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Unfair Election Act Charter challenge
Sun, 2015-08-02 20:30
#1
Unfair Election Act Charter challenge
Sun, 2015-08-02 20:50
#2
Council of Canadians is seeking an injunction against the provision that disallows use of the Voter Indentification Card as voter ID. Those without much other ID will have difficulty voting. It will particularly disenfranchise students.
http://canadians.org/charter-challenge
The judge denied the request. An appeal has been filed. The factum linked from this page is a thing of beauty.
http://canadians.org/media/fair-elections-act-injunction-ruling-under-appeal
Tue, 2015-08-04 23:42
#3
Council of Canadians is seeking an injunction against the provision that disallows use of the Voter Indentification Card as voter ID. Those without much other ID will have difficulty voting. It will particularly disenfranchise students.
http://canadians.org/charter-challenge
The judge denied the request. An appeal has been filed. The factum linked from this page is a thing of beauty.
http://canadians.org/media/fair-elections-act-injunction-ruling-under-appeal
You must be a lawyer, triciamarie. As a person who wrote some of these things a long time ago, I can see that this factum is very well done, but only a lawyer would call a document like this a thing of beauty. 
Wed, 2015-08-05 14:10
#4
I admire all your calmness and patience discussing the unfair election act......
The system is totally corrupt, as are the judges that continually rule that the system is not in violation of our democratic rights!
remember the robocop scandal? Were there new elections called, were there anyone put in prison for violating our democratic rights?
How about all this campaigning by the money parties, before the electoral writ has been called? So that the minorities are given a few weeks canvassing time while the majors backed by their corprate sponsors have months? And as for the equality provisions? Do we get equal access to the media to present our case before the voting public to guarantee their freedom of choice, when money rules. (and thanks to the elimination of the pitiful public stipend once given to parties?
And the Party system, whereby our elected candidate is not guaranteed the right to decide based on his or her constitutency?
Whew I can go on ad nauseum. No! fair voting in this country does not exist!
And the judicial system which backs up the injustice 100%....and yet we can calmly discuss just the latest outrage?
Wed, 2015-08-05 14:28
#5
"And the Party system, whereby our elected candidate is not guaranteed the right to decide based on his or her constitutency?" Which consituents should an MP listen to, given that they don't want the same thing?
Should an MP vote, according to the wishes of the best poaid lobbyists who can persuade the highest number of constituents to drink their particular flavour of kool-aid.
I agree with most of what you say, iyraste1313, but on that point, I think we have to be careful what we wish for.
Wed, 2015-08-05 14:31
#6
"And the Party system, whereby our elected candidate is not guaranteed the right to decide based on his or her constitutency?" Which consituents should an MP listen to, given that constituents don't want the same thing?
Should an MP vote according to the wishes of the highest proportion of constituents who have been persuaded by highly paid lobbyists to drink their particular flavour of kool-aid. What we might end up with is a tyranny of the majority.
I agree with most of what you say, iyraste1313, but on that point, I think we have to be careful what we wish for.
Mon, 2015-08-17 10:23
#7
Which consituents should an MP listen to?
A constitueny must establish an Assembly process where people are offered and say and vote on their concerns...this would bring power back to People, an Assembly where people can offer their points of view, thereby offsetting the power of the media...
Wed, 2015-08-19 22:07
#8
You must be a lawyer, triciamarie. As a person who wrote some of these things a long time ago, I can see that this factum is very well done, but only a lawyer would call a document like this a thing of beauty.
I'm not. Just obsessed. :)
Wed, 2015-08-19 22:14
#9
I admire all your calmness and patience discussing the unfair election act......
That's a good one. :D
Sun, 2015-08-23 10:26
#10
OTTAWA - The Council of Canadians, the Canadian Federation of Students, and three voters will have to wait until after this fall’s federal election to combat the unfair provisions of the Harper government’s Fair Election Act. Yesterday, the Ontario Superior Court refused to grant them leave to appeal a recent decision to deny an injunction against key sections of the new law. In his ruling, Justice Nordheimer pointed to the fact that the appeal is happening too close to the election.
“Timing is everything,” says Garry Neil, Executive Director of the Council of Canadians. “The Fair Elections Act was tabled just a year before a fixed election. Our legal challenge went before the courts two months before it went into effect, but the federal government delayed the process every step of the way. In this case, justice delayed is justice denied.”
Sun, 2015-08-23 10:46
#11
Toronto Star, today:
"The so-called Fair Elections Act stirred controversy from the moment it was introduced in February 2014. At the time, Poilievre said the law would put “special interests on the sidelines and rule-breakers out of business.”
But academics, students and other concerned groups came forward to warn that the changes would actually make it harder for some Canadians to cast a ballot.
For example, the law prohibits the use of the voter information card as a document that can be used as proof of residency. This has sparked concerns that some voters — notably students living away from home, seniors in long-term care homes and aboriginals — may lack the necessary identification, which must show their address, to vote.
There have also been changes to vouching, where one voter with proper identification could vouch for the identity of another voter at the polling station. An estimated 120,000 Canadians used vouching to vote in 2011.
“We can expect that a significant proportion of them would not be able to vote under the rules proposed,” Mayrand told a parliamentary committee in March 2014.
Mayrand noted that the worry around Canadian elections wasn’t fraud, but declining turnout."
Sun, 2015-08-23 11:17
#12
As noted in the above piece, one of the monstrous changes introduced in the Fair Elections Act was to muzzle the elections agency from communicating with the public, except on five specific issues. It cannot encourage voting - one of the main functions of elections agencies, internationally. Any commentary that could remotely be seen as critical of the government's pro-partisan election policy is off the table.
Well, Marc Maynard has come out swinging: he has communicated, individually, with the 30 Guelph voters who recently wrote jointly to him and the Commissioner demanding a resolution to the still-outstanding matter of voter suppression in the 2011 election, crimes perpetrated in part through the privacy law loopholes for political parties. His response reiterates the privacy law changes his office recommended, changes which were not implemented in this Act.
http://rabble.ca/babble/canadian-politics/guelph-voters-call-to-elections-canada-investigate
Wed, 2015-08-26 17:45
#13
"OTTAWA - The Council of Canadians, the Canadian Federation of Students, and three voters will have to wait until after this fall’s federal election to combat the unfair provisions of the Harper government’s Fair Election Act. Yesterday, the Ontario Superior Court refused to grant them leave to appeal a recent decision to deny an injunction against key sections of the new law."
...I would suggest it important to notify the UN HRC and its ombudsperson responsible for overseeing democratic elections, by those launching this delayed court action...to immediately launch a Commission to oversee the election asap!
This is a first step to delegitimize the process and the election outcome...It is crucial to deny credibility to the oncoming mess, until some serious changes are made!
Fri, 2015-08-28 11:20
#14
Thanks i3
I have offered that suggestion myself. Maybe I'll bring it up again.
BTW the delay was in part a result of "trench warfare" by the CPC's lawyers, who, a judge ruled, did everything conceivable to stymie the timely adjudication of these cases. No court will wade into an issue when aspects of the same issue are actively being considered in another forum. The Council of Canadians launched this application as soon as the appeal decision was reached. 30 Guelph voters acted as soon as Michael Sona confirmed he wasn't appealing his conviction.