Sunday, October 6, 2019

Chesed & The Book of Ruth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chesed & The Book of Ruth - Essay Example Chesed term also refers to the first day of God’s creation. The first day is referred to as Torah, which means the day of one. The day is associated with the creation of light. Light is a representation of goodness and loving kindness. The day signifies oneness of God. The first day accompanied all other days. The physical symbol of chesed is man’s reflection in water. Additionally, the concept of chesed is also manifest in man’s reflection of man’s heart to a man. In Hebrew, Chesed is similar to faithfulness born due to a sense of caring and mercy. The book of Ruth is characterized by Ruth. Ruth is the daughter-in-law to Naomi. After, the sons of Naomi die in Moab; Ruth insists that she must leave with Naomi to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:8-22). After, a successive journey back to Bethlehem, Judea, and Naomi orchestrates the meeting of Boaz and Ruth in eh barley field, which belonged to Boaz. Naomi took the initiative out of love and kindness for her daughter-in-law. Additionally, the plans of Naomi worked according to the plan. Naomi advised Ruth to hide until Boaz was asleep in order to lie down near his feet. After, Boaz woke up; Ruth had an easy time convincing him to marry her in order to form a oneness, chesed. Although, Boaz knew that Ruth was already seeing another man, he was willing to wait for the renouncement of Ruth by the other man before accepting Ruth’s offer (Ruth 3:1-18). The plan was in tandem with the traditions of the kinsman-redeemer. The relationship between Boaz and Ruth is sealed when Boaz is satisfied that no others man has claim over Ruth (Ruth 4:1-12). The epilogue explores Naomi’s joy and loving kindness especially when Boaz marries Ruth. Fortunately, Ruth has descendants of King David (Ruth 4:13-18). This implies that the aspect of chesed applies in all areas of life. The unity that Ruth and Naomi maintained led to the oneness between Boaz

Friday, October 4, 2019

Why Do We Need Environmental Engineering Topic LOVE CANAL TRAGEDY Case Study

Why Do We Need Environmental Engineering Topic LOVE CANAL TRAGEDY - Case Study Example This led to protests, intervention by the government and multiple lawsuits in pursuit of the compensation for the affected residents. Most of them moved, the infrastructure brought down and the Love Canal crossed for revitalization processes by the Environmental Protection Agency. William T Love is the impresario behind the famous Love Canal as indicated by his last name (Johnson 1). Significantly, the core purpose of the canal was to connect the separations of the Niagara River that had Niagara Falls parting them. Moreover, the canal’s construction would be in a way that residents of the Niagara area would also source electrical power from it; typically, this was a prevalent idea for environmental conservation and community development. Unfortunately, William’s plan faced multiple challenges during the 1892 economic downfall leading to the plan’s ultimate failure; however, this was after he had dug a large percentage of the proposed area. Nonetheless, there was not much that he could do leading to its sale in auction over 25yrs later. Shockingly, the Love Canal served the wrong purposes after its sale. Firstly, the purchasers used it as a chemical disposal site and later on, the United States Army joined the party by using it for warfare experiments that entailed chemical weapons. In the late 1940s, a company (Hooker Corporation) that dealt with chemicals and plastics acquired the Love Canal for the private practices (Phillips 313). Conversely, the company also concealed multiple tons of toxic surpluses in the Love Canal for a period of over 5 years filling it, after which they used land material to cover the chemicals. Niagara City bought the canal to counter its over-population problem from Hooker Corporation that was keen to caveat relative to previous dealings of the land. After purchasing the Love Canal, the city set up infrastructure in form of

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Balanced Scorecard Essay Example for Free

