[fvc-wat-announce] Political Action by midnight SUNDAY MARCH 3: Once in a Lifetime Opportunity - High Impact - Easy

Anita Nickerson anitann88 at gmail.com
Sat Mar 2 17:48:43 EST 2013 

Hello, Fair Vote Canada Waterloo supporters. For those not on our national
mailing list, I am forwarding the plea to all proportional representation
supporters from Liberals for Fair Voting, a caucus of Fair Vote Canada
(scroll down to see the letter) headed by one of Fair Vote Canada's
co-founders and enduring champions, John Deverell. To view and share the
letter on the web, go here: www.fairvotetakeaction.org

Now my personal plea.

I'm also very involved with Cooperate for Canada <http://cooperate4.ca/>.
Fair Vote Canada does not endorse Cooperate for Canada.  Cooperate for
Canada has two objectives - to get proportional representation* **and *replace
Harper, and FVC can't endorse the latter. But we could hardly fail to
recognize the importance of this movement to our federal campaign.

The Liberals, in an unprecedented move, have opened voting in their
leadership race to almost every Canadian 14 years of age and older.
*The **deadline
to sign up to vote in their race
<http://murray.liberal.ca/support-joyce/>is this Sunday March
3. *Any Canadian who is not a member of another federal party (that would
be 98% of Canadians) can sign up for free in the "supporter" category. You
do not need to become a party member or have any obligation whatsoever to
the party. My interpretation of "supporter": I support some basic values
the Liberal Party says it stands for, such as equality and human rights.

There is *only one candidate* supporting proportional
representation<http://theplan.joycemurray.ca/?p=47> -
Joyce Murray <http://joycemurray.ca/>. She has signed Fair Vote Canada's
Declaration of Voter's Rights. If proportional representation supporters in
Canada register and outnumber Liberal members and Justin fans by tomorrow
at midnight, we make history. If we sit around and think, "That is
interesting, I wonder what will happen", or click "like", or say "Well, the
other party will never cooperate anyway" (or is opposed to PR anyway, or
did bad things in past anyway), we lose.

If the Liberals elect Trudeau, we will have a much harder time getting the
Liberals on board for PR or a fair process, as he is anti-PR (as are all
the other candidates). We need parties who together will hold the majority
of seats in the House after the next federal election to be in support of
PR or a fair process to get it, or we will get nowhere. This is a key
window of opportunity to act.

In the final days before the cut-off to vote, the following individuals and
groups (I'm sure I have missed some) have either come out in direct support
of Cooperate for Canada, or Joyce Murray. Charities like Sierra Club have
even informed their members in carefully worded statements that to take
action to vote for Murray is something they should strongly consider:

-* Leadnow* (who is running the Cooperate for Canada campaign
http://cooperate4.ca/
- *Avaaz* http://www.avaaz.org/en/join_the_liberals/?rc=fb&pv=91
- *Andrew Coyne*
http://www.canada.com/improve+politics+have+repair+broken+electoral+system/8014896/story.html#ixzz2LyBYGraZ
- *David Suzuki*
http://sphotos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/538240_10151331378917842_1971937767_n.png
- *Sierra Club*
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/democratic-participation-interesting-and-unique-opportunity
- *Dogwood Initiative *
- *Project Democracy*
http://www.projectdemocracy.ca/case-ndp-liberal-green-cooperation
-* Liberals for Fair Voting* http://www.liberalsforfairvoting.ca/
- *Women for Fair Voting *
- *Peter Russell*
http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/553324_10151343613212842_1249459389_n.png
- *Elizabeth May*
http://www.greenparty.ca/blogs/7/2013-02-11/political-cooperation
- *Bruce Hyer*
http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/02/28/bruce-hyer-endorses-joyce-murray/
- *Sarah Polley *-
http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/02/28/joyce-murray-gets-boost-from-star-studded-advocacy-groups/
- *Naomi Klein* (if you're on the Leadnow facebook page, they posted her
statement there)
- *The Green Party of Ontario*
http://www.gpo.ca/blog/2013-03-01/gpo-supports-cooperation-proportional-representation
#

Great rap video by Baba Brinkman in support of Joyce Murray - *check out
Fair Vote Canada's Declaration of Voter's Rights in it*!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AgZQD1MWGMI

If you support PR, are not a current member of another federal party,
and want to exercise the leverage the Liberal Party has provided us, I
encourage you to register to vote now<http://murray.liberal.ca/support-joyce/>,
and most importantly, take the time to share this email with your friends
and family across the country.

If you have any questions about Cooperate for Canada, how the Liberal
leadership race works, anything, email me (anitann88 at gmail.com) or call me
at 519-568-7655

Thank you.

