46 Replies to “As The Carriage Horses Wait Patiently Outside”
Should be worthit to post rsults on the net just to spite these smig jurocratic pukes. The SCC is a bloody joke when you see anit-democratic laws upheld by these political cranks.
“Informational equality:” there’s a great neologism to choke on first thing in the morning. And it’s only worth a one word rebuke: i-n-t-e-r-n-e-t. Of course anyone with a computer or even a bloody phone can get around the gag law, so “informational equality” turns out to be just the latest goofy attempt by old style Liberal patronage appointees to enforce old style statist censorship. Welcome back to the seventies, they think.
My tax dollars at work.
The only way you can have “informational equality” is if you have no information at all.
Fascinating. The SCC doesn’t seem to have explored some basic assumptions.
As for it being a Freedom of Speech issue, I’m not sure. My own, perhaps narrow view of freedom of speech is limited to the articulation of debatable perspectives. The election results are about information, which is non-debatable data. To deal with that, we’d have to move into Free and Full Access to Information – and that is not a basic right, eg, violation of patient rights, violation of lawyer-client confidentiality, patent protection, etc etc.
But, who, in an election, ‘owns’ this information? Presumably, Elections Canada. OK – do they have to release it immediately? No – I can’t see any reason why they have to do so. As suggested, they could wait for a full day. Or more.
But another issue is the assumption of the SCC that voting is carried out by the population within reactive emotion rather than reason. Maybe, and maybe not. I think they’d have to prove this assumption. Is it really the case that IF a population knows how a vote is going, THEN this will affect their original intentions? Will that emotionally hysteric voter change from NDP to Liberal to Conservative with each media announcement?
And finally, the SCC is ignoring modern technology. The cell phone, email, the internet and so on. Once the information is released, it’s public. So their pompous ruling is empty. They can’t enforce it.
If the Supreme court is so worried about “informational equality” may I suggest a possible solution to this non issue.
1. Make every federal election a day of civic duty day (i.e. day off)
2. Open the polls at the same time everywhere. (i.e 9:00am (Pacific Standard Time) in BC/ 1:30pm Newfoundland time)
3. Close the polls at same time (3:00pm pst in BC – 7:30pm in Newfoundland)
4. Count votes at same time
5. Declare winner and go to the bar or home to bed.
I guess we need to accept that Canada just can’t fix “stupid”.
The wisdom of “larry, Moe, Curly, Ollie and Stan continues.
looks like they forgot about sattelite also. stations can be picked up east to west in there respective time zones unless they are blocked.
Am I an idiot or is there not a SIMPLE solution to this?
Change the poll closing times so that they are equal across the country? There. Done.
Let Atlantic Vote till 11pm. Eastern vote till 10pm. Central vote till 9pm. Mountain vote till 8pm. Pacific vote till 7pm. Open polling at 4am or 5am local time to allow everyone lots of time to exercise their right.
Does that not fix this stupid problem?
And if the East doesn’t like having it close that late or the Pacific doesn’t like having it close that early — Take it to the supreme court, dudes. Or vote in an advance poll. Give me a break.
What bothers me about this is the utter condescension of the elitists in the SCC, who apparently think the masses, us, don’t have a brain in our heads, and will be swayed by some last minute statistics on how Newfoundland voted.
I have voted in every election since 1968, and have always gone to the polls well informed about the candidate of my choice.
I have rarely encountered anyone who hasn’t done the same.
SCC judges should be vetted by a Parliamentary committee, which includes civilians from outside the law clique. PM appointed activists have failed to enforce and apply the laws in the manner in which we ignorant masses prefer, and it IS supposed to be a democracy, isn’t it?
The Federal Government and the SCC don’t seem adverse to passing legislation which turns millions of citizens into criminals at their whim, do they?
I think ET has a valid point about Elections Canada releasing the information. It would be easier if the government controled itself rather than try to control the communication of the people.
During the last election I was a scrutineer. I live in Ontario. Before our polls closed it was being reported on CTV that the votes in Atlantic Canada had closed and the election there went to the Liberals. If we were privy to this info before our polls closed why is it wrong for the West to get the info before their polls close?
