2025-Apr

2025/Apr/30
in Advocacy, Proportional Representation
4 min read

Canada Election Result 2025. Everybody Loses but not completely

In a healthy and functioning democracy, all I would need to do is research the issues, the party policies, the candidates, cast my vote and go about my life with a minimal level of stress.

As I am not in a healthy and functioning democracy I instead pounded the pavement and campaigned for Vote Palestine and my local Liberal candidate, Adam Van Koverden, who publicly did everything that I could realistically expect of him on the Palestinian cause.

He won. But there's a lot in the election that gives me a lot of stress.

And here I will vent about it.

2025/Apr/26
in Advocacy, Proportional Representation
6 min read

CLMP. A proportional system for Canada

Introduction

I have spent quite some time on this blog, and in my life, shouting at anyone who would care to listen about the deficiencies in the "Winner Take All" First past the post electoral system Canada uses at all levels of governance. As a customary jab at Justin Trudeau and his broken promise on reform, the reason I specify "Winner Take All" is that his preferred system, Instant Runoff Voting, is also a "winner Take All" system.

But that is a tangent as the purpose of this blog is not to dunk on Justin Trudeau but to fulfill my destiny as an electoral reform nerd by designing my own system. To very much toot my own horn, and also wallow in horror at the amount of time I wasted on this when I really should be trying to sell my novel, I also simulated what the 2021 election would have looked like under this system.

Tremble at my glory! Or pity me. Or do both. Both works.

So, permit me to introduce the CLMP system which stands for...

2025/Apr/23
in Book, Writing, Life, Site Update
3 min read

Life Events and Lack of Focus

In my end of March blog post I stated that I wanted this month to be far more focused on marketing my book.

That mostly did not work as expected. But still I was able to get stuff done and it has been an eventful month.

2025/Apr/23
in Book, Review
4 min read

Review of If I Must Die

If you do not wish to read further then the TL;DR is:

Summary: This is a collection of short form poetry and prose by one of the many shining lights of Palestinian literature, Refaat Alareer. It feels like both a journal and journalism as it describes the reality of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation and oppression.

My conclusion: This book proves one thing more than anything else. Israel is built on myths that shatter on contact with Palestinian reality. Refaat Alareer's words, demonstrate that reality with stunning clarity and is necessary reading.

This review has been posted on other platforms with code words to avoid suppression. The version here does not.