[fvc-wat-announce] Newsletter Fair Vote Canada Waterloo Region Chapter

[Angela Yenssen]

FAIR VOTE CANADA WATERLOO REGION CHAPTER NEWSLETTER

ISSUE #3, 2008

 

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS - FEDERAL ELECTION FAIR VOTING CAMPAIGN

      Another federal election is upon us and the executive members of the
Waterloo Region Fair Vote Canada Chapter have developed an activity plan to
raise awareness about the need for electoral reform during the campaign.  We
are focusing on two tasks:

 

1)        Sending letters to local newspapers linking electoral reform to
the federal election

2)        Attending all candidates' debates to ask questions about electoral
reform and to distribute literature

 

 Please feel free to use some of the talking points listed below to write
letters to the newspapers or attend all candidates' meetings to raise
awareness about the need for electoral reform.  Each of the Waterloo Region
Chapter executive members is taking responsibility for providing leadership
to promote electoral reform in one of the four ridings in Waterloo Region
during the election.  Please contact the executive member providing
leadership in your riding if you would like to collaborate to prepare
letters or attend meetings beyond the talking points listed below.  

 

Kitchener-Waterloo Riding:  Angela Yenssen (ayenssen at rogers.com)

Kitchener Centre Riding:  John Milne (jdmilne at gmail.com)

Kitchener-Conestoga Riding:  Neil Dietrich (neildietrich at gmail.com)

Cambridge Riding:  Donna Reid (donna-reid at sympatico.ca) or Shannon Adshade
(sadshade at lutherwood.ca)

 

            John Milne has ordered flyers from the Fair Vote Canada head
office that can be distributed at all candidates' meetings.  Please contact
John to obtain some flyers at jdmilne at gmail.com.  Thanks to all of you who
are able to assist with raising the profile of the fair voting campaign
during the federal election.  Together we can ultimately win this fight and
bring proportional representation to Canada!

 

Angela Yenssen

Co-Chair, Fair Vote Canada Waterloo Region Chapter

ayenssen at rogers.com

519-747-3825   

 

 

TALKING POINTS FOR LETTERS AND CANDIDATES' DEBATES

1. Emphasis should be on "ELECTORAL REFORM", not MMP. - What will
parties/candidates do about the issue?
2. Facts:   A) In the 2006 federal election, more than 650,000 Green Party
voters across the country elected no one. Meanwhile, fewer than a
half-million Liberal voters in Atlantic Canada alone elected 20 MPs. 
B) In the prairie provinces, Conservatives won three times as many votes as
the Liberals, but were given nearly ten times as many seats. 
C) more than 400,000 Conservative voters in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver
couldn't elect a single MP. 
D) The NDP attracted a million more votes than the Bloc, but the voting
system gave the Bloc 51 seats and the NDP 29.
E) A majority Government does not need the support of the majority of
Canadians.  The last true majority (where a party received more than 50% of
the vote) was with Brian Mulroney in 1984 with 50.03% of the vote.  Jean
Chretien's Liberals won a Majority in 1997 with 39% of the vote.
F) The First-Past-The-Post system used in Canada today was developed in the
12th century.  Most European countries utilize voting systems developed in
the 19th or 20th century, such as Single Transferable Vote used in Ireland.


GOVERNMENT POSITION ON ELECTORAL REFORM (Possible Debate question)

The Conservative Party of Canada's March 19, 2005 Policy statement reads as
follows on the question of electoral reform:
i) A Conservative Government will consider changes to electoral systems,
including proportional representation, the single transferable ballot, fixed
election
dates, and the use of referendums.
ii) In reviewing options for electoral reform, a Conservative Government
will not
endorse any new electoral system that will weaken the link between Members
of
Parliament and their constituents, that will create unmanageably large
ridings, or
that will strengthen the control of the party machinery over individual
Members of
Parliament. A national referendum will be held prior to implementing any
electoral reform proposal.
Therefore, possible question: To the Conservative Candidate - The
Conservative Party said they will consider changes to the electoral system
and promised a National Referendum on the issue in 2005.  What happened?  To
other Candidates - Would you consider a national referendum to propose a new
electoral system, such as a form of proportional representation?  If so, by
when?

 

 

PROVINCIAL AND NATIONAL FAIR VOTE UPDATES

     The one day provincial conference on voting reform that had been
planned by Fair Vote Ontario for October 2008 has been postponed until
February 2009.  Planning had been started by the Fair Vote Ontario Council
to hold a press conference on the anniversary of the MMP referendum calling
on the Ontario government to complete the unfinished business of electoral
reform in Ontario.  However, the press conference has been cancelled due to
the federal election call.  The Fair Vote Canada national office is
currently focused on the federal election campaign but will be resuming a
focus on preparing for the British Columbia referendum on STV in May 2009
when the federal election is over.  Stay tuned for more updates on Fair Vote
Canada and Fair Vote Ontario initiatives after the federal election.  

 

 

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