I have to wonder why we even have a parliament in this country. It is the SCC that calls the shots on what we can and can’t do, here, or see. Democracy, you gotta love it.
Do the courts not realize they are making fools of themselves, and the entire legal system, by upholding laws that cannot be enforced?
It’s ludicrous.
A ruling on the equally unenforceable gun-registry would likely go the same way.
Galloping insanity seems to be the new normal…
The easiest solution is to keep the ballot boxes sealed until the next morning. All it takes is an extra day’s pay for the election workers. Then there’s no need for a stupid law gagging the speech of eastern Canadians.
Hey, come on. We all know Westerners, and especially left-coasters, are too simple to vote reasonably; that’s why they keep voting the wrong way.
We superior court types in central Canada know what’s best for them.
[/sarc]
I rather liked the dissenting opinion by Chief Justice MacLachlin et al.
Beverley bats it out of the park with her dissenting opinion. Play ball!
They dissenters have got it right with today’s new technology.
Take a bow Dame Justice Beverley! That dissent was commendable. The leading ruling is just harking back to the ‘old ways’ of politics; but that has been overtaken by technology.
The last ‘kick at the can’ for old style politics.
As if every voter is some poll jumper and abandons their political principles because Newfoundland and the Northwest Territories didn’t vote the same as BC or Alberta. What utter rubbish.
People vote either to throw their favorite rascals out and because they have a rather general assent towards a political flavour. As if a poll result is going to change a voters assessment of a political party’s performance based purely on a poll. This just harks back to the proposition that voters are too stupid to vote ‘correctly’ or with principle.
“Per McLachlin C.J. and Binnie, LeBel and Abella JJ. (dissenting): The s. 329 publication ban is an excessive response to an insufficiently proven harm and a violation of s. 2(b) of the Charter that cannot be justified under s. 1. The government’s s. 1 justification falters fatally in its submission that the benefits of the limitation on the freedom of expression are proportional to its harmful effects. While the government may not be required to demonstrate that its policy judgment is justified with evidence that is amenable to precise measurement, the social science evidence supported by reason and logic must convincingly establish the consequences of imposing or failing to impose the limit. Here, when the harm at which the blackout period in s. 329 is aimed is considered in the context of staggered hours, there is only speculative and unpersuasive evidence to support the government’s claim that the information imbalance is of sufficient harm to voter behaviour or perceptions of electoral unfairness that it outweighs any damage done to a fundamental and constitutionally protected right.
At issue are the core democratic rights of the media to publish and of Canadians to receive election results in a timely fashion. The possibility that some Western voters might be influenced by results from Atlantic Canada cannot be completely discounted, but the question is whether the impact will be a harmful one. The inference that the information imbalance created by lifting the ban in s. 329 would have a harmful impact of any kind on voter turnout, choice, or perception is highly theoretical and unsubstantiated by cogent evidence. The evidence of the expert witness at trial indicates that there is no impact on voter turnout unless the outcome of the election is known or knowable, something that cannot realistically occur based on knowing the results from 32 ridings. Moreover, the evidence from the Lortie Commission suggests that there is no harm to public perception from knowing the results from the 32 ridings in Atlantic Canada. The real harm perceived by the Commission — the influence on voter perception generated by knowing the Ontario and Quebec results, since these two provinces have the potential to determine who will form the government — is alleviated by staggered hours. Further, any potential benefits of the publication ban are diminished by the reality that it has been rendered obsolete by telecommunications technology.
The evidence adduced by the government fails to demonstrate either that the ban in s. 329, in the context of staggered hours, promotes public confidence in the fairness of elections or that harm will occur in the absence of the limitation. On the other hand, the s. 329 ban impairs the right both to disseminate and receive election results at a crucial time in the electoral process. To suggest that the limitation at issue involves only a delay, not the suppression of information, unduly minimizes the significance both of the information and of the delay. Canadians are entitled to know, as soon as possible, who their elected representatives are.
