RSS FeedFederal Election Strategic Voting Tool
With the federal election just two weeks away, many are still scrambling to decide which name they should tick off on the ballot.
A friend of mine turned me on to an interesting Google Maps mashup which allows you to enter your postal code and see an estimation of the latest poll results for your riding.
The tool is designed with strategic voting in mind.
It is a pro-environment leaning website, and the goal of the authors is to see the Liberals, NDP, Bloc, and Greens win the most seats in the house of commons. Therefore, the website makes recommendations about which of these three parties you should strategically vote for in a particular riding to shut the Conservatives out of a seat.
However, even if you are a Conservative voter, you may still be interested to see how your candidate is doing in the latest polls.
I highly recommend checking it out.
The website is Vote For Environment / Voter Pour l’Environnement.
Law is Cool – Podcast #13
In this episode, Omar Ha-Redeye interviewed Caitlin Rose, a summering student with Fasken Martineau. A recent graduate of the McGill Faculty of Law, Caitlin was a co-founding Executive Editor of the McGill Journal of Law and Health (formerly the McGill Health Law Publication).
Following that interview, I discussed climate change policies in the context of the upcoming federal election campaign with Miranda Hussey and Jim Johnston. Miranda is a blogger from A View From The Left and the President of the Oak Ridges-Markham Young Liberals. Jim is the candidate of record for the Green Party of Canada in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.
This podcast is cross-posted at devinjohnston.ca.
Interview with Caitlin Rose
Caitlin began by introducing herself. Caitlin studied law at McGill and worked for one summer in-house with Pfizer during her time there. Subsequently she joined Fasken Martineau as a summer student where she spent one month on secondment at Cirque du Soleil.
Omar asked Caitlin about the McGill Journal of Law and Health. The journal’s name was recently changed from the McGill Health Law Publication to reflect that it is an academic peer-reviewed journal. Caitlin was involved in founding the journal through her involvement in the McGill Health Law Club. She served as an Executive Editor of the journal in its first year of existence. Caitlin commented that the Dean and Faculty at McGill were supportive in helping to get the journal off the ground.
Caitlin also noted that the journal was intended from the beginning to be multi-disciplinary and bilingual. She discussed the broad range of contributors to the first issue including a Law Professor, an MPP, and members of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, as well as an afterword from the Honourable Mr. Justice Jean-Louis Baudouin.
Omar and Caitlin discussed some of the challenges associated with publishing a peer-reviewed journal, including the struggle to publish the journal on a regular schedule.
Finally, Caitlin commented on her experience interviewing for summering positions. She commented that it is important to have a diverse background that is not merely academic in nature. She found that her experience with the journal was an asset when looking for a job, but also warned that some interviewers may be concerned about whether the candidate wants to practice or pursue an academic career.
Climate Change and the Federal Election
The discussion began with some analysis of the news that Blair Wilson has joined the Green Party, becoming the Greens’ first ever MP. Jim noted that this news adds legitimacy to the Green Party. Miranda argued that Green Party leader Elizabeth May should be included in the leaders’ debate, adding that having a Green MP in Parliament may help the Liberals in the election because of increased attention on the climate change issue.
The panelists discussed the Liberal Party’s Green Shift proposal and similar policies advocated by the Greens. Jim noted that the object of tax shift policies is to reduce taxes on things the goverment wants to encourage and increase the cost of things the government wants to discourage.
The panel also discussed how social media will play a role in the campaign. Jim noted that he learned of his daughter’s engagement via Facebook to demonstrate the changing nature of communications technology. Miranda argued that effective use of technology is essential for political parties in order to engage youth in politics. In light of the prominence of the climate change issue, Jim stated that he believes Elizabeth May stands a good chance being elected in Peter MacKay’s riding of Central Nova.
Miranda and Jim concluded by agreeing that the upcoming election is difficult to predict at this point and much will depend on the weeks to come.
