Because this is the summer of electoral reform editorials, we are treated to yet another gem by Andrew Coyne, who admonishes electoral reform’s detractors by reminding them that no, it won’t produce some kind of dystopian hellscape. Obviously. And most of the editorials opposing reform we’ve seen to date have been pretty ridiculous because they are talking about pure PR systems that are not really on the table here or in most places, and they raise the spectre of Italy of Israel as countries where these are problems. But the rebuttals to these kinds of arguments, including from Coyne, are just as bad because they cite Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Iceland, and so on as great places where PR works in stable countries, which also just happen to be ethnically and linguistically homogenous and are fairly small in terms of geography – things that do not apply to Canada. I was surprised that Coyne brought up both Austria and Belgium as examples of countries where PR works, because Austria is currently grappling with far-right parties attempting to form governments, and Belgium is a country that is linguistically and ethnically divided and which has had problems forming a government over the past decade, sometimes going for over a year without a government in place because a stable coalition can’t be formed among the resulting parties. Coyne also cites the metric of how many elections have been held in a number of these countries, which is misleading, when the metric should be how many ministries there have been. Part of the problem with PR systems is that they can form governments where a central party stays in power for decades and merely shuffles around its coalition partners from time to time – something that is a very bad thing for accountability (unlike our current system in Canada, which gives voters the ability to throw the bums out every decade or so). But by all means, admonish us for falling for the caricatures of Israel and Italy – just be aware that citing Scandinavian countries is just as much of a dishonest portrayal for ignoring the cultural contexts of those systems or the problems that they have that are simply different from the ones that we have. Canada is not a Scandinavian country, and citing their electoral systems as a model for our own is just as blinkered an exercise. PR may not produce a hellscape, but let’s not pretend that it will actually fix our woes either.

Good reads:

• Jane Philpott says she’ll reimburse the excessive car service costs. Does this mean we have to keep performing the cheap outrage dance? Yeah, probably.
• Conservatives are crying bias because a prominent environmental lawyer appointed to the assessment review panel has donated to Liberals, Greens and NDP before.
• It doesn’t look like a new softwood lumber agreement is happening anytime soon.
• Executives in charge of the Phoenix pay system were promised bonus pay if it rolled out on time. We’ll see if that still happens given the ensuing debacle.
• The Phoenix pay system backlog may be bigger than is being reported, incidentally.
• Here’s a look at the new interim medical marijuana regulations on the road to full legalization.
• Contract negotiations between Canada Post and CUPW have stalled.
• Jim Carr’s attempt to get an electric car as a ministerial vehicle has been shelved for lack of charging stations.
• Scott Gilmore tours the shuttered port of Churchill, Manitoba, and notes how this puts a lie to the government’s commitment to the Arctic.
• Kady O’Malley takes you through some of the government’s public consultations in the event that you want to contribute.

Odds and ends:

Rona Ambrose talks to Chatelaine about her craft beer tour and her beer pong game.