Furthermore, the media’s role in disseminating election information to the public is critical. The technical challenges they face when implementing the ban are considerable, and mean that individuals in certain areas may not receive radio or television election coverage even though the polls have closed in their area of the country. All of this harm to the Charter right is demonstrable; the benefits of the ban are not.”
Someone should write a sequel to HG Well’s ‘1984’ and call it Canada ‘2004+’.
Tomax7, I think George Orwell already did.
I am glad the law was upheld. It would however be much easier to simply not release any data until lunch the next day. Or maybe as Mike suggests stagger the polls.
Does there vote somehow matter more to you than someone in BC’s? Is their vote a basis for what you will do? How does learning their vote an hour earlier help you?
It is an election based on knowledge of those that would lead. It is not based on how someone else on the other side of the country voted.
Mad Mike on the other hand suggests that if we cannot enforce the law and a few break it that aren’t caught that we should abolish the law. How many murderers, thieves, and rapists are still free because they haven’t been caught. Should we abolish the the laws for drugs like cocaine too since we cannot possibly catch everyone that does something wrong???
Mike,
Your excellent suggestion would be too sensible for the government. Since when did the government ever do anything based on good old-fashioned common sense?
we dont need to wait until the next day, just open the ballot boxes, get the east coast counting done, then when the polls close out west you get a flood of east coast polling stations reporting instead of the trickle like now.
screw the scc, their opinions are irrelevant with this system in place.
canada covers 3 times zones, not 6 like russia, we can tolerate this. especially if we adjust closing times to bring the time gap even closer.
am I the only one in the whole friggin country to see this sol’n?
Hans, yeah, Bev got it right this time.
Does anyone know what penalties if any a blogger could face for relaying this type of information?
My thoughts go back to the Gomery inquiry and good old Captain’s Quarters…
How, exactly, are they going to stop it? Every newsroom in the country has access to the final poll numbers. They broadcast these numbers in a staggered manner. The Maritimes goes first, and that is broadcast live in the Maritimes. People who live out there can post the results by liveblogging or leaving an anonymous comment. So it goes, and someone looking to find out the results can find them before the polls close.
Now, to make it even more interesting, if one were have a BUD (Big Ugly Dish) one might find that the big 3 rent C-band transponder space to broadcast the results, and that isn’t scrambled (wasn’t last time). Barring that, if one has a DVB-S reciever that has, um, been, erm, altered with, eh, software that makes Bell Express Vu channels magically appear, you can watch results from east to west with no interruption.
It doesn’t much matter what the Supreme Court says. It’s the information age. People who want to know will know.
Canadian time zones:
Newfoundland, Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. Six.
Are you the only one who sees Canada as three time zones, Bollocks? I sure hope so.
Doesn’t know something, so basic as, how many time zones, yet considers himself capable of commenting on ANY subject.
Sorta like a fruit fly guy knowing all about the earth’s climate.
The ruling is not enforceable.
No matter what other conclusions that they may have come to about the case, 5 out of the 9 judges have renounced the reality of the world in which they live and adjudicate in.
Does anybody know when any of the happy 5 are required to step down?
Is the SCC not aware if internet(duh!) or is it delusions of grandeur?How did they “interpret” this to be a problem?…oh yeah that cute little equality term…
West must equal east all the time or our Canada is threatened….SCC is in their own time zone.
canada has 6 times zones and russia has 11.
sorry hit the return button too fast
canada has 6 time zones and russia has 11, canada is the second coldest country in the world , russia is the coldest.
this is a correlation of monumental proportions, the more time that damn sun is above your country the colder it gets. Al Gore, Dr. Fruitfly Ive got it figured.
Stagger the polls, eh? NFW! Look: there will be one full day for the Atlantic, almost full day for the Ontario and QC and then the AB voters will be cut off at 8pm, when some are still eating their dinner after a long working day at a rig? How f__n nice for the libs! But now we know who you guys, Derek and Barcs, represent.
Aaron, if they weren’t so busy making “easy money” the would have time to vote (kidding).
