In their short version of why voters should reject STV, No STV claim:

“STV is complicated, confusing, prone to errors and delay, it reduces local accountability, increases the size of ridings, allows MLAs to avoid direct accountability for their decisions, increases party control and allows special interests to dominate party nominations.”

The first three claims above are matters of fact -- so are they true?  The answers are no, no and no. 

Comparative studies of election administration demonstrate that voters have no problem voting with STV (Farrell 2001).  Nor is STV ‘prone to errors and delay.’ 

The public is supposed to be benefiting from an engagement between campaigns meant to champion the two systems up for consideration in this May 12 referendum in B.C.: our existing system, first past the post (FPTP), and the alternative recommended by the BC Citizens’ Assembly, the single transferable vote (STV). 

Instead, we have one serious, grassroots campaign for STV, and this other rump bunch of political elites who campaign as ‘No STV’ and refuse to admit that they are stumping for the status quo.  Nice public process.

What a difference a day makes.

Last Wednesday the pundits were ready to write Harper's political obituary. But on Thursday afternoon Harper had schmoozed the Governor General into giving him a parliamentary time-out, thus preventing the potential coalition forces from bringing his government down this week on a vote of non-confidence. By Friday the polling industry weighed in with surveys suggesting that Harper was a big gainer coming out of the battle and that the coalition option was deeply unpopular with Canadians.

Let me begin by saying that I am deeply worried that we may be heading into a potentially violent situation.

Harper and his team are ramping up the rhetoric around what is happening as a threat to our democracy and our country by characterizing the attempts to displace his minority government as an attack on the democratic verdict of the Canadian people by some "backroom deals with separatists". Below I go into some detail examining the Prime Minister's speech, pointing out factual inaccuracies, misrepresentations and distortions. But let me sum up the gist of what is going here.

The Globe and Mail has shifted to victory mode this week, with columnist aftercolumnist smugly asserting that the Conservatives are coasting to victory. Theonly question left is whether the party will reach the magic threshold of 40-45 per cent to win a majority of the seats. The Globe's polling firm, StrategicCounsel, claims that the Conservatives still have room to expand their support,particularly in Quebec and urban Ontario.

Two major claims are made among gay and lesbian critics of the idea of gay marriage. The first is that the support of gay marriage represents a kind of assimilation to straight values and ideals. The second is that the widespread acceptance of gay marriage would threaten the existence of a separate gay and lesbian community.