Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

Murray Mandryk makes the case for MMP or another PR system of elections in Saskatchewan. Unfortunately the Sask NDP didn’t talk about doing this until the final 20 days of their 16 years in power. Now they don’t have the chance to put the more fair electoral system in place, because they don’t hold power, and Wall has a commanding majority, and a mandate given to him by more than 50% of active voters.

Given that this [lack of talent for cabinet] is now a 25-year- or-longer problem in Saskatchewan politics, and given the somewhat-skewed election results, maybe now is time to consider doing things differently.

Isn’t it now time to consider setting aside part of the Saskatchewan legislature for proportional representation? Suppose that there were 10 seats in the 58-seat legislature based on popular vote rather than first-past-the-post. And suppose, based on the recent popular vote, the Saskatchewan Party government had five more seats, the NDP four and and the Liberals one. Wouldn’t that result in both better cabinets and oppositions?

Maybe we need to consider such new ideas to get the depth we need in modern-day cabinets.

We need more reporters explaining the benefits of PR, on a regular basis. I hope Mandryk continues to show people that there are solutions to draining talent pools in elected governments, that don’t resort to installing unelected cronies like Stephen Harper did with Fortier. And we don’t need elected MPs and MLAs to cross the floor like Emerson did to join Harper’s government, if coalitions can be formed from the [likely] minority governments that will come from electoral reform.

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Hat tip to John Murney

The Jurist also gives a nod to Mandryk’s effort to inject some sanity into our electoral system.