Is it just me or are do these bare more than just a passing resemblance to one another?

I have recently come across a few passage that deal with the election of speakers in Canadian legislatures. As I was reading these I occasionally had a strange sense that I had read some of the passages before.

From Monpetit and Marleau's House of Commons Procedure and Practice (2nd edition):

The election of a Speaker has precedence over all other matters. No motion for adjournment is accepted until a Speaker is declared elected and installed in the Chair. Once he or she has been elected, after the customary thanks and congratulations have been expressed and after announcing the time and the date for the Speech from the Throne, the Speaker adjourns the House until the next sitting.

From British Columbia legislature's Standing Orders:

11 (a) (4) The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and no Motion of any kind shall be accepted, and the House shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the Chair and if the House has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the House until the next sitting, unless otherwise ordered.

From the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly's Standing Orders:

2 (7) The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and the House shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the chair and if the House has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the new Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the House until the next sitting day.

From the Rules and Procedures of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan:

40(4) The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and no motion of any kind shall be accepted, and the Assembly shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the chair. If the Assembly has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the Assembly until the next sitting.

From the New Brunswick legislature's Standing Rules:

The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and no motion of any kind shall be accepted, and the House shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary time of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the Chair and if the House has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the House until the next sitting, unless otherwise ordered.

Referendum day in British Columbia

If my understanding is correct, tomorrow will be both referendum and election day in British Columbia. Unfortunately, I haven't been following the election quite as closely as I would have liked so I don't really know is expected to win, but a third Liberal victory doesn't seem particularly unlikely.

Possibly more important than the election is the referendum on electoral system reform. If approved, by 60% of the voting public with majority support in at least 51 ridings, the result would be the adoption of the single transferable vote (STV) system by British Columbia. Not only would this be a big change for British Columbia voters, who would in future elect MLAs from multi-member districts rather than single member districts, but it would also be an opportunity for other North Americans to see a proportional representation system up close.

While I am not a particularly big fan of STV (for a number of reasons that I won't get into here) I becoming more and more convinced that it would be good for most of North America to see such a system in action (whether it is good for British Columbia is an entirely different matter).

Unfortunately it seems that there has been a great deal of misinformation surrounding this and other PR proposals in North America. This is rather unfortunate as it focuses the debate on matters of relative importance and allow more substantive issues to go undebated. Generally it seems that many of the boosters over state the potential positive impacts, while those opposed to the reforms attempt to spread fear about the danger of the system. While it is likely that such a system would result in more proportional results, it will certainly not eliminate all problems of representation that are experienced in British Columbia at the moment, nor will it lead to a complete collapse of the political system. This system has been used successfully in Ireland for almost 100 years and doesn't seem to be particularly problematic (nor does it seem to be a problem in a number of the other jurisdictions where it is used).

In particular, I feel that it also important to point out that while STV systems are not presently used in a large number of national elections, it is one of the older PR systems and was developed in the 1800s and was supported by John Stuart Mill. So while it may not be as prominent as mixed-member proportional or various list systems, it has a long history and reputable supporters. This is not some new fangled invention without a track record (whether you want what it has to offer is another matter).

I guess my main belief is that we shouldn't blindly use the single member plurality system simply because it is what we have used. After reflection and examination it may turn out that this system, which provides each individual and region with a single elected representative, is the one desired by the majority of the population, but such a decision shouldn't be made before at least considering a few of the alternative systems, some of which seem to work rather effectively in a range of countries.

So I guess for selfish reasons I hope that the referendum passes tomorrow, and I wish that I had put a little more time into this post as I think some of the ideas aren't quite as clearly articulated and developed as I might like. Anyway, I guess by some time late tomorrow evening we will know whether BC has a new government and whether or not they will be making the switch to STV.