I've been out of the party circles for some time. It seems strange that an idea that was spurned in 1990 seems to be widely adopted.
Circa 2000, the NDP had a leadership convention. For some reason, the main contenders agreed to be miked up for the day-long voting affair. In one of the interim rounds, one of the contenders was in the process of being dropped from the ballot. There was a well-recorded political deal being struck between that contender and one of the remaining contenders. The first contender conceded but told his followers to vote for the other guy in the next round. Naked Canadian politics for everyone to see. I think all political parties took notice--and changed their rules.
I don't agree that RCV will find the better candidates, for many good people still refuse to run for public office. But it will take away this deal-making, which hampers the winners to the promises they made to acquire power.
I left party politics in 1992. Too dysfunctional for me to have much effect. But I somehow invented another system of governance. The political parties are the root of our democratic problems. They need to go.
My book is about a three-hour (free) read.