Besides, the Newfs wouldn’t be happy with the bars closed until 11:30.
Mike has the workable solution.
Hey cal2,
What do you use to clean Pepsi off your keyboard & Monitor?
That was priceless!
Bwahahaha….
UA
I guess the “LIVING TREE” only applies to such things as anal sex and pandering to violent criminals …. not to freedom of speech, communication and expression … because the latter is dangerous to the political system.
I first ran into SDA when a friend of mine emailed me the link as a place I could get live election results in Jan 2006. 40 years ago I remember my father phoning friends out east to find out what was happening in elections and even then I wondered how one can have such a stupid law which can be so easily circumvented.
After reviewing a number of the decisions rendered by the SCC, it would appear that SCC must stand for “stupidity cronyism and corruption”. (All fine Kanadian liebral values).
Well an axe murderer like you might say that Aaron. (note I have no more basis for saying that than you have for calling me a liberal… and both are likely untrue)
If you haven’t been paying attention to the world around you,… your employer is required to allow you time to go vote (can’t remember how many hours but I do remember leaving work early cus the boss closed the office for us last election)
So does it matter? if your hours of voting are changed a small amount? Maybe to the economy, but not to the person.
I’ll ask you again tho. How does having their results before you vote benefit you? Should it benefit you somehow? How is freedom of speech curtailed by waiting an extra hour? Isn’t freedom of speech more affected by giving the west coast more info about the election before they make a decision than the east coast?
Why don’t we start reporting result at 8:00 am when the polls open instead of waiting for polls to close then?? I demand my freedom of speech extend to know exactly what happens from the very second it starts.. *rolls eyes*
Ian in NS suggests that the “easiest solution is to keep the ballot boxes sealed until the next morning.”
In the UK, each constituency operates under its own rules, and in some constituencies, e.g. Durham, this is exactly what was done.
The SCC being as technically challenged as the CRTC doesn’t irk me as much as Peter Mansbridge declaring the new national government with only 3 of 115 polls reporting from Cornerbrook, .45 seconds after the east coast polls close.
Yukon Gold is quite wrong with regard to time zones. There are 7 zones in Canada, not 6. He forgot Ottawa time and that time zone is 1957
regadless of what time it is anywhere else.
All this does is help a sick agenda along.
Suppression of information is a socialist tactic in it’s quest to achieve and get power.
The only people this does anything for is those who want to seek and hold dishonest power, dishonestly.
The only information which is secret is how an individual votes(more or less).
All other information should not be suppressed.
To withhold that information from the public is not right. A person’s vote is their decision supposedly based on all available information. If any information is suppressed that might influence an individuals decision, then the election should not be valid.
Simple answer. All polls close at the same time.
How many dollars have been wasted on this foolishness? Can I have one percent if I solve
the problem? Don’t open the ballot boxes in NL until the polls close in BC.
Yes, we on the east coast will have to wait to hear the final results. The MSM will breathlessly
report speculation and “exit polls” as they do now.
It’s so silly.
You got it Rick.
The media would fight it. They would claim a public’s right to know. BS. The media would then have only on “Election Special”, instead of one for each time zone.
ah! you are correct gentlemen, there are 3 time zones between the pacific and here in bollocksland. its an ontariariario tradition to ignore the maritimes. LOL !!!
USSR HAD 11 times zones, theys all broke up now. it aint 6 but it aint 11 either.
so whats the problem? why create distortions in voting patterns based on the mood of the east?
you righties will be the first to cry foul when we start getting labour friendly governments and more lieberals with their habit of buying votes.
Informational Equality begins with shutting down the CBC.
I am all for going back to the old voting hours 8 am to 8 pm. Current system of allowing 4 hours for voting means loss of productivity as unionized workers leave early.
However let us seal the ballot boxes when voting is complete. Then when everyone has had a good nights sleep we open the boxes and count the votes the next day. Let’s see vote on Saturdays, that’s when schools are closed anyway and they are often polling places. We can count on the Sunday. I know some Jews want to keep the Sabbath, well they can vote in an advance poll.
