A familiar, muscle-bound warrior has made an appearance along Franklin Avenue in Yellowknife.
Friday morning commuters may have spotted a new election sign at the corner of Resevoir Road urging them to elect the famous Arnold Schwarzenegger character Conan the Barbarian.
Unfortunately, Conan will NOT be running to become the next MP for the Northwest Territories. Instead, this sign was set up by a group known as Fair Vote NWT, a branch of Fair Vote Canada, and is intended to be an eye-catching way of teaching the public about a different electoral avenue.
Specifically, the sign was set up by 15-year Yellowknife resident and Fair Vote Canada representative Jeremy Flatt, an advocate for an election system known as “Proportional Representation,” and he was kind enough to share more information.
“It’s a system that basically every other developed country in the world uses apart from Canada, the UK, and the US, so we’re sort of in this minority of developed countries that use this very old electoral system.
“I started advocating for this locally with some friends and made my own little group of volunteers. We’re calling ourselves Fair Vote NWT, and we’ve got a little logo on the sign.”
Flatt feels that Canada’s current election process is flawed, and so came up with an idea that would grab people’s attention and spread awareness of Proportional Representation.
“As much as people don’t know about it already, I’m hoping that people will see how effective it is as an electoral system for making sure that everyone gets representation. You tend to have a lot less strategic voting under proportional systems, you tend to get much better policy outcomes for the economy, health, housing, environment, and the one that I highlighted on the sign for a bit of fun was the inclusion of women in Parliament and the representation of minorities.”
When asked why he chose Conan specifically, Flatt cited a famous scene from the 1982 film where a Mongol warlord asks Conan “what is best in life?”
Conan’s response is simply “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women.”
Flatt believed that Conan’s three-point response fit perfectly into the stereotypical political banner, where a picture of the candidate is displayed next to their own three bullet points sharing their beliefs and policies. All Flatt had to do was change the Barbarian’s third, outdated selling point to better intrigue the reader into the concept of Proportional Representation.
“I want people to realize how much better most developed countries have it in terms of voting, and how we should be mobilizing to get the same level of access to democracy.”
Flatt wrapped things up by saying that the Fair Vote Canada movement is always seeking help from like-minded volunteers, and that if anyone is interested in lending a hand or simply learning more, they can reach out to him at [email protected].
