Will this election reform proposal change the Canadian politics landscape? We think so.
A change to Federal Elections in Canada might be on the horizon if a new proposal gains traction. And if proven successful, the new process is sure to make its way down to both provincial and municipal election-process levels.
An Edmonton-based federal policy consulting firm, Think Box Strategies, has devised a novel election process to help optimize the federal election process and streamline results. Four new options or procedures have been suggested to help Canadians get a better bang for their buck so to speak when stepping to the polls. 2P News’ political correspondent Cynthia Redbush sat down with the proposal’s lead author to learn how the four pillars of this new voting strategy are going to work.
Voters can use their vote and select their favourite candidate or use their single vote to deselect their least favourite candidate. The negative vote option would effectively cancel out a positive vote for that very candidate. This could have the effect of bringing vote tallies down to more reasonable and understandable levels, such as a hockey game score of maybe 6 to 2, instead of 40,000 to 27,000.
A list of no more or less than 25 key budget items would be included in every ballot package. Voters would be required to select 10 or more options from the 25. Their income taxes would then be split equally over those 10 or more selections. This would give voters the power to vote on budget items with their tax dollars. Budget items that do not receive enough votes to continue fiscal operations may have to reduce costs or services, but that would be decided by the tax payers votes, not lobbyists or bureaucrats. If an individual selects less than 10 items, their entire income tax amount will be budgeted towards the discretionary “Entertainment” fund for all elected MP’s.
If voters are not comfortable presenting a valid identification prior to voting for privacy or religious reasons, they would be required to perform the full 8-minute Chicken Dance with a group of individuals in the same situation. If they opt not to Chicken dance, they can provide valid identification in private to a delegate within the conditions of their faith or other social order. This may not alleviate voter ID fraud, but it would make election site far more entertaining.
Individuals between the age of 11 to 17 inclusive will now be allowed to vote in Special Elections. Their votes will not count officially, but will be used by The Institute of Future Policy to study patterns in youth behavior and attempt to understand why the cutest individuals, or the funniest cartoon character are predominantly chosen over actual candidates.
Reactions to this proposal’s release have been all over the place across Canada. Some people think it’s a cool idea, others think it is quite possibly the most insane election policy known to mankind. A few professors on TV said the tax thing sounds “interesting,” but nobody really knows how the Chicken Dance part is supposed to fix anything.
Eighty-one year old Leroy “Smooth T” Jenkins, who used to play slap bass in the 70s funk band Shut-Up Honky and now mostly just hangs out on his porch in Scarborough, had this to say:
Leroy Jenkins, talking to 2P News from his front stoop in Scarborough, Ontario
“Now hold up, jive turkey—lemme get this straight. You tellin’ me folks can subtract a vote now? Like, make a candidate go backwards in the count? Shiiit… if we had that back when Justin Trudeau was runnin’ for his third go-around, my man’d be sittin’ at negative forty-seven thousand, with a bounce cheque for democracy!”
Then he laughed and took a puff off his cigarillo. “Ain’t sayin’ it’s genius or nothin’, but at least now my vote can actually hurt somebody. That’s new.”
Elections Canada has yet to officially respond to the proposal, though unconfirmed reports suggest several staffers were seen quietly practicing the Chicken Dance behind closed doors.
