“We will take action to get handguns and assault weapons off our streets” – Liberal Party of Canada, election platform, 2015.

Over the past four years, some controversial promises have been kept -- the legalization of recreational marijuana being a prominent example.

Some major promises have been broken – the Liberals having abandoned their pledge to replace the first-past-the-post electoral system when it became clear there was no national consensus for change.

“Indeed! It illustrates why the ritualistic ‘within three per cent 19 times in 20’ is nonsense, when less than 10 per cent of people respond to polls.” – Political Scientist Barry Kay, Wilfrid Laurier University

Professor Kay was commenting via email on four new federal election polls in the past week. Two polls put the Conservatives ahead of the Liberals – one by six points, the other by eight points. The other two had the Liberals ahead – one by one point, the other by six points.

Every now and again – perhaps once in a political blue moon – a really good idea emerges, one that is so sensible that you might think our elected representatives would trip over themselves to claim ownership.

The idea for this blue moon emerges, or re-emerges, in a new book by Dave Meslin, a Toronto-based artist, activist and community organizer, entitled “Teardown: Rebuilding Democracy from the Ground Up.”

The Liberals won the federal election of 2015 for two main reasons.

The first reason: Justin Trudeau was not Stephen Harper. After nine-plus years of Conservative government – the last four with a majority – the country was weary of Harper and his party and it embraced Trudeau as the agent of change.