I'd also instruct people to look at cityvote.ca, for more answers on electoral reform. Fred Bass and Jamie Lee Hamilton both came out with pro STV for municipality pieces. We use wards provincially and we know they stink. We use at large, and we know it is a system of sweeps. STV would allow neighbourhoods to block vote if they so choose, but still allows candidates representing the whole city to get elected. It would also be much cheaper to run elections, as candidates wouldn't have to appeal to the whole city or win every votes. They would only need to win a fraction of the votes, and could focus more on issues and regions.

Mr Yee, I applaud your willingness to weigh in here, thank you.

I want to quickly zip back to your answer to question 1-- You say people should know who is funding them, because donations are legal bribes. I agree wholeheartedly.

At every level of government we've been treated to a circus of big "contributors" getting their pockets stuffed with public assets, paid for by taxpayers, and in spite of clear evidence that the outcomes are far worse than they otherwise might be.

So I have two questions:
1. What do you plan to do about it? and
2. How can we make ALL bribes crimes; even those made through loopholes?

Campaign Finance Reform
Ban all corporate, union and special interest group donations

An individual can not donate to both, a candidate for mayor and city councillor, and can only donate once per election

The most an individual can donate to a candidate for mayor, is 5,000 dollars, and 2,500 dollars for city councillor

The most a mayoral candidate can raise is 250,000 dollars, and 125,000 dollar’s for a city council candidate

And I also want to pass a municipal bylaw, forcing the media to give equal access, at least in some parts, to all candidates

TV stations will have to provide 1 minute statements for every candidate

Radio stations will have to provide 1 minute statements for every candidate

All papers will have to do proiles of each candidate

And all candidate profiles/ statements must be put on tv/radio/papers websites

As for all bribes being crimes...

Only if all donations were banned! I at least want to limit those types of donations.

As you can tell, I'm working on something, and I if all donations were banned, either the media will have to cover candidates more, and/or, public money will have to come into it.

I do not like the $1.75 per vote, like in Ottawa, but something like that might have to be done, if all donations were to be banned.

Scott Yee,
Mayoral Candidate

Time for electoral reform? It is long overdue!

Too many voters don't bother to exercise their franchise because they are too apathetic, and they have long since given up expecting politicians to live up to their ridiculous election promises. The current election is the best such example in living memory. It makes me laugh from the pit of my sickened stomach to hear Paul Martin talking about the need for a child-care program. How stupid does he think we are? If the succession of promises on child-care had been kept, particularly those made by the Liberal Party, there would be no such issue in this current election. The pedigree of promises goes all the way to back to Pierre Trudeau and none of them has been kept.

Here are a few simple suggestions for electoral reform.

1. Documentation:
All election promises be documented and written into a charter. The charter should be signed by the elected politicians, who should be held to account on a monthly basis. This is the way most organisations function. Two outstanding exceptions are the judiciary, who all too often, display spectacularly inappropriate sentencing, and politicians, for whom "The Great Lie" has become a comfortable way to make a living.

2. Accountability:
Politicians who fail to keep their promises should be penalised in proportion to the offence and it should have a financial component.

3. Termination:
If they break more promises than they keep, they should be recalled and replaced. A by-election would not be necessary. The runner-up in the last election could be instated, automatically.

4. Campaign funding
All campaign donations should be published in the local press. Funding a campaign should be something to be proud of. There is nothing to be ashamed of, whether the funds are corporate, union, or individual. Democracy ain't free, folks.

By making politicians quantifiably accountable to the electorate, they would have tools with which to defend themselves against the political party machine in Ottawa, which assimilates newcomers and puts them through the homogenisation blender.

You need only look at the NAFTA agreement, or the G.S.T. to see that neither of the two major parties keep their most significant promises.

The Kyoto compact is another example, one with international consequences. Canada's greenhouse gases have increased 23% since the conference, while the US emissions have increased by "only " 13%. The US is out-performing Canada, yet Paul Martin is berating the Bush government for failing to sign the treaty. Canada is the world's worst greenhouse gas emitter on a per capita basis, and the rate of increase shows no sign of abatement, making Canada the worst conceivable kind of international hypocrite - a joke by any other name.

The suggestion that we vote "strategically" is particularly cynical. Democracy depends on everyone voting for what they believe in. Today, every federal vote is worth $1.75 to the party. If we ever want to see change in the federal, provincial or municipal scenes, we have to vote the way we believe, not try to second-guess everyone else. Any deeper analysis is being too clever by half.

To quote a 1980's headline in the Manchester (UK) Guardian, on the French language issue, "Nice Country, Nice Mess". Even that issue has not been properly resolved. Thanks to Liberal pork-barrelling of the worst kind, we are now facing another Quebec separatist referendum.

Finally, the Canadian electorate has to take responsibility for their decisions. When we vote people into office, we should support them. At present, election to public office is an invitation to be crucified. We need to stop deifying political candidates merely to crucify them later. Quantifying politician's performance would give everyone a common index to work with. Then, with election out of the way, we have to accept the "Tyranny of the Majority" and get on with our lives.