Halifax Media Co-op

News from Nova Scotia's Grassroots

More independent news:
Do you want free independent news delivered weekly? sign up now
Can you support independent journalists with $5? donate today!
Not reviewed by Halifax Media Co-op editors. copyeditedfact checked [?]

Fair Vote Nova Scotia Sends Questionnaire to Party Leaders in Lead Up to Election

by Fair Vote Nova Scotia


Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 15th, 2013 – Fair Vote Nova Scotia has submitted a questionnaire to each party leader in advance of the October 8th Nova Scotia election to determine where each provincial political party stands on the issue of electoral system reform.

“We have requested that each party leader respond to the questionnaire by Oct 1st and following this date, we'll be publicizing the responses or lack thereof on our website” says Fair Vote NS secretary Steve Caines.

“People should know where the parties stand on electoral reform before the election. The party responses to the questions, if they choose to respond, should pretty firmly determine where they stand. And if parties choose not to respond, that will still be telling.”

The way Nova Scotia's elections function once again came under the microscope recently, following the most recent redrawing of provincial electoral district boundaries. Significantly this time the protected constituencies that were established to more effectively elect members of the province's African Nova Scotian and Acadian communities were altered.

Much of the questionnaire revolves around the issue of minority representation. “Do the parties see this as a real issue or not? What ideas and plans do the parties have for adequate representation of these groups?” asks Caines.

Fair Vote Nova Scotia has also included a few questions related to election financing. “Current rules don't require campaign financing information to be released before people cast their ballots” states Caines. “We want to know if they're willing to change that, in the interest of transparency.”

“Next week is Democracy Week, as declared by Elections Canada. And we have an election coming up in Nova Scotia in less than a month. We feel these are pertinent questions to be asking.”

Visit Fair Vote Nova Scotia's website www.fairvotenovascotia.ca to read the full questionnaire.

_______________

Fair Vote Nova Scotia is a Chapter of Fair Vote Canada, a grassroots multi-partisan citizen's campaign for voting system reform.

Contact:
Steve Caines, Secretary
Fair Vote Nova Scotia
(902) 476-1001
halifax@fairvote.ca

Socialize:
Want more grassroots coverage?
Join the Media Co-op today.
Topics: Governance
306 words

Commentaires

Atlantica response

This is the Atlantica response to a series of questions put to each of the leaders running in this election regarding Electoral Reform. The questions were submitted by Fair Vote NS.

 

The original document is available here

http://www.fairvotenovascotia.ca/

 

Thank you for your questions. We welcome any and all discussion. As you may know Atlantica is very committed to voting and political reform here in the province.

 

1. Would you agree that provincial legislation, to be the most legitimate, should be approved by a

majority of elected MLAs representing a majority of voters?

Of course. We need electoral reform here in Nova Scotia. We would form a Citizen’s Commission to examine Single Transferable Vote (STV) to ensure PR-like results in the house.

 

2. Voters need and should have fair and effective representation in a democracy. Yet in Nova

Scotia, members of minority groups including African Nova Scotians, Aboriginal persons and

others have historically been under-represented in the House of Assembly. No Aboriginal

person, for example, has ever been elected to the House. As well, despite making up half of

the provincial population, women are also under-represented (currently only 23% of MLAs are

female). Do you feel this under-representation of women and minorities needs to be rectified?

No. We do not believe in group politics, it is a form of tyranny to assign individuals to a group. All individuals must be treated equally by our political system.

 

3. Do you agree that the share of the vote a party receives in an election should be close to the

share of seats it receives in the legislature?

Of course. We want to end phony majorities and make elections fair.

 

4. In its final 2012 report, The Nova Scotia Electoral Boundaries Commission recommended that

the Nova Scotia Legislature “initiate a process involving both extensive critical examination and

public consultation on the current electoral system as well as possible alternatives to it”, and

“establish a process for consulting with key minority groups, in particular the Acadian and

African Nova Scotian communities, for the purpose of determining alternative means for

achieving fair and effective minority representation.” Do you support these recommendations,

and, if elected Premier, will you in your first mandate initiate these processes?

The first yes, the second no as explained above.

 

5. As party leader, would you ensure that a process (which includes public consultation) to make

the provincial electoral system more fair and proportional is a condition of your support for any

minority government?

Yes. Absolutely.

 

6. Currently, Nova Scotia electoral law does not require candidates and political parties to release

election campaign financing information in advance of election day. As party leader, and in the

interest of transparency and voter awareness, would you develop or support legislation that

would require all political parties to release election campaign donation lists before any election

day?

Yes. In fact we would require real time disclosure of all political donations.

 

7. In the interest of transparency and voter awareness, will you and your party's candidates

voluntarily release your campaign financing information in advance of the October 8th 2013

election?

Yes. It has always been a stated objective that all our financing be available publicly on our website.

 

 

Thank you.

 

Jonathan Dean

Leader

Atlantica

 

Electoral reform is part of our Democracy Manifesto.

 

“There is a lot more to democracy than a series of reasonably free and fair elections every four years.”

– Louise Arbour

The site for the Halifax local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.