Balanced Scorecard Essay Rivalry amongst competing firms – Apple is in the unique situation that it has its own proprietary operating system and only used by Apple. So although the competition is fierce for customers, it is a different type of battle for Apple than for others such as Samsung, Google or Microsoft. Apple does face stiff competition but it is in the battle for use-case preference. The Android or Windows OS is different than the Apple iOS and consumers make a choice as to which road they are going to go down. Apple is competing for winning this important thought process and decision-making process. They are not competing on hardware alone because Apple alone produces their products with their OS. The competition will continue for easily the foreseeable future, 10 years and beyond, as the world becomes more digitized. Force: Moderate Potential Entry of New Competitors – The barriers to entry in this industry are steep. Cost of production is very high for new entrants until significant economies of scale are reached. Over the next 10 years there will be many new entrants into the industry though either brand new, or companies already in similar technology markets that will branch out into markets that compete with Apple. Again, that would be a competition for OS preference, not hardware per se. There is always the possibility of an entirely new and 4th, or more, operating systems being developed as technology advances. Moore’s Law tells us this is likely but difficult to ascertain from where it will come, whether it will be significantly better than any existing, and if it will gain wide user acceptance. Force: Weak to Moderate Potential Development of substitute products – Again, since Apple has its own exclusive OS, substitute products are only a threat as being other choices of entirely different OS’s from Microsoft or Android producers, or any other possible future OS development. But Apple does not have any substitute for its own products. Force: Weak Bargaining Power of Buyers – Apple users tend to stay Apple users. Their loyalty is strong and they love Apple products. Apple charges a premium for its products but the image and allure of Apple products and their perceived high quality keep unit sales strong. Although technology economies of scale have certainly been reached in Apple production, they have continued to keep their products priced higher that competing products. Buyer choice based on price alone should affect growth amongst some new customer segments, but will have little effect on the current loyal Apple user base. Unless their products begin to lose some of their luster and appeal and effectiveness, they should remain strong for the future. Force: Weak Bargaining Power of Suppliers – With Apple’s exclusive product line and OS and the relatively small number of products, they are not threatened by supplier power. Apple can easily find factories more than willing to be a part of the Apple supply chain. As their products gain more market share and production increases, Apple is in an ideal situation to manage their suppliers effectively.

