A Vote for Darfur” 03 Stand Challenges Canadians to Think Beyond Our Borders
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THE I SSUE The university of Winnipeg student weekly 172006/02/02 VOLUME 60 INSIDE 02 News 06 Comments 10 Diversions 12 Features uniter.ca 16 Arts & Culture » 20 Listings 22 Sports ON THE WEB [email protected] » E-MAIL VOL.ISSUE 60 17 FEBRUARY 2, 2006 “A VOTE FOR DARFUR” 03 STAND CHALLENGES CANADIANS TO THINK BEYOND OUR BORDERS ONCE MORE AROUND THE FLOOR 12 THE STORY INSIDE THE ROLLER RINK JUST DOWN THE STREET DARE WE SAY IT... 16 LOCAL GRINDCORE ACT OFFEND AND ENLIGHTEN SWEEPING UP THE SCORE BOARD 23 CHECK OUT THE DETAILS OF LAST WEEKEND’S V-BALL GAMES THE UNIVERSITY OFSTUDENT WINNIPEG WEEKLY ♼ February 2, 2006 The Uniter contact: [email protected] NEWS EDITOR: VIVIAN BELIK SENIOR EDITOR: LEIGHTON KLASSEN NEWS EDITOR: DEREK LESCHASIN 02 NEWS E-MAIL: [email protected] E-MAIL: [email protected] E-MAIL: [email protected] UNITER STAFF House of Commons a Warped 01 Managing Editor » Jo Snyder [email protected] Refl ection of Canada? Business Coordinator & Offi ce Manager » 02 James D. Patterson [email protected] FAIR VOTE RELEASES VISION OF NEW PARLIAMENT UNDER A PR SYSTEM NEWS EDITOR » Vivian Belik 03 [email protected] BY DEREK LESCHASIN parties or parties with more diffuse will treat the issue of electoral NEWS PRODUCTION EDITOR » NEWS EDITOR 04 Derek Leschasin support suffer. reform. [email protected] “Our voting system does not In 2001, Canadian Alliance SENIOR EDITOR » Leighton Klassen anadians have elected a honour the core democratic prin- (now Conservative) MP Scott Reid 05 [email protected] new Parliament and a new ciples Canadians believe in... that wrote an essay for Policy Options, in 06 BEAT REPORTER » Whitney Light [email protected] Cgovernment, but does the we should have honest, legitimate, which he spoke of creating a coali- House of Commons truly refl ect majority rule,” says Gordon. “That’s tion of public fi gures to argue that 07 BEAT REPORTER » Alan MacKenzie [email protected] the face of Canada? Not necessarily, why most major democracies got rid “fi rst-past-the-post is not accept- 08 FEATURES EDITOR » Lori Ebbitt says Larry Gordon, the Executive of this type of voting between fi fty able in a mature democracy, and [email protected] Director of Fair Vote Canada, an and a hundred years ago.” that some kind of electoral reform ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR » Mike Lewis organisation pushing for electoral As calculated by Fair Vote, in is needed.” Reid wrote that a refer- 09 [email protected] reform. a proportional electoral system, endum should be held on whether SPORTS EDITOR » Mike Pyl 10 [email protected] On Jan. 23, Canada’s fi rst-past- Parliament could look quite differ- to create a commission on electoral the-post (FPP) system once again ent. The Conservatives, with 36.3 reform, and a further referendum COMMENTS EDITOR » Daniel Blaikie 11 [email protected] produced the sort of results that per cent of the vote, could receive should be held on the conclusions leave non-Conservative Alberta 113 seats (not 124). The Liberals, of that commission. He refused to 12 HUMOUR EDITOR » Matt Cohen [email protected] voters with no chance of help- with 30.1 per cent, could receive state what sort of system he would 13 PHOTO EDITOR » Wade Andrew ing their preferred parties, and 93 (not 103). The NDP, with 17.5 fi nd preferable. [email protected] Conservative voters in urban centres per cent, might get 59 (not 29). The It’s unclear whether the LISTINGS COORDINATOR » Nick Weigeldt such as Montreal and Toronto in Bloc Quebecois, with 10.5 per cent, will currently exists in the new 14 [email protected] the same position. Then too, while would receive 31 seats (not 51). And Conservative Party for such initia- COPY & STYLE EDITOR » Melody Rogan 15 [email protected] the NDP earned over 17 per cent the Greens, with with 4.5 per cent, tives. In their platform for the 2006 of the national vote, their share of would receive 12, not zero. election, there is no mention of DISTRIBUTION MANAGER » 16 Scott McArthur seats was almost doubled by the The NDP has traditionally been investigating a change in the voting Bloc Quebecois, which only took the strongest voice for instituting system. The Conservatives focus on 18 GRAPHICS EDITOR » Sebastian Podsiadlo [email protected] just over 10 per cent of the vote. The PR. In October 2005, now-retired making the Senate an elected body, 19 PRODUCTION MANAGER » Sarah Sangster Green Party, with over 4 percent of NDP MP Ed Broadbent presented and establishing “representation by [email protected] the vote, once again failed to elect a it in a speech as part of the party’s population” for the provinces, and ADVERTISING MANAGER » Ted Turner single MP. package of democratic reforms. also advocate instituting fi xed elec- 20 [email protected] 786-9779 “Here’s another train-wreck Broadbent advocated a