The Democratic Renewal Secretariat was an Ontario government agency, created in 2003, mandated to strengthen the Canadian province of Ontario electoral system. The office's mandated responsibilities deal primarily with engaging youth voters, encouraging open debate on electoral reforms, encouraging transparency and accountability, and to develop legislation for fixed election dates in Ontario.
In 2006 the office of the Democratic Renewal Secretariat oversaw the formation of an independent jury of Ontarians called the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform to examine the electoral system in Ontario, research possible reforms and to furnish a report to be submitted to the government of Ontario.
The secretariat was overseen by the Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal, previously the Honourable Marie Bountrogianni.
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
The United Nations Secretariat is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), The secretariat is the UN's executive arm. The secretariat has an important role in setting the agenda for the deliberative and decision-making bodies of the UN, and the implementation of the decision of these bodies. The secretary-general, who is appointed by the General Assembly, is the head of the secretariat.
Mixed-member proportional representation is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral systems which combine local winner-take-all elections with a compensatory tier with party lists, in a way that produces proportional representation overall. Like proportional representation, MMP is not a single system, but a principle and goal of several similar systems. Some systems designed to achieve proportionality are still called mixed-member proportional, even if they generally fall short of full proportionality. In this case, they provide semi-proportional representation.
The Summit of the Americas (SOA) are institutionalized gatherings of heads of state and government of the member states of the Western Hemisphere were leaders discuss common policy issues, affirm shared values an commit to concerted actions at the national and regional level to address continuing and new challenges faced by countries in the Americas.
The Minister of Democratic Institutions was a Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet, associated with the Privy Council Office. The position was first created in 2003 as "Minister responsible for Democratic Reform". It was also titled "Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal" and "Minister of State " during various governments. The position was abolished on November 20, 2019.
Canada holds elections for legislatures or governments in several jurisdictions: for the federal (national) government, provincial and territorial governments, and municipal governments. Elections are also held for self-governing First Nations and for many other public and private organizations including corporations and trade unions. Municipal elections can also be held for both upper-tier and lower-tier governments.
Matthew Mendelsohn is a Canadian public policy expert and public sector executive, best known for leading Prime Minister’s Justin Trudeau’s Results & Delivery Unit and the Government of Canada’s Impact & Innovation Unit from 2016-2020. These followed his role as a chief architect of the Liberals’ 2015 election platform and serving as a member of incoming Prime Minister Trudeau’s transition team, helping with cabinet selection and penning open and public Ministerial mandate letters.
A referendum was held in the Canadian province of British Columbia on May 17, 2005, to determine whether or not to adopt the recommendation of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform to replace the existing first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP) with a single transferable vote system (BC-STV). It was held in conjunction with the BC Legislative Assembly election of 2005. Voters were given two ballots at that time: a ballot to vote for a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (MLA) in their constituency and a referendum ballot. The referendum received considerable support from the electorate but failed in meeting the 60-percent threshold that had been set. A second referendum was held in 2009.
The Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform was established by the government of the province of Ontario, Canada, in March 2006. Modelled on the British Columbia equivalent, it reviewed the first past the post electoral system currently in use to elect members of the Ontario Legislature, with the authority to recommend an alternative. In May 2007, the assembly recommended, in a decision of 94 to 8, that Ontario adopt a form of mixed member proportional representation (MMP).
A referendum was held on October 10, 2007, on the question of whether to establish a mixed member proportional representation (MMP) system for elections to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The vote was strongly in favour of the existing plurality voting or first-past-the-post (FPTP) system.
Fair Vote Canada (FVC) is a grassroots, nonprofit, multi-partisan citizens' movement for electoral reform in Canada. Headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, it promotes the introduction of an element of proportional representation for elections at all levels of government and throughout civil society, instead of the first-past-the-post electoral system currently used at all levels of government in Canada.
The Ministry of Indigenous Affairs and First Nations Economic Reconciliation is the Government of Ontario ministry responsible for issues relating to First Nations, Métis and Inuit in Ontario. The current Minister of Indigenous Affairs is Hon. Greg Rickford who sits in the Executive Council of Ontario or cabinet.
A civic lottery, a popular term for the contemporary use of sortition or allotment, is a lottery-based method for selecting citizens for public service or office. It is based on the premise that citizens in a democracy have both a duty and the desire to serve their society by participating in its governance.
The Health Council of Canada was a national, independent, public reporting agency based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Announced as part of the 2003 First Ministers' Accord on Health Care Renewal with a mandate to report publicly to Canadians, the Health Council provided a system-wide perspective on health care reform related to the 2003 Accord’s policy and program commitments as well as those contained in the 2004 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care. In 2010, the Health Council’s mandate was expanded to include the nationwide dissemination of information on best practices and innovation in health care.
The Secrétariat à la réforme des institutions démocratiques et à l'accès à l'information is an agency of the Government of Quebec. Its stated purpose as of 2010 is to "[report] to the Minister responsible for the Reform of Democratic Institutions and Access to Information and [advise] him in matters pertaining to his mandate to maintain the quality of democratic institutions and to preserve the right of citizens to information and to protection of their personal information."
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to democracy.
Ranked Ballot Initiative of Toronto (RaBIT) is a Canadian grassroots, public policy and advocacy group that supports reforming the municipal electoral voting system in the city of Toronto from a first-past-the-post voting system to instant runoff voting.
The House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform (ERRE) (French: Comité spécial sur la réforme électorale) was a special committee of the House of Commons of Canada established in 2016 during the 42nd Canadian Parliament to investigate reforms to the Canadian electoral system. The formation of "an all-party Parliamentary committee to review... [electoral] reforms" was an election promise by Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau in the 2015 federal election. After the Liberals won a majority in the election, and Trudeau became Prime Minister of Canada, he indicated the formation of a special committee was a priority in his mandate letter for Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef. Shortly after the committee submitted its report to Parliament on December 1, 2016, Monsef was transferred to the position of the Minister of Status of Women and Karina Gould took over the electoral reform file. Shortly after taking her position, Gould announced that the government would no longer be pursuing reform of the electoral system, stating "It has become evident that the broad support needed among Canadians for a change of this magnitude does not exist."
Radoslav Jović is a politician and medical doctor in Serbia. He served three terms in the National Assembly of Serbia between 1997 and 2008, originally with the Serbian Renewal Movement and later with the breakaway Serbian Democratic Renewal Movement. He was also the mayor of Kraljevo from 2003 to 2005. In 2014, Jović returned to the assembly as a member of the Serbian Progressive Party.
A referendum on electoral reform was held on April 23, 2019, in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island – simultaneously with the 2019 provincial election – to determine if the province should adopt a mixed-member proportional representation voting system (MMP). A narrow majority voted to keep the existing first-past-the-post system. However, the referendum was not binding, as neither the yes or no side received majority support in 60% or more of the province's 27 electoral districts.