Belfast Travellers: Services and Policies

Belfast Travellers: Services and Policies Case Study – Belfast Travellers The case study examines the provision of accommodation and other services for the travelling community in the Belfast area over a 30 year time period. During this time many different agencies, including the Department of the Environment (DoE), the Belfast City Council (BCC), the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) and a number of voluntary sector organizations, were involved in attempting to provide services to the travellers. This essay will examine the degree to which the travellers participated in specifying their needs and in designing policies to address them, and relate such consultation to different concepts of participation mentioned by Cornwall (2003). The concluding paragraph will evaluate the success, or otherwise, of such participation in delivering a sense of empowerment and self-reliance to the travelling community. Although community development has been a strategy of both statutory and voluntary sectors in Northern Ireland (NI) for many years[1], until relatively recently it does not seem to have been applied to the travelling community. This process works at a community level, through community groups and the appointment of local community development workers who â€Å"engage with the community to identify needs, raise issues, and develop programmes †¦ to address those needs†.[2] Although this strategy was no doubt consciously applied to the settled community, there is little evidence of it being used before 1992 with the travelling community. For example, the initial issues for providing accommodation for the travellers involved the provision of camping sites. At the Colin Glen site there were problems of overcrowding, compounded by the relocation to the site of families unrelated to those already there, which caused conflict between the groups. A contributing factor to this dete rioration was the lack of consultation with the travellers before moving additional families to the site. The entire site was eventually abandoned[3]. Initially the BCC provided sites, but these were often poorly serviced and were built without proper consultation. Responsibility for providing accommodation for travellers was later moved to the NIHE, and travellers were consulted about which families would be housed in group housing, developed through the use of housing associations.[4] However, they were not active in the running of the housing associations.[5] A report from 1980 titled Services for Travelling People in NI, issued by the Coordinating Committee for Social Problems, stated that the various voluntary sector agencies involved with the travelling community felt that they had effective policies, even though there had been no consultation with travellers.[6] More encouragingly, the Belfast Travellers Site Project (BTSP) was set up in 1985 with a committee consisting of 50 % travellers and 50% settled people. Its aims were to improve sites in Belfast and to have an input into policies regarding travellers in general.[7] In 1992 BTSP initiated a number of community-based activities, and one of their most important initiatives was that travellers were employed to work as community workers in their own communities. This initiative seems to fall within Cornwall’s description of â€Å"invited participation†.[8] Amongst the successes of the community development approach, the committee felt it had contributed to â€Å"an increase in the travellers’ sense of worth and the value of their particular culture†.[9] The state also played its part in trying to create an environment in which citizens could give input about issues affecting them. More attention was given to a rights-based approach to development, and in 1998 the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission was established, which gave the travellers an opportunity to make official complaints.[10] This resonates with what the study guide has to say about the â€Å"concept of citizenship† [11] as well as with Cornwall’s concept of an â€Å"aware citizenry†[12] Probably the most important improvement in the possibilities for participation came from the creation of An Munia Tober ((The Good Road) in 2005, from an amalgamation of a number of smaller community groups. Their objectives are â€Å"to provide services and act as an advocate for travellers, as well as offering opportunities for travellers to be involved in their own development† [13] In general, the voluntary sector has been consistent in trying to encourage the travellers to share in decision making and to participate in the management of projects, and several agencies have included representatives from travellers. However, travellers still feel that there is insufficient consultation. Those that do participate often feel that their views are not given due weight. For this reason, groups that work with travellers continue to promote their active participation, and try to help them to obtain the skills they need to contribute effectively. A proposed â€Å"All Ireland study on Travellers†, due to have started in 2007, intended to train travellers as researchers. The intention was not only to teach new skills, but also to impart increased ownership, improve confidence, and thereby reduce any inhibitions against forcefully arguing their case. [14] The success or failure of the various interventions in obtaining participation from the travelling community, and thereby imbuing them with a sense of empowerment and self-reliance, is difficult to judge. Certainly, the failures to obtain input and participation resulted in notable disasters, such as at Colin Glen. The Traveller Movement (NI) concluded that there had been â€Å"a policy failure of staggering proportions† in the treatment of travellers in general.[15] However, the success of the NIHE in accommodating over 50% of the travellers in group housing, consulting with them about which families to house together, demonstrates that a participative approach can produce good results. The policies of the BTSP in employing travellers as community workers, and in involving greater numbers of travellers in educational and health related activities, have contributed to an improvement in their sense of worth. On balance, both the negative consequences of non-participation, and t he positive results from consultative approaches, tend to indicate that participation does contribute to a sense of empowerment and self-reliance. Bibliography Course Book Cornwall, A. (2003) Looking back to move forward in Cornwall, A. Beneficiary, Consumer, Citizen: Perspectives on Participation for Poverty Reduction, Stockholm, SIDA. Le Mare, A (2006) Belfast travellers: a case study of the provision of housing and services for the travelling community in Belfast Word Count: With footnotes:1065 Without footnotes:1006 1 Footnotes [1] Belfast Travellers, 2006: 7 [2] Belfast Travellers, 2006: 7 [3] Belfast Travellers, 2006: 9 [4] Belfast Travellers, 2006: 10 [5] Belfast Travellers, 2006: 15 [6] Belfast Travellers, 2006: 11 [7] Belfast Travellers, 2006: 11 [8] Cornwall, A. 2003: 76-7 [9] Belfast Travellers, 2006 12/13 [10] Belfast Travellers, 2006 14 [11] Course Book: 65 [12] Cornwall, A. 2003: 76 [13] Belfast Travellers, 2006: 16 [14] Belfast Travellers, 2006: 17 [15] Belfast Travellers, 2006: 13 Should The Governments Regulate The Internet? Should The Governments Regulate The Internet? In 20th centuries, number of net citizen is growing fast around the World. Survey conducted by Internet Usage Statistics shows that over twenty-five percent of world population are internet users [11]. Because of the internet popularizing trend, the importance of Internet censorship has also risen. As a result, I believe that the Internet should be regulated by the Governments. This article is going to discuss mainly three areas. They are social, economical and political. Exploring the advantages and disadvantages on implementing regulation on the Internet, by reviewing current situations between United States, China and Hong Kong, what regulation have been done on the Internet. I picked Hong Kong as my studied area, as it is my living place, it is necessary to be concerned. While Hong Kong is executing One Country Two System, my motherland China, carrying out one system only, is also reviewed in this article. United States, which is claimed to be a model country of advocate peoples freedom, is chosen for comparison as a role of foreign country. There would be different aspects and outcomes of regulating the Internet within these three countries. Followed by, my reason on supporting Government should regulate the Internet. Firstly, I am going to discuss social issue. Public health is one reason supporting regulation