Globe and Mail: With so many critics, how can the Fair Elections Act be fair?

March 14, 2014 —

The Globe and Mail writes about Bill C-32, the “Fair Elections Act”, and the columnist reports the thoughts of Paul Thomas, Professor Emeritus in political studies.

The article notes:

Prof. Paul Thomas of the University of Manitoba (and a member of the Elections Canada advisory board) pointed out in a paper he wrote about the proposed changes, Britain’s electoral commission was extensively consulted before changes to the law. Here, Mr. Poilievre said he spent an hour with Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand before drafting the bill. Obviously, he did not highly value Mr. Mayrand’s analysis during their brief meeting, since the Chief Electoral Officer just dumped all over important parts of the bill before the parliamentary committee.

Prof. Thomas also explained that 2011 public-opinion surveys reveal a high level of confidence in Elections Canada. Eighty-five per cent of eligible voters felt Elections Canada ran a fair election in May, 2011.

Faculty of Arts, political studies

The Conversation: How self-compassion can help activists deal with stress

Why are activists, who are so passionate about their social justice work, so often burned out by those very causes? We don’t often think about activism as a form of labour, but it is. Research on the activists that make up social justice movements suggests that the pressures of activist work, can cause them to experience serious consequences to their own mental well-being.