• AbnormalHumanBeing@lemmy.abnormalbeings.space
    0·
    2 years ago

    As a European, I think it would be pretty funny if, after Brexit, the other parts of the former Empire joined the EU.

    But at least right now, membership is probably more of a meme - some solid cooperation and shared institutions would be amazing, though.

    • Albbi@lemmy.ca
      0·
      2 years ago

      I’m not sure why I keep seeing this posted, like it’s some sort of gotcha. It doesn’t mean our other elections would have to change, just the brand new representatives to the EU.

      The vote for liberal leadership used Preferential Voting where you could indicate more than one preference.

      • AChiTenshi@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        2 years ago

        Because it’s a step towards proportional representation. It would expose much more of the populace to how it’s done. Hopefully getting more people used to the idea of it.

      • BCsven@lemmy.ca
        0·
        2 years ago

        There would be voting changes , I believe, something about EU membership requiring a certain type of voting system. Eg. Not FPP

        • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          Hungary’s system is half proportional, half FPP on steroids, but it’s just as bad as FPP since our FPP lets the winner not just take the seat, but also extra votes into the proportional part of the race.

          So, no, the EU is fine with everything, the only thing is that EU citizens have to be able to vote in local elections wherever we live, regardless of citizenship. That means if you join, and I rent a place in Toronto and move in, I get a vote for the Toronto mayor on day one.

      • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
        0·
        2 years ago

        A lot of people don’t get it until they see it in action.

        My union recently had a vote about increasing health benefits. “No” won in one of the categories because there were 3 options for how much to increase it by. (Yes won by 76% while the no beat the top yes 24% to 23%)

        I pointed this out at the next meeting and we had a vote and struck the no vote. Later a bunch of people said thanks for pointing that out, and my reply was “no sweat, we have the same problem with our elections.”

        Then everyone applauded and Einstein gave me a piece of π. Just kidding, it was more like weird looks and a couple agreements, but I like to think I brought the issue to a few people’s attention.

      • AlolanVulpix@lemmy.caEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        It’s not about being a “gotcha” - it’s about demonstrating a pathway to better democratic representation.

        You’re right that EU membership would only require PR for European Parliament representatives initially. However, this would create several significant opportunities:

        1. Practical demonstration: Canadians would experience firsthand how an electoral system that ensures every vote counts actually works, rather than just hearing theoretical arguments.

        2. Institutional precedent: Once PR is successfully implemented for one electoral body, the argument that it’s “too complex” or “un-Canadian” becomes much harder to maintain.

        3. Democratic legitimacy gap: Having representatives to the EU Parliament elected through PR while our own MPs are chosen through FPTP would create an obvious legitimacy contrast that would be difficult to justify.

        The Liberal leadership vote using preferential voting actually supports this point. Internal party processes already recognize the limitations of FPTP - they just don’t extend those same democratic principles to the general electorate. In fact, all parties, even the Conservatives, use superior electoral systems to FPTP.

        The reality is that 76% of Canadians support electoral reform according to recent polling, but our major parties benefit from maintaining a system that systematically discards votes. Exposure to functioning PR would make the democratic deficit in our current system increasingly apparent.

        • Taiatari@lemmynsfw.com
          0·
          2 years ago

          I get what you are saying, but the UK joined the EU with FPTP voting and left the EU because of FPTP. So while I agree that exposure might change things I do doubt it.

          • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            0·
            2 years ago

            From all I’ve having lived in a couple of countries in the EU (including the UK), exposure to Proportional Vote in the EU Parliament Election seems to have zero impact on people wanting it for other election, maybe because EU MPs are too far away from most people and don’t really get all that much news coverage, unlike the national politics of a country.

            Mind you, personally exposure to Proportional Vote when I was living in The Netherlands has definitely made my mind in favour of it, especially after I moved to Britain and was exposed to their shit-show FPTP voting system (worse than my own country of Portugal which as multi-representant electoral circles, so way less Democratic than PR but nowhere as bad as FPTP).

  • MithranArkanere@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    Let’s just rename the EU to “United Earth” like in Star Trek, since Australia is practically in it already on account of being in Eurovision.

    That way we don’t need to change the initials, just swap them.

    • NewDay@feddit.org
      0·
      2 years ago

      I think it is not that hard for you if you are a Canadian citizen. The language is the real problem.