on the Internet. Nowadays, many pornography sites can be accessed easily by just clicking Im above 18.. Children would get sex and harmful information from these sites easily without parent guidance. Thus, Internet control has become important to protect children. In United States, Communications Decency Act (CDA), established in 1996, regulates on offensive and obscenity content [23]. For Hong Kong, there is also law for obscene and violence control. It is called Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (Chapter 390) [14]. According to South Sina News (2007), a Hong Kong netizen, Mr. Woo, was sentenced as he published obscene links on the Internet [13]. When compare to Chinese Government, they only have some agreements on Internet control, there is no a concrete law that the internet censorship should follows. Thus, internet censorship in China is mainly held by filtering systems , or firewall. A common blocking system in China would be Green Dam Youth Escort (Green Dam) [20]. It is designed to filter illegal contents. Start from May, 2009, the software is required to pre-install in personal computers produced by China. The system protects children from violence and pornography. Problem of cyber-bullying is also one factor affecting public health. It causes psychological harm to netizens. In America, Megan Taylor Meier was committed suicide because a friends mother, Lori Drew. She humiliated Megan. Drew created a male account named Josh Evans, and bully Megan on the Internet. After investigation, Lori Drew was caught. This is not the only case that would cause psychological harm. In Hong Kong, net citizens would post persons data on the internet when they think the person is misconducted. Privacy like phone numbers, address, working place, etc., is exposed. Daily lives of many victims are badly affected. They are afraid to be recognized outside home. Tsui Yu Hin [5] is one of victims in Hong Kong. He was insulted by netizens pushing his pregnant girlfriend down elevator. Netizens setup a facebook group blaming his misbehavior. This affair was interrupting Tsuis living, he kept receiving disturbing phone calls. Cyber-bullying would cause victims more depressi on, negative impact on working or academic performance, extreme violent behavior such as murder or committed suicide. To prevent cyber-bullying, American has established the Megan Meier Cyber-bullying Prevention Act, this is one of the first cyber-bullying laws that protects children and adults from disturbs. This is a case that showing netizens are needed to take consequences for what they have done on the internet. I believe it is a good way to lighten the problem of cyber-bullying. Chinese and Hong Kong Government should follow the actions taken of U.S. Secondly, the economy issue is discussed. Foreign-invested enterprise, such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, etc., that are widely-used, has potential to strengthen the links between countries and global economy. Businesses such as mobile phones connecting Google, are being popular. Besides, companies can gain from owning the copyright. Protecting copyright would help providing a fair competition environment. As a result, Governments establish laws to accuse infringing on Copyrights currently, including film industry, music industry, etc., mainly related to creativity. One law in United States, Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) of 1999, [21], legislate the registration of domain names with trademarks. Though Hong Kong does not have same law, there is another potential law for protecting rights of trademark owners. The Intellectual Property Department [7] is set up to handle copyright, designs, personal intellectual properties and trademarks. Rules correlated to Trade Mark s Ordinance, Patents Ordinance, and Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance are introduced to protect creativity and balance the interest of the right owners and society. CHAN Nai Ming, a Hong Kong citizen, was jailed as he uploaded Hollywood films onto the Internet, while it is violating the copyright. While in China, there is also copyright registry on the website of National Copyright Administration of the Peoples Republic of China [12]. It is clear that regulating internet by the Government could be beneficial to economy factor. Lastly, political issue is discussed. Sensitive contents, mainly related to religion and politics, are usually filtered. In United States, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was introduced on May 18, 1977. [22]. It limits foreign governments, groups, or individuals (e.g. spies), that would cause international terrorism, and attacks. It prevents citizens to perform illegal activities. In China, filtering is required for protecting citizen from misconduct contents. MySpace China is one of the samples applied filtering. [2]. Sensitive topics are filtered, for example, Taiwan independence. In MySpace China, there is an abused report function for users. Abused account would be block when found that the abuse is true. This could help catching illegal netizens. Chinese Government would even interfere in administration of company or limit individuals freedom. Huang Qi [10][18], a website owner criticized the role of government in the student massacre June 4th 1989 in his website. G overnment considered his website content as illegal, as a result, Huang Qi was arrested on 3 June 2000, and facts stated on his website were blocked. In 2009, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Xinjiang Riot. Officials reported that protesters made use of Twitter/Facebook to gather themselves in Xinjiang Province. Many unauthorized postings on local sites and Google were limited by censors during and after the riots. Based on BBC News, search engine Google was blocked by China [1][3]. It was because China requested Google to filter controversial materials but Google denied. As a result, there is no Google.cn found on the internet. This shows that, when filtering or blocking is carried out, information transmission is limited. This would be beneficial to the Government. By controlling the access right, negative information about the government can be blocked. By looking at the cases in China and America, they show that filtering and setting up laws can help protecting national security, keeping netizens away from getting offending information. However, on the Internet users point of view, filtering would have an impact on getting updated news because filtering may block more than expected. Lots of useful information may be blocked. The regulation is far from perfect. Though there is such disadvantage, I believe internet should still be regulated by the government. When compared the level of internet censorship between Hong Kong and China, it is less strict in Hong Kong. Net citizens in Hong Kong have rooms to criticize the Government on the Internet, which would help monitoring the Government. When Hong Kong Government was introducing 2012 Act Now, net citizens were teasing by creating similar slogan and logo 2012 All Wrong. Though the censorship level is lower, there are still laws managing the disciplines on the internet. According to Ming Pao Newspaper (2008), netizen spread the message Hong Kong will become a city of SARS [4][6]. Large numbers of people were frightened and thus bought and stored rice bulkily. The netizen was sentenced Access to computer with criminal or dishonest intent [9][24]. It shows that net citizens are still required to take responsibilities. To summarize, internet censorship would be beneficial on social, economical and political areas, protecting privacy and intelligence property, keeping social order and public health. It is clear that Internet-censorship is necessary as Governments in different countries are already taking actions to control the Internet. Despite the advantages, in my point of view, Governments should regulate the Internet because it is more effective to carry out the disciplines from top-down strategy. Followed by, having the cooperation from other roles, such as webmaster. To me, an effective regulation should extend to set up laws only. Citizens would know that he/she need to take consequence even on virtual world. Person violating laws would be arrested, where there is room for the freedom of speech on the Internet. In conclusion, regulation is beneficial on many aspects. It could help protecting privacy and intelligence property, keeping social order and public health. Though Internet censorship is a difficult task to perform, it is a necessary action taken.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Comparing Grovers Growing Up White In America and McBrides Work, What Color Is Jesus? :: Compare Contrast Essays

