A Brief History of Democracy

Monday, November 8, 2010

The Dream Team Is Now in Place

Today was a great day. By granting intervener status to Elizabeth May and Fair Vote Canada, the judge has given Peter Rosenthal the opportunity to present his written arguments on behalf of the two parties. Moreover, Peter will also have the opportunity to address his oral arguments to the panel of three judges that will hear our appeal.

With Julius Grey representing us, we have someone who obtained a landmark decision from the Supreme Court in an important democratic rights case (Libman). Likewise, Peter obtained a game changing decision from the same court that has become the foundation of our case (Figueroa). It would be difficult to imagine a more competent legal team to argue what could be a historic case.

Previously, electoral system experts Denis Pilon and Henry Milner gave expert witness testimony that clearly demonstrates the inadequacy of the first-past-the-post (FPTP)system. Add to that, the expert testimony of mathematician Stephane Rouillon who showed how from an objective measurement framework, Quebec's use of FPTP has led to some of the worst distortions of the popular vote in the developed world.

Finally, the manner in which the political context has changed over the last two years, a scandal concerning political partisanship in the nomination of judges and the Premier's suspension of the powers of Quebec's Director General of Elections, gives us an additional moral force in presenting our motion to have the system that allows for such abuse of political power to be declared unconstitutional.

If this is case is winnable, and there is just one way to find out, we now have everything in place to obtain a favorable decision.

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