So, the electoral reform committee was back again yesterday, and they heard from two academics – one was an avid proponent of proportional representation that Elizabeth May fangirled over so hard, while the other was a former Quebec MNA who spearheaded that province’s failed attempt at moving to a multi-member PR system. There wasn’t much takeaway from either, other than Arend Lijphart (the former of the two) was a big fan of multi-member ridings in Canada (because apparently the problem of enormous rural ridings escapes him), and the fact that he felt that we should avoid a referendum because like Brexit, it would fall victim to demagoguery and “outright lies.”

To which I immediately have to ask – whose lies? The proponents of the status quo, or those of the advocates of PR? Because having seen both in the state of the debate so far, they’re equally odious. How about the lies that majority governments formed under our system are “illegitimate?” Because Lijphart was peddling that one. Or the lies about “38 percent of the vote gets 100 percent of the power”? Because a) the popular vote figure doesn’t actually exist (it’s a logical fallacy based on a misreading of our elections as a single event when they’re 338 separate but simultaneous events), and b) even in proportional systems, parties don’t get a share of power equal to their share of the vote, particularly if they are not part of the governing coalition and even if they are, the “share” of power will not be equal to their vote share. How about the lies about how voter turnout will suddenly blossom under PR? Because research has demonstrated that the most increase we might see is maybe three percent (because declining turnout in Western democracies is a widespread problem that has nothing to do with the electoral systems but rather a great many other factors). How about the common lies of PR advocates that votes are “wasted” and that they don’t count if the person they voted for doesn’t win, and that they system is so unfair? Are those lies any better than the ones about how a PR system would turn us into Israel or Italy and we would have nothing but unstable governments, and the sun would become black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon become as blood? Or are the lies that PR advocates tell okay because they’re well intentioned and lies about a future full of rainbows, gumdrops and unicorns better than lies about doom and destruction? Is pro-PR demagoguery morally superior to the demagoguery of status-quo doomsayers? That’s what I’d like to know.

Good reads:

• The Liberal cabinet retreat saw some shuffling of Cabinet committees.
• Oh noes! Jane Philpott also paid for Air Canada business lounge access! Let’s continue to perform cheap outrage and look like backwater rubes!
• Oh noes! Catherine McKenna spent thousands of dollars on official photos while at COP21 in Paris!
• In case you were worried, Elizabeth May is going to stay on as Green Party leader and focus on electoral reform while a special process deals with the BDS issue.
• Security experts are applauding the government’s go-slow approach to revamping national security laws rather than making bad laws in haste.
• Trudeau’s economic advisor talks about steps to free trade with China, while here is look at the need for a better narrative when it comes to engaging with China.
• There are some names already emerging to replace Mauril Bélanger in the Ottawa-Vanier riding.
• Both Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney will be due to resign their seats shortly, leaving a vacuum in the Calgary (plus an obligatory look at their pensions).
• Another former middling parliamentary secretary, Pierre Lemieux, wants to run for Conservative leader, touting socially conservative views (but bilingually!)
• Andrew Coyne wonders if there are really signs of life in the Conservative leadership campaign.
• Stephen Gordon writes about the difficulty economists are having finding a model to explain the sluggish economy post-2008 recession.

Odds and ends:

Here’s a look at the flight-heavy itinerary of the Royal Tour coming this fall.

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/767769945639878656

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/767770533580726274

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/767897509645680641

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