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The "Green Party Case" Joan
Russow v The Attorney General of Canada, The Chief Electoral Officer
of Canada and Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada
A constitutional challenge is being launched against the Canada Elections
Act by Joan Russow and the Green Party of Canada, under the auspices
of the Constitutional Test Case Centre at the Faculty of Law, University
of Toronto. This challenge will bring to Canadians' attention the fact
that our electoral system counts votes towards representation in ways
which are among the most arbitrary and unjust in the free world.
Background Resources
Beatty, David. "Making Democracy Constitutional" in Howe, Paul, Johnston, Richard and Blais, André (Eds.) Strengthening Canadian Democracy. Montreal: Institute for Research in Public Policy, 2005. [View Article - PDF Format ] (Reproduced with the permission of the author and the Institute for Research in Public Policy)
Trevor Knight, "Unconstitutional Democracy? A Charter Challenge to Canada's Electoral System", 57 U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 1 [View Article - PDF Format or RTF Format] (Reproduced with the permission of the author and the Editors of the Faculty of Law Review)
The Case - Affidavits and Exhibits
Scholarly materials filed as exhibits in support of the claim are reproduced here with permission from the copyright holders. These exhibits are available as PDF format files - Please be aware that PDF files are very large and may take some time to load or print.
- Title Page
- Application
- Affidavit of Joan Russow
- Affidavit of Marian Coyne
- Affidavit of Douglas Amy
- Exhibit A -C.V. - Not included [Link to
Douglas Amy's Website ]
- Exhibit B
Inter-Parliamentary Union, "Women in National Parliaments - World Classification" (March 8th 2001)
- Exhibit C
Lisa Young, "Electoral Systems and Representative legislatures:
Consideration of Alternative Electoral Systems," (July 1994: Canadian
Advisory Councial on the Status of women, Pub. No. 94-L-206).
- Exhibit D
Inter-Parliamentary Union, Distribution of Seats between Men and
Women in National Parliaments: Statistical Data from 1945 to 30 June 1991
(Genève: Série "Rapports et Documents," No. 18, 1991).
- Exhibit E -
Richard E. Matland, "Enhancing Women's Political Participation:
Legislative Recruitment and Electoral Systems," in Azza Karam, ed.,
Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers (Stockholm:
International IDEA, 1998).
- Exhibit F -
Wilma Rule, "Electoral Systems, Contextual Factors and Women's Opportunity
for Election to Parliament in Twenty-three Democracies," (1987) 40 Western
Political Quarterly 477-98. (Reprinted by Permission of the University of Utah, Copyright Holder)
- Exhibit G
Will Kymlicka, "Group Representation in Canadian Politics," in F. Leslie
Seidle, ed., Equity and Community: The Charter, Interest Advocacy
and Representation (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public
Policy, 1993) 61-89.
- Exhibit H -
"Report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the 37th General Election
Held on November 27th, 2000" (Excerpts)
- Exhibit I -
"Thirty-sixth General Election - 1997- Official Voting Results - Synopsis" (Excerpts)
- Exhibit J -
"Thirty-fifth General Election - 1993 - Official Voting Results" (Excerpts)
- Exhibit K -
Arend Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in
Thirty-six Countries (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) pp. 162-164,
- Exhibit L -
Arend Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in
Thirty-six Countries (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999)
Chap. 15.
- Exhibit M -
G.Bingham Powell, Jr., Elections as Instruments of Democracy: Majoritarian
and Proportional Visions (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000) Chap.
10.
- Exhibit N
Frank S. Cohen, "Proportional versus Majoritarian Ethnic Conflict
Management in Democracies," (1997) 30 Comparative Political Studies
607-30.
- Affidavit of Alan Cairns
- Exhibit A -
Alan C. Cairns, "The Electoral System and the Party System in Canada,
1921-1965" (1968) 1 Canadian Journal of Political Science 55-80.
- Exhibit B -
"Report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the 37th General Election
Held on November 27th, 2000 - Table IV.1 Number of ballots cast and
percentage of valid votes, by province/territory and political affiliation,
preliminary figures - 37th general election, 2000" (Excerpts)
- Exhibit C -
"Thirty-sixth General Election - 1997- Official Voting Results - Synopsis" (Excerpts)
- Exhibit D -
"Thirty-fifth General Election - 1993- Official Voting Results" (Excerpts)
- Exhibit E - "Thirty-second
General Election -1980 - Report of the Chief Electoral Officer" (Excerpts)
The Case - Factum
Answers to Common Questions
About the Case
Links
Resources on Electoral Systems & Reform
Organizations dedicated to Electoral Reform
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