With the summer upon Tantrama City, the designated leadership has convened to review its requirements for the upcoming all-party Election Commission planning session:
Sub-committee Minutes, 8 July 2007 Melvin MacKay Archibald, Chair: From our discussions I see that a two ballot system is proposed. On the first ballot, the representative of the local district would be determined by the First-Past-The Post system which is presently in use. The ten list (proportional) seats would be allocated through a region-wide election using a second ballot. On the ballot electors would select the party which they most prefer. Each political party would be required to determine a list of 10 candidates (ranked 1 through 10). The second ballot results would be used to determine the popular vote obtained by each party.
All: Agreed.
Chair: candidates, at the discretion of the political parties, would be permitted to offer their name for election in both a district election and as a member on the party list in the province-wide election. But we would not want to encourage that. The important thing is that leadership rise to the top. By placing key names on the region-wide list, it is ensured that the leadership of the party is maintained in office, thus providing...stability and...continuity.
All: agreed.
Alf Archibald MacKay, Vice-Chair: and our jobs.
All: Agreed.
Murray MacKay Archibald MacKay, Alternative Vice-Chair: and the Commission should suggest that the make-up of the party list reflect the population of the province and that the nomination process to determine the party list be open to all party members.
All: Agreed.
Chair: and donors if each party deems so.
All: Agreed.
Vice-Chair: so MacKay Construction and Hydrofoil can be assured...
Alternative Vice-Chair:...of stability...
Chair: and certainty...
All: Agreed.
Cottage Dock, Port Elgin, July 2007
A group gathers at dusk on a rare warm July evening, beer in hand, empties nearby, watching the last of the spring ice flows slip by:
First: You know boys, since we came back from Ottawa a whole lot is coming clear to me about where we ought to be going on this election commission thing. The way I see it we really need a two ballot system. It could be like, on the first ballot, the representative of the local district would be determined by the good old first-past-the-post. Then proportional seats would be allocated through a region-wide election using a second ballot. On the ballot electors would select the party which they most prefer. Each political party would be required to determine a list of candidates, you know...ranked...and those second ballot results would be used to determine the popular vote obtained by each party.
All: Makes sense, Pete.
[Silence]
First: And there has to be some...ummm...
Second: stability.
All: yeah.
First: Yup, candidates, picked by their parties, would be permitted to offer their name for election in both a district election and as a member on the party list in the province-wide election. But we would not want to go there. The important thing is that leadership...must..ummm...rise to the top. By placing key names on the region-wide list, it is ensured that the leadership of the party is maintained in office, thus providing...stability and...continuity.
[Silence]
All: Yup.
Second: ...and our jobs.
All: Sounds good.
Third: ...and the Commission should suggest that the make-up of the party list reflect the population of the province but that final nomination process to determine the party list should be open to all party members.
All: that'd be what we outta do.
[Silence]
First: and, you know, we should include donors if each party...wants to.
All: Makes sense, Pete.
Second: so, like, Archibald Construction and Hydrofoil get their place at the table...
[Silence]
Third: ..'cause they bought the table...
First: ...and they need some certainty...
[Silence]
First: another Moosehead, boys?
