I might get an electoral system that sucks slightly less!

I’ve just found out that the provincial government in Quebec is beginning a round of public consultation on electoral reform and an eventual move to a proportional representation system. This is amazing news. The recent referendum on this in BC was very close – it was 57% in favour, and the premier said it would be considered binding if it won 60%, so it still could happen. The current idea is to elect half the representatives using the current first-past-the-post plurality system, and the other half using a province-wide list, meaning that

I’m very excited by this. I don’t have time to go on a long rant about Arrow’s Theorem or different voting methods now, much as I want to, but this news is pretty cool. The geeks among you should go look it up if you don’t already know about this, though.

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There are lots of great stories about backroom Canadian politics I would love to tell you right now. You’re just going to have to take my word on it that this is an interesting time and place to be. Sorry.

Man, they’re great stories, though.