Don Eady

Would you mind keeping us posted on your parents future airline travel plans?

There have been Ministers of Labour in the Cabinet since 1909. But no more. Part of that Minister’s job was to represent the interests of workers and their unions at the Cabinet table. I guess AI will do that now. Not a good look from a Government that borrowed votes from the NDP

Something like this in Yorkville would be delightful!

Oh ye of little faith

These terrible ads seem to be helping the Leafs. Keep em coming! The subtext is that Harper has cheered for guys from both teams but you should vote for Team Blue. I’m okay with the subtext (as defined by me) but not okay with the actual message

The Jets are on the CBC in Toronto. Good old CBC!

Frankly it you want to worry about election fraud worry about those selling tech solutions to the voting process like internet voting, voting screens etc. Remember a paper ballot is a paper trail. People should worry about that rather than the ballot counting process in their local school gym.

If you want to criticize the electoral process in Canada you should focus on spending and donation limits , political advertising by parties and third parties , election financing legislation and the use of polls and seat prediction websites

Also remember that my posts above only deal with the counting process. The other area is fraudulent voting ( ie impersonation ). Even that is exceedingly rare in modern elections particularly since the law has required certain ID to vote. The voting process is mostly free and fair

And math mistakes but when you are counting millions of ballots over hundreds of ridings that is bound to happen. Also remember there is a final check in that a candidate can request a judicial recount in certain circumstances which can trigger a full manual recount of every ballot (if ordered)

What people need to understand is that it would take far more resources to steal an election in any riding then it would to run an effective legal campaign. There are so many checks and balances now that counting fraud is almost non existent in Canadian elections. Of course there are counting errors

There is almost no potential for fraud in the counting process where there are part scrutineers present which is why the Elections Act has specific provisions allowing for them and setting out what they can and can’t do.

Each candidates ballots are placed in separate sealed envelopes along with a separate envelope containing any rejected ballots (and I believe a separate envelope of challenged ballots although not sure here). There is also a process whereby you can decline your ballot but it happens so rarely

The ballots and the other paperwork are then placed back in the ballot box which is resealed and transported by the Elections Canada returning officer back to the central elections Canada returning office. There is no opportunity for anybody to erase or change or destroy ballots.

One envelope contains the Liberal ballots, separate one for the NDP, CPC Green or other independent candidates. The total number of ballots are reconciled with the vote records. All that is signed off and sealed. Each scrutineer then is issued with a copy of the official count of that poll.

the ballot is in the challenged pile ( or the challenge is recorded). The counting continues until all the ballots are counted and/or challenges resolved or not. All present confirm the count and that is written down and signed off. Then all the categories of ballots are put in separate envelopes …

Usually a close inspection of the ballot resolves the challenge and that ballot is counted or not (for example if there is a line drawn through all the candidates). If all the scrutineers agreed that the ballot is rejected then it goes in the rejected pile. If the challenge is not resolved then……

The ballots are then put in piles indicating votes for each candidate. The choice expressed by the voter is clear in 99% of the cases. If there is a challenge to a ballot the scrutineer is asked to indicate the nature of the challenge ( maybe two candidates marked or the ballot is initialed).

So there will be at least one Elections Canada poll clerk and two or three candidate scrutineers supervising the counting of the ballots. Erasures aren’t a thing. Ballots are unfolded and then the poll clerk shows each ballot to those scrutineers present (scrutineers are not allowed to touch ballots

I can’t remember how many polls I have scrutineered. Here is how it works. Any party or candidate is entitled to have a scrutineer at a poll as long as they arrive at the poll before it closes with a credential signed by the candidate. Usually there are scrutineers from the candidates “in the race”

Why don’t you republish your seat projections from the recent Ontario election and compare that with the election results. Then we can see if your model is worth anything at all.

I am not a fan of strategic voting but voting Liberal in those ridings actually increases the chances of CPC victories on the Island. The same holds true in parts of Alberta, Sask, Man. and Ontario. If you are a strategic voter make sure you understand the winning strategy in your riding

@brenttoderian.bsky.social
I encourage voters who are thinking of voting strategically to defeat the CPC to look at the example of all the ridings on Vancouver Island. You can google them. Look at past election results and there is no way voting Liberal is a strategic vote to defeat the CPC

Old Fashioneds can be made with bourbon (Boo!) or good old Canadian Rye whiskey (Yeah!). No limits for us “woke” Canadians. We are a resourceful people.

Take a look at the public sector orgs that report they have no one making over $100k. Lots of youth and childcare orgs, social service orgs, cultural orgs and Indigenous orgs and other orgs that assist poor and marginalized people.

Just to jog people’s memory about Premier Ford. Performative nonsense.

King of Kensington is the exception that proves the rule.

Nothing like speaking to your client representative from his hospital bed after he was “doored” to “drive” home the importance of this case to save the Bloor, Yonge and University bike lanes. Proud to be working on this with my colleagues from Paliare Roland and new colleagues from EcoJustice.

NEW: CycleToronto and other citizens have launched a Charter challenge of the Ford government's law to remove bike lanes. CT's executive director is not present at the Queen's Park announcement because... he was doored on Monday in a painted bike lane and is hospitalized.

Almost as fast as an employer can get an illegal strike declaration from the OLRB. If only I could get as quick access to an interim reinstatement order when an employer unlawfully terminates an employee. Once again the hierarchy of rights in labour law is exposed.