Comparing Grover's Growing Up White In America and McBride's Work, What Color Is Jesus? Racial issues have been predominant for the last fifty years. The two authors Bonnie Kay Grover and James McBride share their racial views in their respective works â€Å"Growing Up White In America† and â€Å"What Color Is Jesus?† Each author has a different view on exactly what race is and how it is used. Bonnie Kae Grover is a white female who believes that race has been used as a weapon. Specifically, she focuses on how white people use their color of skin to be controlling of other people. Her gripe is on the notion of â€Å"white culture.† She questions the validity of the statement and believes it is simply just American culture and those who think of it as white culture â€Å"just moved in like they’ve discovered it† (Grover 377). She examines some similarities in today’s â€Å"white culture† and the historical attitude of the exploring Europeans. The Europeans, when inhabiting North America, â€Å"just moved in and said they had God on their side and the Indians weren’t much anyway but a few of them could work for them sometimes if they behaved themselves, and the rest were lined up for disposal† (377). The Europeans believed themselves superior to the Indians; any and all action – fair and unfair alike – taken against the Indians was justifiable because it helped the Europeans. Grover argues that this irresponsible approach is the basis of the white culture. White culture is simply American culture taken and modified as seen fit by white people. James McBride focuses his essay on his parents. His mother was white and his father black. He felt confusion; which color was he? McBride remembers when he was ten, he approached his mother with the question while she was working on the kitchen table. Her thoughtful response was only one word: â€Å"[p]liers† (391). He was not the only one in the family to have this question. His older brother took it an extra step and during Sunday school asked the reverend about the skin color of Jesus.

