Ah the joy of campaigning (POLITICAL)

[JCL]

Originally Posted by JGQ

There are too many issues at stake in each election and two parties cannot champion all. Multi-party system will allow the emergence of more effective advocate parties. Look at the Israeli system, they have a multi-party system were need to build coalition and make compromises is fact of life.

Most importantly voters will always find a home.... hence the high turnouts in each election.

Well, we have a multi-party system, and there are downsides to go with the upsides. We have had a minority government in Canada for coming up on 3 years. The government party has had to govern by consensus, so to speak. They recently threw in the towel, short of the mandated 4 years, and we are having another early election. Expensive process.

The upside is that the minor league parties can have an effect. I signed nomination papers this weekend for the Green candidate in our riding when I met him on the street. He needed 100 signatures to get the nomination. I have no intention of voting for him, but after listening to his platform, I decided that he wasn't a nut job (implying that some of them seem to be). If he gets a % of the vote, then the majority candidate will notice and pay more attention to environmental issues next time around. Works for me. I want the mainsteam candidate to be elected, but I also want him to pay more attention to the environment.

What doesn't seem to work is the higher voter turnout (although maybe it would be even lower here with a 2 party system). People become inured to the system they live under. I think that individually we have to vote, it is our moral obligation. When I lived in Chile they went after and fined people who didn't vote. I didn't have enough years of residency to require me to vote there, but it sounds like a plan.