Marc A. Cormier

France’s electoral system may seem mysterious to most North Americans. It is however, in my view, one of the best in the world: you get to vote twice! Like many compatriots I get to make my first choice based on policies and personality, but I can also exercise that right as a protest vote before rallying one of the two qualified candidates.

To compare, let’s review Canada’s federal electoral system where one wins with a relative majority (First-past-the-post). With four candidates in such an election, one could theoretically win with a little over the quarter of the vote (Example: Candidate A 26%, B 25%, C 25%, D 24%). In Canada’s parliamentary elections, you don’t vote for the Prime Minister, you only vote for your member of parliament. The leader of the political party with the most seats usually becomes the De Facto Prime Minister. The head of state in Canada remains the Governor General, an unelected viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.

France’s electoral system for Presidential elections is a two-round system also known as runoff voting. The first round is open to all candidates who qualify. Under current rules, you need to secure 500 signatures from various city councilors, members of various assemblies and such. If you can gather this number, you’re in! Based on this system, the French electorate had over ten candidates to choose from.

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France’s parliamentary election for expatriates causes a stir in Canada and the USA for different reasons.

2012 is an important year for political junkies: the United States will have a Presidential election as well as elections to the House of Representatives and part of the Senate. France will hold its presidential election in April with a runoff in May and legislative elections will follow in June. There will also be elections in Bermuda, Ghana, Palau, Madagascar …

France’s parliamentary election will feature a whole new roster of candidates representing expatriates around the world. French citizens duly registered at consulates will elect eleven members of parliament and one of these members will represent French citizens living in Canada and the United-States of America. [&]

At last count, there are over fifteen known candidates; most of whom will probably drop out of the race by the time papers have to be filed. Expatriates living in North America might get to choose between at least three left-wing candidates, one centrist, six conservative/liberal candidates and one far-right candidate.

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I built this montage in Photoshop on Monday, Feb 13th, 2012.

I posted it to Facebook that evening and in less than 48 hours later is has been ‘liked’ by over 13000 people, shared 9600 times and gathered over 347 upvotes and 72 downvotes on reddit.com!

A month later, the image has been ‘liked’ by 75751 people, shared 48052 times on Facebook.

My first encounter with the Internet happened twenty years ago when I connected with Canada’s first dial-up Internet Service Provider: Internex Online or io.org. Internex Online was affordable, community based and a definite break away from the Bulletin Board Systems so prevalent at the time.

Before Internex, I used to frequent the Echo BBS run with a lot of passion by someone named Karen S. I remember meeting various members of the board for Bowling and the odd BBQ. BBS’s were small, local but also close-knit. It was either on Echo or a similar BBS that someone told me about this BBS that connected you to an In-ter-net : ZOOiD BBS (The Zoo of Ids) soon to become Internex Online.

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Most astrophysicists believe that the Universe started with a Big Bang. How it ends is still matter for debate, and some argue it will end with a Big Whimper.

Is the Web, the Information Big Bang, also going end in a Big Whimper?

I present to you the case of the Huffington Post and its new “Canadian” incarnation.

I live in Canada and I’ve been reading the Huffington Post for 4 or more years now, and while a lot of it is bunk and noise, especially anything relating to health issues, I read it because I wanted to hear from the American Left and American Progressives. Just like I check Matt Drudge to hear from the American Right and Guys in Fedoras.

Why do I like to read about American politics? Well interest of course, but also political commentary. You see, in 2008, one of my political blogs (currently offline) was listed in France’s major news websites: LeMonde.fr. I used many sources including the Huffington Post for analysis from a uniquely American perspective.

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• a - archive.org
  
  • addthis.com
  • aircanada.com
• am - amazon
• an - ancestry.ca
• b - bit.ly

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Francophiles often ask, what are some great French movies one would suggest? Here is a small selection I put together whilst answering such a question somewhere else on the vast web.

Here are some favourites among classics.

• 1930 - 1940
  • La Grande Illusion (1937) - Greatest movie, epic about WW 1, European change, the end of aristocracy and French POW. Movie was pillaged by Hollywood and hated by Adolf Hitler. By Renoir with Jean Gabin, Erich von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay
  • Pépé le moko (1937) - An allegory of France-Algeria relations as seen through the personal relations of Gabin and an Algerian woman

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“If you live in France and you have written one good book, or painted one good picture, or directed one outstanding film, 50 years ago, and nothing ever since, you are still recognized as an artist and honoured accordingly. In Hollywood, you’re as good as your last picture. If you didn’t have one in production in the last three months, you’re forgotten, no matter what you have achieved” - Erich von Stroheim