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1. Minority government may lead to dire electoral changes—here’s how

   Appeared in National Newswatch, October 20, 2019 In the final days of election 2019, talk of minority government and the possibility of a Liberal/NDP coalition has dominated the headlines, with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh declaring that, “People should know ...

2. Legault government public ‘education’ initiative on electoral reform falls well short

   Appeared in the National Newswatch, March 25, 2019 Quebec Justice Minister Sonia LeBel recently announced that the Legault government is moving forward with electoral reform. Yet unlike other provincial governments, rather than proceed with a referendum, ...

3. Ford government should heed lessons of Harris amalgamation experiment

   Appeared in the Toronto Star, January 22, 2019 The spectre of amalgamation once again looms over Ontario as the Ford government recently announced plans to review the governance, decision-making and service delivery in eight regional municipalities and ...

4. B.C. government has not established legitimate mandate for electoral reform

   Appeared in the Vancouver Sun, December 8, 2018 Voter turnout for the provincial referendum on electoral reform is abysmally low. The fact that only about 40 per cent of eligible voters had cast a ballot one day before the deadline presents a legitimacy ...

5. Trudeau government handouts will stifle much-needed innovation in Canada’s media industry

   Appeared in the Vancouver Province, December 3, 2018 Last month’s Trudeau government fiscal update, one of the most anticipated in years, did not include the wide-ranging regulatory and tax reforms many hoped would improve Canada’s waning competiveness ...

6. Consent—a fundamental tenet of democracy

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, November 18, 2018 Much has been made recently about Statistics Canada’s request for detailed financial records of some half million Canadians annually, without their consent, from the country’s banks. Many of the problems with ...

7. The costs of changing the way B.C. votes

   Moving from the current first-past-the-post electoral system to a proportional system would likely increase both government spending and deficits in B.C. ...

8. Lessons on electoral reform for B.C.—from New Brunswick

   Appeared in the Vancouver Province, October 1, 2018 New Brunswick voters went to the polls last Monday and the ensuing uncertainty (some might say chaos) should be instructive for British Columbia voters as they contemplate voting in the upcoming ...

9. Proportional representation voting systems breed unstable governments

   Appeared in the Vancouver Sun, September 6, 2018 Some see the upcoming referendum on electoral reform—specifically, whether or not British Columbia should switch to a proportional representation (PR) voting system—as a blatant attempt by the Green Party ...

10. Referendum may grant more power to B.C. politicians and bureaucrats, at democracy’s expense

    Appeared in the Vancouver Province, July 1, 2018 This fall, British Columbians will vote in a referendum on what voting system they prefer for provincial elections. The mail-in ballot will give voters two choices—B.C.’s current “first-past-the-post” ...