Should be worthit to post rsults on the net just to spite these smig jurocratic pukes. The SCC is a bloody joke when you see anit-democratic laws upheld by these political cranks.
“Informational equality:” there’s a great neologism to choke on first thing in the morning. And it’s only worth a one word rebuke: i-n-t-e-r-n-e-t. Of course anyone with a computer or even a bloody phone can get around the gag law, so “informational equality” turns out to be just the latest goofy attempt by old style Liberal patronage appointees to enforce old style statist censorship. Welcome back to the seventies, they think.
My tax dollars at work.
The only way you can have “informational equality” is if you have no information at all.
Fascinating. The SCC doesn’t seem to have explored some basic assumptions.
As for it being a Freedom of Speech issue, I’m not sure. My own, perhaps narrow view of freedom of speech is limited to the articulation of debatable perspectives. The election results are about information, which is non-debatable data. To deal with that, we’d have to move into Free and Full Access to Information – and that is not a basic right, eg, violation of patient rights, violation of lawyer-client confidentiality, patent protection, etc etc.
But, who, in an election, ‘owns’ this information? Presumably, Elections Canada. OK – do they have to release it immediately? No – I can’t see any reason why they have to do so. As suggested, they could wait for a full day. Or more.
But another issue is the assumption of the SCC that voting is carried out by the population within reactive emotion rather than reason. Maybe, and maybe not. I think they’d have to prove this assumption. Is it really the case that IF a population knows how a vote is going, THEN this will affect their original intentions? Will that emotionally hysteric voter change from NDP to Liberal to Conservative with each media announcement?
And finally, the SCC is ignoring modern technology. The cell phone, email, the internet and so on. Once the information is released, it’s public. So their pompous ruling is empty. They can’t enforce it.
If the Supreme court is so worried about “informational equality” may I suggest a possible solution to this non issue.
1. Make every federal election a day of civic duty day (i.e. day off)
2. Open the polls at the same time everywhere. (i.e 9:00am (Pacific Standard Time) in BC/ 1:30pm Newfoundland time)
3. Close the polls at same time (3:00pm pst in BC – 7:30pm in Newfoundland)
4. Count votes at same time
5. Declare winner and go to the bar or home to bed.
I guess we need to accept that Canada just can’t fix “stupid”.
The wisdom of “larry, Moe, Curly, Ollie and Stan continues.
looks like they forgot about sattelite also. stations can be picked up east to west in there respective time zones unless they are blocked.
Am I an idiot or is there not a SIMPLE solution to this?
Change the poll closing times so that they are equal across the country? There. Done.
Let Atlantic Vote till 11pm. Eastern vote till 10pm. Central vote till 9pm. Mountain vote till 8pm. Pacific vote till 7pm. Open polling at 4am or 5am local time to allow everyone lots of time to exercise their right.
Does that not fix this stupid problem?
And if the East doesn’t like having it close that late or the Pacific doesn’t like having it close that early — Take it to the supreme court, dudes. Or vote in an advance poll. Give me a break.
What bothers me about this is the utter condescension of the elitists in the SCC, who apparently think the masses, us, don’t have a brain in our heads, and will be swayed by some last minute statistics on how Newfoundland voted.
I have voted in every election since 1968, and have always gone to the polls well informed about the candidate of my choice.
I have rarely encountered anyone who hasn’t done the same.
SCC judges should be vetted by a Parliamentary committee, which includes civilians from outside the law clique. PM appointed activists have failed to enforce and apply the laws in the manner in which we ignorant masses prefer, and it IS supposed to be a democracy, isn’t it?
The Federal Government and the SCC don’t seem adverse to passing legislation which turns millions of citizens into criminals at their whim, do they?
I think ET has a valid point about Elections Canada releasing the information. It would be easier if the government controled itself rather than try to control the communication of the people.
During the last election I was a scrutineer. I live in Ontario. Before our polls closed it was being reported on CTV that the votes in Atlantic Canada had closed and the election there went to the Liberals. If we were privy to this info before our polls closed why is it wrong for the West to get the info before their polls close?
