Kirk Zurell @kzurell

There is a lecture on Civic Participation and e-Voting, taking place at Conestoga College next Monday, 27 July 2015. The lecturer, Kirk Zurell is well known in the Kitchener-Waterloo tech community; I’m planning on going.

You can register at Eventbrite: All Those in Favour, Click ‘Aye’

From Conestoga College Events:

User Experience Guest Lecture Series: All Those in Favour, Click ‘Aye’ – The Struggle for Civic Tech

27 July 27 2015, 5:00pm

If a billion people around the world can over-share their lives on social media, why are voting rates still so low? Can e-participation systems coax more residents into taking part in civic life?

 

In this session, we will apply technology to the role of the voter, resident, and taxpayer. Civic technologies, including e-participation are increasing in popularity, with dedicated labs and businesses springing up to help citizens manage their “red boxes.”

 

How do user experiences and expectations compare to those of commercial services? How does civic tech affect the roles of the citizen, the political, and the civil servant?

Speaker:

Kirk Zurell, Research Entrepreneurs Accelerating Prosperity (REAP) Professional University of Waterloo

 

Kirk Zurell writes op-ed articles for newspapers on topics in civic life. Kirk takes part in civic life through the Compass Kitchener citizen engagement committee and Waterloo Voter Support Committee. He provides information technology support at The Working Centre and investigates digital media at University of Waterloo’s Research Entrepreneurs Accelerating Prosperity (REAP).

Time:

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Location:

Conestoga College, Doon Campus, Main Building, Room 2A301 Map

To Register:

This guest lecture is free to attend but does require registration: Eventbrite: All Those in Favour, Click ‘Aye’

 

For more information, contact Dalibor Dvorski. ddvorski@conestogac.on.ca

This coming Friday, 27 February 2015 there’s an interesting lecture on “Mathematics and Democracy” at the University of Waterloo that may interest some of you.

Sometimes I get carried away, and pay more attention to the mechanics of voting systems than the political change we’re trying to effect. I think this lecture will satisfy that craving!

Please note that this is not a Fair Vote Waterloo Region Chapter event.

Here’s the blurb from the University of Waterloo website:

Bridges Lecture – Mathematics and Democracy

Friday, February 27, 2015 – 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Bridges lectures aim to overcome the gap between Mathematics and the Arts. Join Steven J. Brams (Politics) and D. Marc Kilgour (Math) for “Mathematics and Democracy.”

A multitude of election systems have been proposed for choosing both single winners (for mayor, governor, or president) or multiple winners (to a council or committee). Those based on approval voting, which allows voters to vote for more than one candidate or party, are especially appealing. We look at the mathematics behind these systems, and how well they satisfy properties considered important in a democracy. We also analyze the usage of approval voting in electing, among other officials, Catholic popes and UN secretaries general. More recently, approval voting has been adopted by several major professional societies to elect their presidents and advisory councils. Based on this experience, we offer several recommendations for the use of approval voting in public elections.

Steven J. Brams is Professor of Politics at New York University and the author, co-author, or co-editor of 18 books and about 300 articles. His most recent book is Game Theory and the Humanities: Bridging Two Worlds (MIT, 2011).

Brams has applied game theory and social-choice theory to voting and elections, bargaining and fairness, international relations, and the Bible, theology, and literature. He is a former president of the Peace Science Society (1990-91) and of the Public Choice Society (2004-2006). He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1986), a Guggenheim Fellow (1986-87), and was a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation (1998-99).

Affiliation: Department of Politics, NYU

D. Marc Kilgour is Professor of Mathematics at Wilfrid Laurier University, Research Director: Conflict Analysis for the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, and Adjunct Professor of Systems Design Engineering at University of Waterloo. His publications include 6 books and nearly 400 articles in journals, conference proceedings, and edited books.

Kilgour’s research lies at the intersection of mathematics, engineering, and social science. He has contributed in arms control, environmental management, negotiation, arbitration, voting, fair division, and coalition formation, and pioneered decision support systems for strategic conflict. President of the Peace Science Society in 2012-13, he is now President of the INFORMS Section on Group Decision and Negotiation.

Affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Wilfrid Laurier

Everyone is welcome to this free public lecture, followed by a reception. Free parking will be available at St. Paul’s.

Host

St. Jerome’s University Event website Bridges Lecture- Mathematics and Democracy

Cost

Free

Location

STJ – St. Jerome’s University Siegfried Hall 290 Westmount Road North Waterloo, ON N2L 3G3 Canada

More info: Bridges Lecture – Mathematics and Democracy: http://sju.ca/news-events/public-events/bridges-lecture-series/mathematics-and-democracy

The Duke of Wellington

All the candidates for the Ontario election are invited too, so you’ll have a chance to bend the ear of your local politician or future politician.

