UNBC Students Launch Electoral Reform Project
UNBC Political Science 320 students – photo submitted
Prince George, B.C. – A third year political science class at UNBC is about to tackle one of the hottest political issues of the day – electoral reform.
“Especially now since Trudeau has gone back on one of the signature campaign promises,” says class spokesperson Kari Gandy. “So, we want to explore that sentiment more and we also want to get an idea about how much people actually know about our current federal electoral system.”
She says the class of 18 students plans to survey residents at locations throughout the city starting early next month.
Gandy says they chose the topic because of its timeliness and admits most of her peers were dismayed with the prime minister’s decisions to shelve the idea last week.
“I feel like the majority of us were quite disappointed in it. I think we’re all for electoral reform and we’ve done a bit of research on it and most Canadians we’ve seen are quite disappointed in this as well.”
If you’d like to participate in the study she invites all questions and comments via email at pols320@outlook.com.
Gandy estimates the results of the survey will be released by mid to late April.
Comments
Always a good thing to see young people getting involved in politics, whether it be at a local, provincial or federal level.
Well these political scientists are dismayed, wow. Must be a shock having their dear leader go back on his promise. Just what what do they learn about politics anyhow. Well I know it’s shocking but welcome to the real world outside the happy uni dogma kids.
Students, being their whole lives supported by parents and government schooling, have little experience with the real world. I suspect their conclusions will work better in a utopian fantasy than in reality.
I would say that these students are in little late getting out of the starting gate. The door to electoral reform has closed, and will remain closed for some time into the future.
Their time would be much better spent, examining how the BC Liberals manage to stay in power, and why the NDP cannot seem to gain any credibility.
That would involve studying some ‘inconvenient truths’ that might just shatter some of the political ideals these youngsters have probably been taught.
That might cause them to lose faith in their educators, and actually begin to think for themselves. Heaven forbid!
As for the NDP’s ‘credibility’, a study of that would have to start at the beginning. And look at whether ‘socialism’ was ever really a viable alternative, or something based from its very inception in the mind of Marx et al on ideas that were already outdated relative to the real world.
I find the comments made on here both cynical and deprecating, and I disagree with most. Just think, if one of these students pictured in this story became an influential Federal politician in the future? Why not? To my understanding wasn’t James Moore enrolled in Political Science at UNBC before being elected as MP, and became one of the key cabinet figures in the Harper Conservative Government?
Palopu; I beg to differ with your opinion that these UNBC Political Science students should not be wasting their time on a dead issue like Electoral Reform. There is an interesting read on the subject of Electoral Reform from the Toronto Star; “Ottawa has flirted with reform for almost a century. At least eight reports on the way we vote federally have been produced since 1921, each recommending some form of change.”… “It’s a little-known history that political scientists and advocates for reform say is worth dredging, given the current brouhaha over electoral change in the capital.”
“I think it’s a fascinating story, very instructive,” said Dennis Pilon, a York University professor who studies the history and politics of electoral reform. His big take-away: “It’s not about principle; it’s not about values — it’s about power.”
I find the last statement very interesting, because to me it translates into; it’s not about what is in the best interests of our country, electoral reform is about what is in the best interests of the Political Party in “POWER”!
ht tps://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/12/30/trudeaus-electoral-reform-chatter-has-a-century-of-history-behind-it.html
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