Meanwhile, here in Canada, an Internet sampling story is in the news.
Mr. Stockwell Day is the leader of the rather-right-wing Alliance party
(which a few months ago changed its name to the "Canadian Regional
Alliance" Party, then changed it again hurriedly when somebody noticed
the acronym) That party was recently slightly embarrasssed when a
supposedly secret position paper circulated to candidates became public;
on many issues the agenda on that paper was not the same as what the
public had been told was the party's position.
In particular, there was a proposal to allow 3% of the voting
population to demand a referendum on any issue by signing a petition - a
proposal that has traditionally been unpopular with Canadian voters, who
(in my opinion) see it as expensive and likely to lead to constant
wrangling, as well as to decisions made in haste and an abrogation of
leadership.
A national news-satire-current-events TV show, "This Hour has 22
Minutes", responded by launching a petition on the Internet this Monday:
"We demand that the Government of Canada force Stockwell Day to change
his first name to Doris."
Rumor has it that the 3% threshold may already have been reached (!).
Day has repudiated the 3% threshold, and now says that 10% might be
appropriate... My guess is that 10% may be attained before this is over
(although security is probably very sloppy, and it is a certainty that
there are spurious and repeated votes - which might be a problem in the
referenda petitions anticipated by the Alliance as well).
-Robert Dawson
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