And, of course, we’ll tell them that Electoral Reform is the foundational issue for this election — proportional representation will make all our votes count!

Disagree? Let’s talk over a beverage, bangers and mash!

–Bob.

The Duke of Wellington Pub

This post was mirrored from the Fair Vote Canada Waterloo Region Chapter web site

CETA Poster

Cathy provided a link to a paper from the Canadian Government, Technical Summary of Final Negotiated Outcomes, Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (.PDF file, 756.6 kBytes). This document consists of 26 pages of bullet points, which look more like the minutes of a meeting than a policy statement or an analysis. Perhaps there is a more in-depth coverage on the Government’s propaganda information site, Canada’s Economic Action Plan.

Or perhaps you should come to the panel discussion!


What: CETA Panel Discussion
When: Thursday, 1 May 2014 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm iCal
Where: Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work, 120 Duke St., Kitchener, Ontario Map
Who: Hosted by Fair Vote Canada Waterloo Region Chapter (@FairvoteWRC)

James Gordon

Hello Fair Vote Canada KW supporters! I am writing to invite each of you to an evening of wonderful music and great company in support the our local Cooperate for Canada campaign (this is not a Fair Vote Canada event). We are so lucky to have the fabulous singer/songer writer and activist James Gordon who has offered to donate 100% of the ticket sales to Citizens for Cross Party Cooperation KW.

 

As you probably know, one of the main goals of Cooperate for Canada is to achieve proportional representation. James is a big supporter of PR, and was at the recent founding of the Fair Vote Canada team in Guelph.

 

Please, purchase a ticket (you can pay now via the paypal button on the web page or at the door), share this invitation with a friend, post the webpage…

 

Concert details and to buy tickets now:

 

Citizens for Cross-Party Cooperation

 

I hope to see you on the 27th.

 

Anita

When: January 27, 2013, 8 PM

Where: The Button Factory, 25 Regina St. S, Waterloo (map)

Tickets: $18 regular, $12 student/unwaged

You can buy tickets at the door or buy your seat with PayPal at the Citizens for Cross-Party Cooperation web site.

For more information, or to reserve tickets, contact Anita Nickerson at anitann88@gmail.com or (519)-568-7655

Anita Nickerson is the Action Coordinator on the National Council of Fair Vote Canada, and the former Co-Chair of the Fair Vote Waterloo Region Chapter

What should be the Liberal promise to Canadians for democratic voting reform?

Sunday, January 27th, 2-4pm
Greek-Cypriot Hall, 57 Lodge Street, Waterloo (map)

The KWFLA is proud to present this important debate

Stéphane Dion – MP for Saint-Laurent–Cartierville, former Liberal Party of Canada Leader and Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs – Presenting his model of electoral reform, P3 – proportional-preferential-personalized voting system

John Deverell – Policy Director for Scarborough-East Pickering FLA & former journalist for the Toronto Star – supporting proportional representation

Doug Jackson – President of Cambridge Federal Liberal Association – supporting Alternative Vote

Event is free, everyone is welcome. Register at the Liberal Party of Canada web site.

Robocaller?

From the announcement on the mailing list:

FVC-Waterloo Region would like to invite you to a great evening planned for Wednesday, January 16th to take an in depth look at the robocall scandal with Jim Harris & Simon Rowland.

 

Many of you may know Jim Harris, he is the former leader of the Green Party of Canada and a popular Huffington Post blogger. Jim has been writing about the robocall scandal for the Huffington Post since the beginning and he will be joined by Simon Rowland who is the President and CEO of Direct Leap Technologies, a direct marketing firm that does robocalling. Jim & Simon will address the political and technical aspects of the robocall scandal. I have heard them give this talk and it is an excellent analysis of the robocall scandal and its significance for Canadian democracy.

 

Mark your calendar for January 16, 7-9 pm in the Solarium at the Duke of Wellington Pub, 33 Erb Street East in Waterloo, Waterloo (map). The event is free as always so bring a friend! A poster is attached & it would be terrific if you could put it up anywhere in your neighbourhood that has a community bulletin board. We would like to get as many people as possible out to hear Jim & Simon particularly as they are coming from Toronto to speak with us.

 

Many thanks & hope to see you on the 16th!

 

Best wishes for 2013,

 

Sharon

Add this event to your calendar

Tags: announcement, Fair Vote, Fair Vote Waterloo, FairvoteWRC, Jim Harris, mailing list, robocall, scandal, Simon Rowland
Posted in Event, Fair Vote | Comments Off on Fair Vote Waterloo presents “Robocalls: The Story So Far”, 16 January 2013