It Is the Right Time for MMP - The Eastern Graphic article by Paul MacNeill

Quote: "Remember this -- that very little is needed to make a happy life."
---Marcus Aurelius (121-180), Roman Emperor that may be easier to say when you are a Roman emperor, but I can get his point.

Growth at what cost? - The Eastern Graphic Letter-to-the-Editor

Debates will test all leaders - Graphic Publications article by publisher Paul MacNeill

Published on Wednesday, April 10th, 2019
http://www.peicanada.com/eastern_graphic/article_4cb97ecc-5af5-11e9-9c38-fb8e8bf35d4a.html

If you were to grade the effectiveness of the first two weeks of the election, Liberals and Greens would land on top with the Tories slightly behind in search of the ignition to light their campaign.

Jostling to win early public support has seen all leaders offer a predictable series of announcements, few of which stretch beyond normal expectations of politicians trying to use our money to bribe us into supporting them.

Liberals have done a solid job controlling the daily agenda. Greens have maintained momentum, despite lagging far behind in available cash to spend. The Tories’ campaign is built on the premise that Green support will evaporate when Islanders step into the voting booth, a risky but not completely far-fetched idea. The NDP is focussing virtually all its efforts on two ridings, District 25 where former leader Herb Dickieson is hoping for a comeback and District 12 where leader Joe Byrne is in a four way dog fight.

The fact that no party has yet collapsed means the final two weeks of the campaign is a sprint to woo the undecided. At least two polls will be released. The Guardian will publish its traditional CRA election poll. It has proven decisive in the past, most notably when Robert Ghiz was emboldened with a front page banner headline: Red Tide Rising. MQO Research will also release results of its quarterly poll.

Results will either motivate or discourage enthusiasm of grassroots volunteers, the people necessary to identify and deliver votes.

While pundits love to talk about the importance of debates, history shows they rarely have a large impact. That could change this year.

The CBC debate on April 16th will be the most watched event of the campaign. Premier Wade MacLauchlan has the most to lose. Many believe he lacks empathy for the day-to-day struggles Islanders face. While no one can point to a specific reason, the perception likely rests with his focus on big picture economic thinking, like Gross Domestic Product, which does not leave a warm and fuzzy feeling with voters, despite its absolute importance to the success of our province.

To succeed the premier must not get caught in the weeds of explanation, but rather connect with Islanders directly by combining substance with personalizing the investments government has made and their impact on ordinary citizens.

Like MacLauchlan, Peter Bevan-Baker can sit at any table and discuss the minutia of program spending and execution. He is debate ready but must convince Islanders that the Green Party is ready to govern. He is running toward, and against, history, which is littered with third parties expecting an electoral breakthrough only to be left disappointed.

Dennis King could benefit from reduced expectations. He does not have the deep grasp of policy as other leaders, but he has never presented himself as such. His strength is in his ability to connect with people. He offers a different type of leadership that relies on deferring execution to others. It is not a bad style of governance, it is simply different from the current. His challenge is to show a capacity and vision that moves beyond simply reciting PC promises. Of the four candidates, King also has the greatest potential to win the post-debate soundbite competition with a well timed and delivered quip.

Joe Byrne will present the NDP’s provincial vision but always with an eye to narrowing the focus on District 12 voters. Byrne’s challenge is to be seen as relevant in what many perceive as a three-way fight.

If there are pretenders to the crown, it’s likely cracks in campaigns will appear by the end of next week, most notably a sense of desperation. When and where those cracks occur could be the deciding factor in how local vote splits and ultimately what party and leader is left standing April 23.

Paul MacNeill is Publisher of Island Press Limited. He can be contacted at paul@peicanada.com

Taking Root tells the story of the Green Belt Movement of Kenya and its founder Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist and first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Professor Maathai discovered her life’s work by reconnecting with the rural women with whom she had grown up. They told her they were walking long distances for firewood, clean water was scarce, the soil was disappearing from their fields, and their children were suffering from malnutrition.

‘Well, why not plant trees?’ Maathai suggested. These women found themselves working successively against deforestation, poverty, ignorance, embedded economic interests, and government corruption, until they became a national political force that helped to bring down Kenya’s 24-year dictatorship.

Through TV footage and chilling first person accounts, Taking Root documents the dramatic confrontations of the 1980s and ’90s and captures Maathai’s infectious determination and unwavering courage. Cinema verité footage of the tree nurseries and the women and children who tend them brings to life the confidence and joy of people working to improve their own lives and ensure the future and vitality of their land.

