[fvc-wat-disc] letter to the ed eg.

[Rick Fairman]

The following is a copy of a letter to the editor I have emailed to the 
Orangeville Citizen, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, Windsor Star, Kingston 
Whig-Standard, North Bay Nugget, Trenton Trentonian, Sault Ste. Marie Star 
and Sudbury Star.  I plan on submitting to as many major and local 
newspapers as I can within Ontario.  I find that most papers have limits of 
200-300 words for a letter to the editor.  Searching individual newspaper 
websites will yield you the criteria that is required.  The letter itself is 
an expanded version of one I submitted and appeared in The Record on Mar. 
29, 2006.  Perhaps it could serve as an example.  Here goes...

Dear Editor
Please consider for publication the following:  (Although it is about 395 
words, it may not qualify as a Letter to the Editor, but perhaps could as an 
Opinion article, considering the importance of the subject matter.)  Thank 
you for your time and consideration.



In the last federal election, almost two-thirds of a million Canadians voted 
for the Green party.  So how many MPs are in Ottawa representing these 
voters?  The answer is zero, none.  Because of an inequitable electoral 
system, more than 650,000 voters are, in effect, disenfranchised, their 
voices silenced, their concerns ignored.  So much for democracy.

Is it any wonder many people don't bother voting?  When one casts a vote and 
it counts for nothing, what's the point?  Voting then becomes an exercise in 
futility, breeding cynicism, apathy and alienation.  This past election 
federally, almost eight million eligible voters did not vote.

As it stands, elections are equated with sporting events and games of 
chance, referred to with such terms as "races," "first-past-the-post" and 
"winner-take-all," as if seeking representation in government is some kind 
of a proverbial crapshoot.  Is entering a polling station the equivalent to 
entering a gambling house?  If you pick the "right" candidate, you win and 
gain representation; if not, then you lose and have wasted your time.   
Elections are not horse races, poker games or chess matches and voting ought 
not to be equated with placing a bet.

Representative government should be precisely that: a mirror image of the 
electorate.  If a person engages in participatory democracy by casting a 
vote, then that person ought to be accorded the assurance of representation 
in return.  Anything less is not democracy.

Let's eliminate the need for "strategic voting" whereby one holds one's nose 
and votes for the lesser of two evils, rather than one's conscience.  Let's 
eliminate the obscene number of wasted votes cast that elect no one.  Let's 
make every vote count and thereby give people a reason to get out and vote 
again.  Let's restore faith in our democracy by making it work for all 
rather than merely some of us.

I therefore call on all politicians and citizens to replace our unjust 
exclusionary, casino-style electoral system with the fair, inclusive and 
truly democratic system of proportional representation.  In the 
election/referendum of October 10, 2007, Ontarians will have the chance to 
do just that.
                                                                             
                                       Rick Fairman

(  )= required
(name)
(street address)
(city, province)
(postal code)

(daytime phone number)
(evening phone number)
(email:)