Portrayal of Man in Dostoevskys The Brothers Karamazov Essay example -

Portrayal of Man in The Brothers Karamazov  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Debauchery, dueling, infidelity, orgies, and even monastery life are all used to help Fyodor Dostoevesky define his characters in The Brothers Karamazov. At the beginning of the novel, the reader becomes filled with contempt for a few members of the Karamazov family, yet filled with admiration for others. The legitimate members of the Karamasov family each represent a separate aspect of human character, which is applicable to society. In some ways the characters resemble separate factions and cliques of society that most often argue, but together can be productive. This is shown not by direct implication, but rather the reader discovers the fact on their own by becoming infuriated at the stupidity of the Karamazov men. This anger leads to the realization that in many ways, they themselves are in some ways similar to them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fyodor Pavlovich Karamasov is the patriarch of the family. A shrewd businessman, Fyodor is very self-centered and cares more for himself than anyone else. He is a brilliant man for making deals and increasing his wealth, but manages to be oblivious of manners and societal rules. A tendency to act is an enormous fault in him, and he leaves an impression of having no deeply personal feelings, only overzealous acting to fit his "role" at any given time. When Fyodor's first wife dies Dostoevesky explains, "What seemed to gratify and flatter him most was to play the ridiculous part of the injured husband and to parade his woes with embellishments"(4). Because he has little, if any personal feelings, this enables him be indifferent towards others' emotions. Happiness is the only cause worth pursuing to Fyodor, and he will cross anyone to achieve it. Wh... ...e in their own ways. When searching for separate goals, and conflicting with each other, they can accomplish very little. The more inner-conflict within the family, the more problems they seem to find themselves in. These men, representing different aspects of society and humankind, have problems that they cannot solve on their own. If the Karamazov's were to work together towards a common goal, much could become accomplished, just as society could solve many conflicts through teamwork and cooperation. The characters in the novel The Brothers Karamazov show the reader that most societal conflicts are unnecessary and could easily be remedied through understanding and patience. WORKS CITED Dostoevesky, Fyodor Mikhailovich. The Brothers Karamazov. The Constance   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Garnett Translation revised by Ralph E. Matlaw. New York: W. W. Norton   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  & Company Inc., 1976

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Mixed Member Proportional Government for Canada