mixed tion dates. for democracy in Canada,” says system combining constituency- Gordon notes that while the THIS WEEK ’ S CONTRIBUTORS Gordon. While Gordon says he is based MPs wit h PR. Reform and Canadian Alliance Jaya Beange, Stephen Grandpre, Dan Hugyabaert, not surprised at these distortions, “Our present system does a parties had at times expressed inter- Jonathan Davis, Shane Gibson, Christine Esselmont, Iain Ramsey, William O’Donnell, Matt Urban, Lief Gobeil, “I can still be shocked at some of the great disservice to Canadian unity est in Proportional Representation, Robyn Hiebert, Ksenia Prints, Kalen Qually, Carli Rothman, Josh Boulding, Aaron Zeghers, Deniz Izzet, Beau Burton, things that happen.” because regional representation in when the Canadian Alliance Ben Macphee-Sigurdson As director of Fair Vote Canada, the House of Commons... does not and Progressive Conservatives The Uniter is the offi cial student newspaper of the University Gordon pushes for a form of refl ect Canadian voters’ intentions,” merged, “their position got watered of Winnipeg and is published by the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association. The Uniter is editorially autonomous Proportional Representation (PR), Broadbent said at the time. down a bit.” and the opinions expressed within do not necessarily refl ect those of the UWSA. The Uniter is a member of the Canadian the electoral system used in most While the NDP University Press and Campus Plus Media Services. other Western democracies. Such gained a signifi - SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES, LETTERS, PHOTOS AND Here’s another train-wreck GRAPHICS ARE WELCOME Articles should be submitted in text or Microsoft Word format to uniter@uwinnipeg. a system, of which there are many cant number of ca. Deadline for submissions is noon Friday (contact for democracy in Canada.” the section’s editor for more information). Deadline for variations, allocates seats in parlia- seats last week, advertisements is noon Friday, six days prior to publication. The Uniter reserves the right to refuse to print submitted ment based on the percentage of the party does not “ -Larry Gordon material. The Uniter will not print submissions that are homophobic, misogynistic, racist or libelous. We also votes a party receives nationally. hold a control- reserve the right to edit for length or style. FPP allocates seats based ling position However, the make-up of the CONTACT US » solely on ridings won, which means in Parliament. new Parliament means that the General Inquiries: 204.786.9790 Advertising: 204.786.9779 that millions of votes end up not And it’s uncer- Conservatives and the NDP may Editors: 204.786.9497 Fax: 204.783.7080 represented in Parliament - effec- tain how the have to work together. Given this Email: [email protected] tively wasted. Regional parties end Conservatives state of affairs, Gordon points out LOCATION » up over-represented, while smaller that “about the only policy overlap... Room ORM14 University of Winnipeg is an interest in democratic reform.” 515 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 COVER IMAGE Photo By Wade Andrew See what’s going on at the old roller rink, just down the street. Senior Edi- tor Leighton Klassen takes a trip to one of the oldest roller rink fl oors in Canada. (pg. 12) contact: [email protected] The Uniter February 2, 2006 NEWS 03 Students take a STAND for Darfur in Canadian Elections regarding Darfur. Survey million have been displaced. it is our responsibility to speak BY ROBYN HIEBERT results would then be shared There are various levels out, and are determined not to with election candidates to to the confl ict. On one level let the world remain indifferent anadians often take educate them on Canadians’ is the fighting between as hundreds of thousands pride in their reputa- views on Darfur. Secondly, Sudanese rebels, such as the die in ethnically motivated Ction as “peacekeep- through the “Darfur Report Sudan People’s Liberation confl ict in the Darfur region ers,” yet for many, this has little Card,” election candidates Army/Movement (SPLM) of Sudan.” to no impact on their every- were asked to fi ll out a short and the Justice and Equality The situation in Sudan has day lives. During the recent questionnaire on their views Movement (JEM), and the been referred to as “another Canadian federal election, the and policies concerning Rwanda,” however national student organization Darfur. Examples of What is going on in Darfur is history professor STAND challenged Canadians questions included, Eliakim Sibanda to think beyond their borders, “In your opinion, has what future generations will judge from the University the University of Winnipeg’s act on their convictions, and Canada done enough “ our world by.” of W i n n ipeg Global College, describes the use their ballots to support to bring to an end to maintains there are situation in Darfur as both human rights.