Consensus building in the New Canada attempt - an episode in the effort to organize a broader coalition/movement for Direct DemocracySome interesting efforts have recently been going on on various fronts to establish a better, direct, or more direct democracy in Canada. On the traditional, "voting-based" front, besides recent establishment of the federal Democrat Party and British Columbia Citizens' Assembly Party, there is an ongoing effort to unite all those who advocate for political system reform in Canada and favour at least some elements of Direct Democracy. It is not an easy task to achieve as a recent attempt to create such a coalition shows:
It started with the following meeting,
The Cambridge Accord of 20 January 2007,
Nevertheless, this attempt may provide inspiration for others. Note especially item 5 of the minutes of the Cambridge meeting on the consensus building procedure that can be used in other such meetings. The essence of this procedure is: The consensus building using colour card voting system: Rather then voting YES or NO on a motion, the participants are asked to hold up a green card if the motion is acceptable, a yellow card if they have an alternate proposal, or a red card only if passing of the motion is morally or otherwise unacceptable or would require the member to leave the group. Agreement or approval means the membership all held up a green card when asked for their approval or the motion was amended until the entire membership held up a green card. |