I have to wonder why we even have a parliament in this country. It is the SCC that calls the shots on what we can and can’t do, here, or see. Democracy, you gotta love it.
Do the courts not realize they are making fools of themselves, and the entire legal system, by upholding laws that cannot be enforced?
It’s ludicrous.
A ruling on the equally unenforceable gun-registry would likely go the same way.
Galloping insanity seems to be the new normal…
The easiest solution is to keep the ballot boxes sealed until the next morning. All it takes is an extra day’s pay for the election workers. Then there’s no need for a stupid law gagging the speech of eastern Canadians.
Hey, come on. We all know Westerners, and especially left-coasters, are too simple to vote reasonably; that’s why they keep voting the wrong way.
We superior court types in central Canada know what’s best for them.
[/sarc]
I rather liked the dissenting opinion by Chief Justice MacLachlin et al.
Beverley bats it out of the park with her dissenting opinion. Play ball!
They dissenters have got it right with today’s new technology.
Take a bow Dame Justice Beverley! That dissent was commendable. The leading ruling is just harking back to the ‘old ways’ of politics; but that has been overtaken by technology.
The last ‘kick at the can’ for old style politics.
As if every voter is some poll jumper and abandons their political principles because Newfoundland and the Northwest Territories didn’t vote the same as BC or Alberta. What utter rubbish.
People vote either to throw their favorite rascals out and because they have a rather general assent towards a political flavour. As if a poll result is going to change a voters assessment of a political party’s performance based purely on a poll. This just harks back to the proposition that voters are too stupid to vote ‘correctly’ or with principle.
“Per McLachlin C.J. and Binnie, LeBel and Abella JJ. (dissenting): The s. 329 publication ban is an excessive response to an insufficiently proven harm and a violation of s. 2(b) of the Charter that cannot be justified under s. 1. The government’s s. 1 justification falters fatally in its submission that the benefits of the limitation on the freedom of expression are proportional to its harmful effects. While the government may not be required to demonstrate that its policy judgment is justified with evidence that is amenable to precise measurement, the social science evidence supported by reason and logic must convincingly establish the consequences of imposing or failing to impose the limit. Here, when the harm at which the blackout period in s. 329 is aimed is considered in the context of staggered hours, there is only speculative and unpersuasive evidence to support the government’s claim that the information imbalance is of sufficient harm to voter behaviour or perceptions of electoral unfairness that it outweighs any damage done to a fundamental and constitutionally protected right.
At issue are the core democratic rights of the media to publish and of Canadians to receive election results in a timely fashion. The possibility that some Western voters might be influenced by results from Atlantic Canada cannot be completely discounted, but the question is whether the impact will be a harmful one. The inference that the information imbalance created by lifting the ban in s. 329 would have a harmful impact of any kind on voter turnout, choice, or perception is highly theoretical and unsubstantiated by cogent evidence. The evidence of the expert witness at trial indicates that there is no impact on voter turnout unless the outcome of the election is known or knowable, something that cannot realistically occur based on knowing the results from 32 ridings. Moreover, the evidence from the Lortie Commission suggests that there is no harm to public perception from knowing the results from the 32 ridings in Atlantic Canada. The real harm perceived by the Commission — the influence on voter perception generated by knowing the Ontario and Quebec results, since these two provinces have the potential to determine who will form the government — is alleviated by staggered hours. Further, any potential benefits of the publication ban are diminished by the reality that it has been rendered obsolete by telecommunications technology.
The evidence adduced by the government fails to demonstrate either that the ban in s. 329, in the context of staggered hours, promotes public confidence in the fairness of elections or that harm will occur in the absence of the limitation. On the other hand, the s. 329 ban impairs the right both to disseminate and receive election results at a crucial time in the electoral process. To suggest that the limitation at issue involves only a delay, not the suppression of information, unduly minimizes the significance both of the information and of the delay. Canadians are entitled to know, as soon as possible, who their elected representatives are.
