FRIDAY September
25 2015
PULSE 43
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Local News . Local Matters
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Senate, electoral reform discussed
Candidates talk Red Chamber reform, proportional representation BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
North Shore candidates from the four major parties are all promising their own brand of spitshine when it comes to reforming Canada’s
democratic institutions. Thanks to the Mike Duffy scandal, the Senate is operating to the satisfaction of pretty much no one, and the first-past-the-post electoral system is frequently criticized as being unfair or wasting Canadians’ votes.
But, while tweaking the electoral system is relatively simple, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled reforming the Senate (or doing away with it), would require reopening the Constitution. Both times that’s been tried with the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords, it failed and provoked a national unity crisis. Ontario and Quebec’s premiers have
already said Senate abolition is a non-starter. North Vancouver Liberal candidate Jonathan Wilkinson, who worked as a constitutional negotiator during the Charlottetown Accord, said his party’s compromise is to make Senate appointments of eminent Canadians based on merit and expertise, not party loyalty. “We’re trying to put
people into the Senate on the basis of a non-partisan approach where we will get that chamber to effectively be the chamber of sober second thought that it was intended to be, so that it’s not a political body,” he said. The electoral system would also change under a Liberal government, See Greens page 9
VOTE 2015 Setting it straight The story Political Pundits Weigh in on Polls on the front page of our Sept. 23 edition incorrectly identified North Vancouver Liberal candidate Jonathan Wilkinson as Andrew Wilkinson. The North Shore News regrets the error.
WV police investigate stickup BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
MARVELLOUS MUSHROOM Tricia Edgar, education co-ordinator at Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre, holds a highly poisonous Amanita mushroom. The centre is hosting Fantastic Fungi, a series of workshops for children ages five to 12 years old on three Saturdays starting Oct. 3 and continuing Oct. 17 and Nov. 7. The program fee is $65 per child for the three sessions, which run 1:30-3:30 p.m. Register by calling 604-990-3755. PHOTO CINDY GOODMAN
West Vancouver police are investigating a would-be armed mugging in Ambleside Park. Police say a couple in their 20s were in the park around 11 p.m. Tuesday when two young men emerged from the bushes wearing black hoodies and black bandanas over their faces. “The males presented what appeared to be a handgun and demanded all their stuff in some more vulgar terms,” said Const. Jeff Wood, West Vancouver police spokesman, adding that one of the suspects appeared nervous. When a car approached, he shouted “car” and the two fled north. Police found nothing in a search of the area. Police say the suspects are white, about 18 years old, with slim builds. It’s not known whether the gun was real. Anyone with info is asked to call West Van police.