Anita

** **

<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189757&qid=1728657>
****

** **

*Liberals for Fair Voting is an autonomous caucus of Fair Vote Canada*****

February 28, 2013****

*Re:  Political Action This Week:   Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity,
 High-Impact  -- and Easy*****


Hopeful friends,****


Have you ever wished for  e-messages  from several of your favourite NGOs
proposing a practical online collective action with very  high impact?****


Would you like your NGOs to be scaring the arrogant pants off Stephen
Harper, Jason Kenny, Vic Toews, Peter Kent and the rest of the Reform
Conservative  crew -- and the plutocracy too?****


You know the NGOs  I’m thinking of -- Council of Canadians,  Greenpeace,
Sierra Club Canada, Amnesty International and others we support. They
regularly remind us that the country and the world are going to hell in a
handbasket,  the tipping point is nigh, and somebody ought to do something
about it.****


This week in their appeals to membership, taking a cue from David
Suzuki<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189747&qid=1728657>
,* Sarah Polley,
<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189758&qid=1728657>Naomi
Klein,<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189758&qid=1728657>and
Leadnow
,<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189759&qid=1728657>
they
should be touting Joyce Murray for the  leadership of the Liberal
Party.*The messages should be something like this:
****

** **

*Dear Friends,*****

** **

The Canada we love, and the choices we seek to preserve  for all who will
follow us,  are eroding day by day.  ****

** **

The Canadian political system is not addressing  what we know to be large
and urgent questions of public policy.  In particular, the cabal running
the federal government is devious and truth-challenged  beyond any in
recent experience.****

** **

Even so the federal opposition  --  the Parliamentary minority which
represents a popular majority of Canadians --  remains divided and
impotent.  *Stephen Harper,  unless thousands of us  take unusual  but
practical action between now and  Sunday March 3,  could have his way with
Canada well into the next decade.*****

** **

Why is Sunday March 3 the deadline for our urgent action?  Bringing some
 coherence to all the opposition parties requires, at this juncture,  some
unusual  and creative democratic behavior from the Liberal Party of Canada.
That’s where the critical deadline arises.****

** **

Liberal MP Joyce Murray, a well-qualified and attractive candidate  for the
Liberal leadership, is proposing  a democratic transformation of her party
and the Canadian political
system<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189748&qid=1728657>.
 If we act now, Justin Trudeau, Marc Garneau and other leading Liberals
soon will find themselves sharing her vision.****

** **

Like Nathan Cullen of the NDP, and Elizabeth May of the Green Party, Joyce
Murray is advocating  cooperation among the opposition parties to win the
2015 general election.  Joyce
Murray,<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189749&qid=1728657>like
Cullen and May,  also links one-time tactical cooperation to the
advocacy of  democratic voting reform as a top priority for an NDP/Liberal/
Green coalition government in the next Parliament.****

** **

For this reason Joyce Murray --  or any other Liberal leadership candidate
who joins the NDP and Green parties in advocating  equal effective
votes<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189750&qid=1728657>and
proportional representation for Canadians -- deserves and needs
immediate encouragement from  thousands of Canadians of all political
persuasions. *We can and should  and must deliver that encouragement,
online, this week.*<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189751&qid=1728657>
****

** **

*Liberal Party rules* allow all Canadians, except members of other parties,
to *register online ** at no cost.  **Registered persons can then vote,
 between April 6 and April 14, to choose the next Liberal leader*. The
deadline for this online
registration<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189751&qid=1728657>is
Sunday, March 3.
****

** **

*This is a game-changing political opportunity we must not miss.* Neither
the Liberal Party nor any other is likely to offer it again in our lifetime.
****

** **

*Please register
today*<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189751&qid=1728657>
* to vote in the Liberal leadership election.*****

** **

To help the democratic  cause further, give the Joyce Murray campaign some
money<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189752&qid=1728657>.
As Stephen Harper  knows,  much of it will come back to you as a political
tax credit.****

** **

By acting to register online this week, and by voting for Joyce Murray or
another democratic-minded Liberal candidate in April, we will be taking a
giant  step  toward real representative democracy in  Canada after 2015.****

** **

We will be creating, together,   a  legitimate and more powerful  tool to
hold all politicians accountable for their actions and to defend and
promote  the values and causes  we  hold dear.****

** **

It’s what we should do, now,  this week,  for ourselves, for our fellow
citizens, and for all future citizens including our own children and
grandchildren.****

** **

Please act, and spread the word to your contacts, today.****

** **

Yours in realistic optimism, NGO Chair, NGO Executive Director, etc.****

** **

What we ask of others we must do ourselves. Everyone on this list should
 be registered to vote in the Liberal election, but if not (a) please
register<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189751&qid=1728657>and
(b) spread the word far and wide, particularly to your influential NGO
 players with mailing lists and  (c) cross your fingers for viral impact
 before March 3.****

***
Yours for a democratic and sustainable Canada*****

***
**John Deverell, Chair, Liberals for Fair Voting / Founding Treasurer, Fair
Vote Canada**
For further information about LIBERALS FOR FAIR VOTING contact John
Deverell 905 509 7092.*****

* **Share this call to action with
friends<http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=189762&qid=1728657>
**. **

http://www.fairvote.ca/civicrm/mailing/optout?reset=1&jid=2674&qid=1728657&h=e16c7554cbd8ee12
*

*3 Macdonell Avenue #302**
Toronto, ON M6R 2A3
Canada*****

** **

 ****

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****

*Fair Vote Canada *****

3 Macdonell Avenue #302
Toronto, ON M6R 2A3
Canada****

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