Furthermore, the media’s role in disseminating election information to the public is critical. The technical challenges they face when implementing the ban are considerable, and mean that individuals in certain areas may not receive radio or television election coverage even though the polls have closed in their area of the country. All of this harm to the Charter right is demonstrable; the benefits of the ban are not.”
Someone should write a sequel to HG Well’s ‘1984’ and call it Canada ‘2004+’.
Tomax7, I think George Orwell already did.
I am glad the law was upheld. It would however be much easier to simply not release any data until lunch the next day. Or maybe as Mike suggests stagger the polls.
Does there vote somehow matter more to you than someone in BC’s? Is their vote a basis for what you will do? How does learning their vote an hour earlier help you?
It is an election based on knowledge of those that would lead. It is not based on how someone else on the other side of the country voted.
Mad Mike on the other hand suggests that if we cannot enforce the law and a few break it that aren’t caught that we should abolish the law. How many murderers, thieves, and rapists are still free because they haven’t been caught. Should we abolish the the laws for drugs like cocaine too since we cannot possibly catch everyone that does something wrong???
Mike,
Your excellent suggestion would be too sensible for the government. Since when did the government ever do anything based on good old-fashioned common sense?
we dont need to wait until the next day, just open the ballot boxes, get the east coast counting done, then when the polls close out west you get a flood of east coast polling stations reporting instead of the trickle like now.
screw the scc, their opinions are irrelevant with this system in place.
canada covers 3 times zones, not 6 like russia, we can tolerate this. especially if we adjust closing times to bring the time gap even closer.
am I the only one in the whole friggin country to see this sol’n?
Hans, yeah, Bev got it right this time.
Does anyone know what penalties if any a blogger could face for relaying this type of information?
My thoughts go back to the Gomery inquiry and good old Captain’s Quarters…
How, exactly, are they going to stop it? Every newsroom in the country has access to the final poll numbers. They broadcast these numbers in a staggered manner. The Maritimes goes first, and that is broadcast live in the Maritimes. People who live out there can post the results by liveblogging or leaving an anonymous comment. So it goes, and someone looking to find out the results can find them before the polls close.
Now, to make it even more interesting, if one were have a BUD (Big Ugly Dish) one might find that the big 3 rent C-band transponder space to broadcast the results, and that isn’t scrambled (wasn’t last time). Barring that, if one has a DVB-S reciever that has, um, been, erm, altered with, eh, software that makes Bell Express Vu channels magically appear, you can watch results from east to west with no interruption.
It doesn’t much matter what the Supreme Court says. It’s the information age. People who want to know will know.
Canadian time zones:
Newfoundland, Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. Six.
Are you the only one who sees Canada as three time zones, Bollocks? I sure hope so.
Doesn’t know something, so basic as, how many time zones, yet considers himself capable of commenting on ANY subject.
Sorta like a fruit fly guy knowing all about the earth’s climate.
The ruling is not enforceable.
No matter what other conclusions that they may have come to about the case, 5 out of the 9 judges have renounced the reality of the world in which they live and adjudicate in.
Does anybody know when any of the happy 5 are required to step down?
Is the SCC not aware if internet(duh!) or is it delusions of grandeur?How did they “interpret” this to be a problem?…oh yeah that cute little equality term…
West must equal east all the time or our Canada is threatened….SCC is in their own time zone.
canada has 6 times zones and russia has 11.
sorry hit the return button too fast
canada has 6 time zones and russia has 11, canada is the second coldest country in the world , russia is the coldest.
this is a correlation of monumental proportions, the more time that damn sun is above your country the colder it gets. Al Gore, Dr. Fruitfly Ive got it figured.
Stagger the polls, eh? NFW! Look: there will be one full day for the Atlantic, almost full day for the Ontario and QC and then the AB voters will be cut off at 8pm, when some are still eating their dinner after a long working day at a rig? How f__n nice for the libs! But now we know who you guys, Derek and Barcs, represent.
Aaron, if they weren’t so busy making “easy money” the would have time to vote (kidding).
