and I come back to you at the turn of the tide.
Comrades. It has been an underwhelming few months since we celebrated our glorious victory at city council. Most of the blame for this lies with me, but a non-zero amount also lies with the millions of horny pathogens who set up shop in my respiratory system shortly after the trade show in May and didn't leave until the middle of July. Yes comrades, that general malaise that I mentioned in my last email all those many months ago turned out to be Pneumonia which laughed off two courses of antibiotics to evolve into sinusitis which swiftly landed your hero in hospital. Notwithstanding all of this, what I said last time about being a special snowflake remains true. You can only imagine therefore, the havoc that this legitimate illness visited upon my fragile constitution. When I finally threw down my enemy, I was left entirely depleted both physically and mentally. Brain fogged and alone without even my opinions for company, darkness took me and I strayed out of thought and time. Every day was as long as a life age of the earth. But it was not the end. . .
That's right comrades. I'm back and so is the Fair Vote NWT crew. In fact, we're going to meet at Birchwood this Sunday at 10:00 to catch up, get jazzed about democracy, and trawl through the heaving backlog of First-Past-The-Post fuckery that needs out attention. This includes but is not limited to: A snap election in BC, a separation referendum in Alberta, Mark Carney's mega "mandate" for mega projects in the "national interest", Airports for sale, and many many more. Seeing as it's already late and I'm over committed in my life in general let's examine the very freshest of these democratic stool samples now and I'll get to the others next time.
A snap election in BC. Fresh off the bullshit ideas conveyor belt comes this latest insult to the intelligence of the nation. Crudely sensing the opportunity to capitalize on conservative infighting and enlarge his modest majority, human stock photo David Eby has decided that the 2024 election was "just a practice election" and that "this one is the real election ok". Sharp observers like us of course remember Eby recently stating that he had "no interest in that" when asked about pursuing electoral reform after forming his government. One has to wonder why, when recent research shows that 78% of his OWN VOTERS support moving to proportional representation not to mention 75% of all BC voters? Why, when the BC Special Committee on Democratic Reform reported that well over 90% of the submissions they reviewed from BC citizens spoke up for proportional representation? Well, now we know why. Like so many before him, Eby has sipped from the cup of false majority and he wants more. I'm afraid to say that a larger false majority for the BC NDP is far from the worst outcome we might expect from this latest see-saw in the who-can-be-the-party-whose-voter-base-isn't-split canine agility contest we call our Canadian democracy.
Comrades. If you'll indulge me. A short story from my native England about another time some very clever people tried this.
When Theresa May took office after Brexit she said there would not be a snap election soon. Soon after this she said it was time for a snap election. She promised "strong and stable government in the national interest".
Unfortunately for May the conservatives got absolutely hosed in the election, lost their majority, and ended up limping into a deal that handed a huge amount of power (and literal piles of cash) to a very niche interest group in the form of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). For those of you who don't know, the DUP are the major loyalist and protestant party in NI. They are the guys who dress up in orange and march through Catholic neighbourhoods every year to stir up sectarian anger. Well, technically this is the Orange Order but there's a lot of overlap to say the very least. Crucially this emergency deal/bribe/faustian pact happened at a time when the UK was trying to negotiate a Brexit deal with the EU that would either create a hard border between NI and the ROI (break the Good Friday Agreement) or introduce customs controls on goods crossing from the UK mainland into NI. Essentially the decision would determine whether NI would pursue regulatory alignment with the ROI (Europe) or with the UK. Guess which approach the Democratic UNIONISTS preferred? Also remember how recently these same people (or close friends of theirs) were willing to use car bombs to emphasize their political positions. Not trying to pin the blame for sectarian violence on any one party here, just pointing out that the DUP and their core voter base are not, and never have been, known for their readiness to compromise. If you wanted a perfect Justin-Trudeau-ready example of a huge amount of power being suddenly handed to a small group of extremists, this would be it.
We know how the rest of the story unfolded I think. Lots of instability. Eventual Brexit deal being shot down by backbenchers of the party that tabled it. Another election. Boris Johnson. A new Brexit deal. Brexit. Covid. More internal party conflict. Rise of the far right. Half a dozen prime ministers. And then it was now.
So, what happens if Eby doesn't get his majority? Could the BC Greens rise up and get a majority of their own? Could they rise up just enough to split the progressive vote and hand the keys of power to the right wingers miraculously unified by circumstances? Who knows? The only thing that is certain is that a decent amount of public money and time will be blown on Eby's cynical vanity project and another strand or two in the fraying cord of trust between Canadians and their electred representatives will snap.
And the moral of the story? None of this would have happened if the UK (or BC) had a better electoral system.
The End.
[TLDR] - Stupid things are happening because of our stupid electoral system. Jeremy is back and ready to get stuck in. If you are jonesing for a lively chat about saving democracy. Come to Birchwood this Sunday at 10:00.