Canada's government system was drafted at the Quebec conference by the so-called â€Å"Fathers of Confederation.† In this system, the Queen of Great Britain has the formal executive power. This in effect made the Canadian government system loosely based on the system being used by the United Kingdom (One Stop Canada, n.d.). Up to now, the Queen is still the head of the state, but just like any other parliamentary democracy, her powers are extremely limited. It is still the Parliament that drafts and approves the country's laws, and then the Queen would give the final approval, so to speak, known as the â€Å"Royal Assent.† Whenever the Queen is not in Canada, the Governor General acts as her representative and performs all her ceremonial and administrative duties. The Governor General is always chosen by the Queen by virtue of the Prime Minister's recommendation. The Governor General normally stays in office for 5 years (One Stop Canada, n.d.). The seat of power lies in the House of Parliament, but specifically, in the House of Commons. It is them who make laws for â€Å"make laws for the peace, order and good government of Canada†, and this includes defence, international policies, criminal law, immigration, border control and customs. They are being elected every 5 years. The present system in the Canada is the single member representation, commonly known also as first past the post or plurality system, wherein the whole country is divided into constituencies (total of 308) and during elections, whoever gets the most number of votes in any particular constituency represents the constituency, and take a single seat in the Parliament (One Stop Canada, n.d.). This system is now being challenged by many because of the presumed â€Å"lack of real representation† of this system. Challenges on the current system and call for a change Statistics from last year's election show that in British Columbia, the Liberal Party gained 77 of the 79 seats for that province with only 58% of the votes, compared to the former ruling Democratic Party who only gained 2 seats despite getting 22% of the vote. (The Democratic Party held 52 seats during the elections before last year, with only 39.5% of the vote.) The Green Party, although they have won 12.5% of the total votes, got no seats at all. This recent election has proven to many that there is a need for a change in their electoral system. Adriane Carr, the British Columbia Green Party leader, leads the initiative to change the existing first-past-the-post system of Canada. Carr launched this initiative to encourage the government to consider her drafted legislation on the mixed member proportional government (Caron, 1999; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, 2002). In this proposed system, the benefits both electoral schemes will be combined. A voter will choose a candidate that he or she likes, and at the same time, vote for a party also. In this way, all constituencies will be represented, and at the same time, a proportionate number of seats will also be given to parties receiving a certain percentage of votes, thus, ensuring the representation on the interest or cause that it represents. It was also argued that this new system will maximize voter turnout as all votes will be taken into consideration, unlike the case of a first-past-the-post system where only the winning votes, so to speak, are represented in the parliament. This means that in this system, it would not only mean that the leading party would have seats in the Parliament, but also the minority party or parties, depending on the percentage of votes that they have won (Caron, 1999). This scheme is also said to increase the representation of women in the Parliament. In many countries in the Europe, proportional representation increased women representation by more than 10% (Caron, 1999). Such condition is something being advocated by parties like the Democratic Party in Canada. If proportional representation will be adopted by the Canadian political system, it is forecasted to increase the voter turnout from all levels of election, and at the same time, also increase the representation of other interests in the Parliament. Theoretically, this scheme will make all votes count. The ultimate question: Will this work in Canada? Many advocates of first-past-the-post system believe that if the system is not broken, then, do not fix it. But it appears that while it is not broken, there is a better way of doing it. Even cynics do not disagree with having a need for electoral reform. The current system of electoral process in Canada is based on a winner-take-all principle, which means that the only representation happening is the winning vote, i.e., the popular partisan viewpoint. This also means that the other vote, the losing view, lose their right to political representation. This system has produced a government with a winning party winning majority of seats, without really wining majority of the votes (Gordon, 2003). Canadians have only enjoyed true majority governments, elected by a majority of voters, four times since World War I (Gordon, 2003). The recent election show how â€Å"unrepresented† the voters are. And with the idea that they really have not attained a true majority government yet, still, they are using the first-past-the-post system despite the theoretically good outcome of a proportional representation system, or at least, the mixed member proportion. In all aspects of the theory, from the idea of being truly representative, to the idea of increasing voters' turnout, we know that this mixed member proportion will work. Since World War 1, only four times have the Canadian people attained a true representative majority, which means for only four times have the people been truly represented. This new system will in almost all certainty, reduce the control of the reigning party in the parliament. The system has worked or is still showing potential benefits in all countries which have tried this. Canada will not be an exemption. So, more than just asking if this system will work in Canada, the ultimate question is: Will the existing government give this a chance to work? Works cited: Caron, Jean-Franà §ois. â€Å"The end of the first-past-the post electoral system?† Canadian Parliamentary Review, 22.3 (Autumn 1999): 19-22. Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, 2002. Rod Donald exports MMP to Canada. Press release (28th March 2002). Gordon, Larry. â€Å"It’s time for fair voting in Canada.† Economics at About.com (15 October 2003). One Stop Canada, n.d. Canadian Political System. http://www.onestopimmigration-canada.com/canadian_political_system.html