Besides, the Newfs wouldn’t be happy with the bars closed until 11:30.
Mike has the workable solution.
Hey cal2,
What do you use to clean Pepsi off your keyboard & Monitor?
That was priceless!
Bwahahaha….
UA
I guess the “LIVING TREE” only applies to such things as anal sex and pandering to violent criminals …. not to freedom of speech, communication and expression … because the latter is dangerous to the political system.
I first ran into SDA when a friend of mine emailed me the link as a place I could get live election results in Jan 2006. 40 years ago I remember my father phoning friends out east to find out what was happening in elections and even then I wondered how one can have such a stupid law which can be so easily circumvented.
After reviewing a number of the decisions rendered by the SCC, it would appear that SCC must stand for “stupidity cronyism and corruption”. (All fine Kanadian liebral values).
Well an axe murderer like you might say that Aaron. (note I have no more basis for saying that than you have for calling me a liberal… and both are likely untrue)
If you haven’t been paying attention to the world around you,… your employer is required to allow you time to go vote (can’t remember how many hours but I do remember leaving work early cus the boss closed the office for us last election)
So does it matter? if your hours of voting are changed a small amount? Maybe to the economy, but not to the person.
I’ll ask you again tho. How does having their results before you vote benefit you? Should it benefit you somehow? How is freedom of speech curtailed by waiting an extra hour? Isn’t freedom of speech more affected by giving the west coast more info about the election before they make a decision than the east coast?
Why don’t we start reporting result at 8:00 am when the polls open instead of waiting for polls to close then?? I demand my freedom of speech extend to know exactly what happens from the very second it starts.. *rolls eyes*
Ian in NS suggests that the “easiest solution is to keep the ballot boxes sealed until the next morning.”
In the UK, each constituency operates under its own rules, and in some constituencies, e.g. Durham, this is exactly what was done.
The SCC being as technically challenged as the CRTC doesn’t irk me as much as Peter Mansbridge declaring the new national government with only 3 of 115 polls reporting from Cornerbrook, .45 seconds after the east coast polls close.
Yukon Gold is quite wrong with regard to time zones. There are 7 zones in Canada, not 6. He forgot Ottawa time and that time zone is 1957
regadless of what time it is anywhere else.
All this does is help a sick agenda along.
Suppression of information is a socialist tactic in it’s quest to achieve and get power.
The only people this does anything for is those who want to seek and hold dishonest power, dishonestly.
The only information which is secret is how an individual votes(more or less).
All other information should not be suppressed.
To withhold that information from the public is not right. A person’s vote is their decision supposedly based on all available information. If any information is suppressed that might influence an individuals decision, then the election should not be valid.
Simple answer. All polls close at the same time.
How many dollars have been wasted on this foolishness? Can I have one percent if I solve
the problem? Don’t open the ballot boxes in NL until the polls close in BC.
Yes, we on the east coast will have to wait to hear the final results. The MSM will breathlessly
report speculation and “exit polls” as they do now.
It’s so silly.
You got it Rick.
The media would fight it. They would claim a public’s right to know. BS. The media would then have only on “Election Special”, instead of one for each time zone.
ah! you are correct gentlemen, there are 3 time zones between the pacific and here in bollocksland. its an ontariariario tradition to ignore the maritimes. LOL !!!
USSR HAD 11 times zones, theys all broke up now. it aint 6 but it aint 11 either.
so whats the problem? why create distortions in voting patterns based on the mood of the east?
you righties will be the first to cry foul when we start getting labour friendly governments and more lieberals with their habit of buying votes.
Informational Equality begins with shutting down the CBC.
I am all for going back to the old voting hours 8 am to 8 pm. Current system of allowing 4 hours for voting means loss of productivity as unionized workers leave early.
However let us seal the ballot boxes when voting is complete. Then when everyone has had a good nights sleep we open the boxes and count the votes the next day. Let’s see vote on Saturdays, that’s when schools are closed anyway and they are often polling places. We can count on the Sunday. I know some Jews want to keep the Sabbath, well they can vote in an advance poll.