Taking Root captures a world-view in which nothing is perceived as impossible and presents an awe-inspiring profile of Maathai’s thirty-year journey of courage to protect the integrally connected issues of the environment, human rights, and democracy.
from: http://takingrootfilm.com/press-kit/shorter-synopsis/

The Night Skies - The Guardian column by Glenn K. Roberts

ALAN HOLMAN: Don’t Get Bogged Down By The Formula - The Guardian article by Alan Holman

Daughters of the Vote show us what could be in the House of Commons - The Star Opinion piece by Susan Delacourt, National Columnist

Report on devastating Canadian climate change a far bigger issue than Jody Wilson-Raybould: - CBC News on-line Op Ed by Neil Macdonald

• Canada's climate has been warming at roughly twice the rate of the rest of the world. In Northern Canada, it's even higher.

• Our climate is not warming consistently. It is most pronounced in the Prairies and British Columbia, and especially severe in northern B.C. The effects are strongest in winter.

• The oceans around Canada have become more acidic and less oxygenated. Future warming will be heaviest in ice-free waters of the Canadian arctic. Most Canadians can expect coastal flooding to increase during their lifetimes.

• Canada is experiencing hotter extreme heat and less cold extreme cold. Permafrost is warming. There is less ice and snow.

• Rainfall is increasing, although less so in the summer months. As warming continues, Canada (of all places) will likely face freshwater shortages.

• Canada warming at twice the global rate, leaked report finds
• Tall ice cliffs are slumping and may trigger rapid sea-level rise, study finds

• When the dike breaks: How climate change threatens Maritime lowlands
• What you need to know: Federal carbon tax takes effect in Ont., Manitoba, Sask. and N.B. today

OPINION: Vote Yes for MMP - The Guardian Guest Opinion by Fred Horne

There is widespread belief that our electoral system on Prince Edward Island needs reform. This is part of a national trend that Canadians have been talking about for years. A consensus among four political parties representing a majority of Quebec voters promises to bring in proportional representation there during 2019. Canadians want a proportional electoral system reflecting the reality of Canadian opinion and how we actually vote.

Nationally, study after study has recommended some form of proportional system where every vote counts, and not just as a winning or losing vote in a first-past-the-post (FPTP) runoff at the district level. Under a mixed member proportional (MMP) system, on voting day you have a second vote, this one for your favourite party representative that you choose from a list of best Island-wide candidates put forward by each of the parties. This is called an “open list MMP” system because the voter chooses who wins.

On the results of the 2016 plebiscite “open list MMP” is the system preferred by Islanders. Islanders liked the “open list” as early as 2005. In the 2005 plebiscite, even the proponents of the “winner take all” FPTP, while opposing the closed list on offer, expressed interest in “open list MMP” where voters choose who wins, such as is on the table in the referendum to be held simultaneously with the next provincial election.

Why do Islanders of all stripes and beliefs like it? This “made in P.E.I.” version of MMP is in every way a moderate change. Two-thirds of elected MLAs will still be elected by first-past-the-post at the district level. The remaining MLAs will be determined from the most popular choices of the voters expressed in their second vote in order to make the party standings reflect the Island-wide popular vote. It’s easy, the percentage of seats won is equal to the percentage of the vote received!

MMP will cause the parties to behave differently, leading to more collaborative consensus-based and stable governing. Policy “lurch,” where a successive government eliminates or reverses the impacts of the previous government, would be prevented. Having two votes under MMP will transfer more of the power to the voter, away from the old patronage ways that political parties practiced for their own gain in the past.

The difference between our current FPTP and the proposed MMP system is that your voice goes from gambling to win (or lose) every four years under FPTP to carrying, under MMP, a consistent strength or weight in proportion to others across the Island who share your views. MMP will move P.E.I. away from the weakness of a gamble for you, the voter, toward a strong reflection of our power and diversity of views as citizens. MMP offers hope for more representative and more stable governance for all Islanders.

For a fair voting system, be positive, vote Yes for MMP in the referendum coming soon.

Fred Horne of Nine Mile Creek is one of the principals of “Vote YES P.E.I.”

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Now, only 20 days until the provincial election and referendum on electoral systems!

Focus on District 20: Kensington-Malpeque
This District has been adjusted a little bit, and goes from Malpeque Bay in the west to the Southwest River, includes of course all of Kensignton, and some communities south of it, too.



Candidates running in District 20: Kensington-Malpeque include:

Matthew J. MacKay, Green Party  This sounds like something "Hawkeye" Pierce would read about in his small hometown newspaper, two candidates for office sharing nearly the exact same name, but this Matthew J. MacKay uses his middle initial to help differentiate himself from PC Matthew MacKay. Matthew J. is a graphic designer and former marathoner.
LINK
Nancy Beth Guptill, Liberal Daughter of the well-regarded Nancy Guptill, one of the "Famous Five" Island women as Speaker of the House in 1993, Guptill is a community organizer and entrepreneur. LINK

LETTER: TAKE A CHANCE ON CHANGE - The Guardian Letter to the Editor