the unwanted e‑mail that clogs up billions of e‑mail accounts in the world. It shows how a few bad actors on the Internet can completely overwhelm an e‑mail system. Similarly, a few bad actors on the Internet can completely compromise an online voting system. If we can’t secure our mail systems to solve the spam problem, it is unlikely that we’ll be able to secure everyone’s computer to guarantee online voting integrity.

“It is unfortunate that there were so few computer security experts providing witness testimony to the Committee. Almost every computer security expert who has commented on electronic voting since the U.S. “hanging chad” elections in 2000 has decried the use of voting machines, and, more recently, online voting. Voting machines are regularly compromised, are not auditable by design (they have proprietary source code), and are prone to failure when needed most. Computer security lecturers delight their audiences with tales of voting machine touch screens that dodge the target when the “wrong” vote is selected, or that play marching band music after they’ve been compromised by a prankish hacker.

“Voting is very much different from buying a product from an online store. If the wrong product is delivered, the store will ship the right product the next day to ensure customer satisfaction. But if the wrong candidate is elected, there is no recourse the next day. It is unlikely that fraud will be detected until the voting machines are audited many weeks after the election, and even when fraud is detected the outcome will be hotly contested by the affected candidates. In fact, if voting machines don’t use publicly published open source code then it is likely election outcomes will be hotly contested because proving that no fraud was committed is impossible.

“However, vote tabulation by machine is perfectly acceptable, although there must be a requirement that vote tabulators are also audited and their source code is made public. Ballots designed for vote tabulators (optical mark cards) can always be counted manually if the electronic tabulation is in dispute.”

— Bob Jonkman: Electoral Reform — My Submission to the #ERRE Committee

Here’s hoping the #ERRE Committee puts Online Voting aside until it might be accomplished securely.

Electoral System with Majority Support Mixed Member Proportional Representation # of Votes 19,418 % of Votes 52.42 Total Valid Votes 37,040 Total number of votes required to achieve threshold 18,521

Eligible Electors 102,464

Voter Turnout 36.46%

— Elections Prince Edward Island Plebiscite Results

The tiny province of Prince Edward Island has taken the first step in leading Canada toward better democracy. Bravo!

Some votes count more than others, but most votes don’t count at all.

Waterloo Greens’ Richard Walsh is mounting a local production of a play about whistle blowing in a Water-Safety Crisis.

An Enemy of The People November 10 – 12, 2016 8:00 pm