[fvc-wat-disc] Letter to the Editor in The Record

[Derek Kraan]

Hi all,

Today a letter from Rick Fairman appeared in the The Record. I'll paste the
link and the text below.

http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1184138203145&call_pageid=1024322168441&col=1024322594318

Electors not well served
>
> RICK FAIRMAN
>
> (Jul 11, 2007)
>
> Those opposing the proposed change in our electoral system because it
> would overthrow 200 years of tradition would do well to review history. Is
> this tradition truly worth keeping?
>
> Our current electoral system has not served us well. It renders voters
> unequal by typically allowing half the votes cast to count for nothing. It
> effectively dissuades and alienates many citizens who don't see any point in
> voting since their vote rarely, if ever, translates into representation.
>
> Of those who do bother, many resort to strategically voting for the lesser
> of evils rather than the choice of their conscience. Moreover, our system
> distorts election results by allotting disproportional representation to all
> parties, and some parties with substantial voter support no representation
> at all. It persistently makes false majority governments of parties with a
> minority of voter support.
>
> If the objective were to uphold 200 years of tradition, why then today are
> women allowed to vote? Our forbearers recognized that injustice and made
> changes -- just as today many recognize the injustices of our current
> first-past-the-post electoral system. Many, likewise, are moved by a moral
> imperative to correct it. This is the objective of the Ontario Citizens
> Assembly and the electoral reform campaign -- that we progress to a new era
> of truer democracy through proportional representation.
>
> Rick Fairman
>
> Kitchener
>
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