Election Reform Part 2 "And Then There Was Eight"

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Have you ever heard of the chicken test?

October 15 public meeting could heat up, will Cogeco catch the action?

I’m not sure whether it is just an urban myth but the chicken test story goes something like this. An aeroplane engine manufacturer was working on developing a new jet engine. The engineers (Sous Chef excluded) were very pleased with the test results and had invited the senior executive to observe a test. One of the executives arrived carrying a shopping bag that held a good sized frozen chicken. When the engine was up to normal operating levels the executive walked up to the engine and threw the frozen chicken into the jet air-intake. The engine ground to a halt. It had failed the chicken test and the engineers were told to call management back when the engine could pass the chicken test.

Using this story as a backdrop the election reform that I envision will result in ‘currently’ only two types of ballots (we had four in 2010 when you exclude the multiple school board ballots) here’s what the two 2014 ballots would look like using the 2010 candidates names. First the ballot for Huntsville, Chaffey & Brunel.

Mayor - one to be elected - choose only one candidate
Doughty
Mackenzie

One of the few times all nine were smiling!

Town Council - three to be elected - choose up to three candidates
(I’ve included those that got at least 10% of the votes in the old ward system elections)
Boysen
Davis
Ellas
Greaves
Terziano
Wiebe
Withey

Town Council and District Council - two to be elected - choose up to two candidates
Aitchison
Bainbridge
Coleman
Thompson
Young

As you can see this results in a council of six members from the Town core.

The ballot for Stisted, Stephenson, Port Sydney in 2014 would look like the following although you could not run for both positions as I have indicated. You would have to declare whether you were running for District. Here’s what their 2014 ballot would look like. It has been suggested that these people do not deserve the distinct society status. What do you think? Would LOBays also want distinct society status?

Mayor - one to be elected - choose only one candidate
Doughty
Mackenzie

Town Council - one to be elected - choose only one candidate
Beatty
Schumacher
Zanetti

Town Council and District Council - one to be elected - choose only one candidate
Beatty
Schumacher
Zanetti

At the end of the day we will have a Mayor, four Town only councillors and the legislated three (four including the mayor) Town & District Councillors of which one will now come from the S. S. & PS area. This is a reduction of one from our current nine member system and precludes the mayor from breaking ties, he/she can only create them. In the next segment we’ll move beyond the chicken test to see how the numbers stack up from the point of view of representation.

p.s. today over $14 made for the Hospital... check out an ad!
Special thx to Tim Withey for trying to set the record straight on a variety of issues. Don't let a few ranters get you down TW. I'm learning to ignore the obvious wacko's as this blog evolves. We at least have a place to voice our opinions instantaneously.