Mandarin Laundries and PR PR

      It seems to be the subject of the week, the frustration among the swivel servants in Ottawa, warranting columns of foreboding from both The Globe and The Toronto Star.   This blog pauses to think what Nigel Hawthorne would say about this.

      In a related matter, Jeff Simpson at the Globe has come out in (albeit mild) encouragement of looking at new systems of proportional representation to deal with the evermore-prominent disjunction between the way Canadians vote and the governments they end up electing.   This blog can't help but think the French system has a bit of wisdom to it-- a second round in which voters know what they're dealing with and which compels finally a "one-or-the-other" decision-- but Jeff's right; it's impossible enough to get my compatriots out to vote to begin with.   The Australian system is more problematic but more "over-and-done-with" and may find some support.   This blog's primary question, though, is why it's taken this long to get debate seriously going on this, especially after the Free Trade eleciton in 1988.   Although opinion on that has now moreorless turned (even Liberals and New Democrats no longer talk of ditching the agreement), it was a bizarre result of parliamentary democracy that what effectively became a referendum on an issue could wrench a "yes" win from a 40-odd percent of the vote.  Ah, Canadians, always so quick to action....

      (This concludes the CanConPol portion of this blog for the day.   You may now proceed to matters more trivial, certainly, but eminently more enjoyable.)