[fvc-wat-disc] Food for thought from provincial

Tue Oct 16 22:17:15 EDT 2007

3% is actually a lot, if you think about it. Since there would be 90
ridings, and generally people win in a riding with around 50% of the votes
in their ridings, 3% would be roughly equivalent to the number of votes
necessary to win 5 or 6 seats.

Put another way, a single person (from any party) needs only half a percent
of the overall votes to win in a riding. It's arbitrary in a sense to demand
that these people come from the same geographic location.

Anyways, I think it's a good idea to see what we can do to help fund this
research project.

Cheers,

Derek Kraan

2007/10/16, Kevin Smith <kevedsmith at gmail.com>:
>
> Hi folks:
>
> OK, I'll crunch the numbers and request a cheque.  Who am I making it
> out to, and where am I sending it?
>
> Re: the threshold, it surprises me that people are so afraid that a
> party with 3% of public support (hundreds of thousands) would get
> representation in the legislature.  Isn't that what democracy is all
> about?  We aren't going to agree with everyone, but their views should
> be listened to and considered on their merits.  If we're afraid to do
> that, we don't have much of a democracy.
>
> Kevin.
>
> On 10/16/07, Shannon Adshade <sadshade at lutherwood.ca> wrote:
> > Hello All, I believe a research partnership with LSPIRG;analyzing
> > post-referendum voting patterns would be an excellent and very useful
> > way to spend our surplus funds.Some thoughts about the MMP campaign that
> > I wanted to get your opinions on!!I believe future electoral reform
> > campaigns/referendums must work hard at ensuring the younger voting
> > population;which generally supports our views; comes out to vote.Also,
> > although during OCA presentations and consultations I thought the 3%
> > threshold for list member representation was appropriate;I now believe
> > this is too low and should be raised to official party status in any
> > future votes.The rationale behind this is because our opposition can
> > successfully argue that fringe parties or groups could realistically
> > obtain these results and thus have representation.I really enjoyed
> > meeting and working with everyone on our campaign! I really learned a
> > lot from the experience and hope we get the opportunity to get involved
> > in a similar situation in the not too distant future. I think we should
> > have an FVC-WR post-referendum  executive meeting in the near future.
> > Shannon Adshade FVC-WR Executive Member
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: fvc-wat-disc-bounces at listserv.thinkers.org
> > [mailto:fvc-wat-disc-bounces at listserv.thinkers.org] On Behalf Of Brian
> > Tanguay
> > Sent: October 16, 2007 12:38 PM
> > To: kevedsmith at gmail.com; FVC Waterloo Region Discussion
> > Subject: Re: [fvc-wat-disc] Food for thought from provincial
> >
> > I think if provincial knew that we were planning a research partnership
> > with LSPIRG that they would be even more supportive.
> >
> > So it looks to me like we should move ahead on this, if the rest of the
> > executive is willing.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Brian
> >
> > >>> kevedsmith at gmail.com 10/16/2007 11:30 AM >>>
> > Hi folks:
> >
> > Asked Bronwen, our CFO about using the donations for research.  Here
> > is her response, which is further food for thought.
> >
> > Kevin.
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: Bronwen <bbruch3 at cogeco.ca>
> > Date: Oct 15, 2007 7:10 PM
> > Subject: Re: Another surplus -- can we spend it now?
> > To: Kevin Smith <kevedsmith at gmail.com>
> >
> >
> > What were you planning on doing locally?
> >
> > Centrally, we are considering using our surplus for post referendum
> > polling.
> > We would have to raise more funds, but some members have shown interest
> > in
> > contributing to that venture. However, before we put the money into it,
> > we
> > are finding out if the people that did post referendum polling after
> > the
> > B.C. referendum are doing the same for Ontario.
> >
> > But to answer your question, that is an appropriate way to use your
> > surplus
> > funds if you wish.  Or if we end up going with a poll, another choice
> > for
> > you is to put your surplus into the pot.  However, it looks like you
> > are
> > looking for local referendum research, which I doubt our poll will
> > deal
> > with.  It will probably look at regions though.
> >
> >
> > Bronwen
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Kevin Smith" <kevedsmith at gmail.com>
> > To: "Bronwen" <bbruch3 at cogeco.ca>
> > Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 12:43 PM
> > Subject: Re: Another surplus -- can we spend it now?
> >
> >
> > > Hi Bronwen:
> > >
> > > There's been some discussion about spending the surplus on doing
> > some
> > > post-mortem research on the referendum results locally.
> > >
> > > Would that be an OK use for the campaign money?
> > >
> > > Kevin.
> > >
> > > On 10/11/07, Kevin Smith <kevedsmith at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Hi Bronwen:
> > > >
> > > > The Cambridge folks ended up spending $440 on their mobile signs
> > > > rather than $550, because the one sign didn't get placed.  They
> > were
> > > > wondering about putting an ad in the paper to thank people for
> > > > supporting the referendum.
> > > >
> > > > Can they still spend this money at this point?
> > > >
> > > > BTW, how did you make out with spending our surplus?
> > > >
> > > > Kevin.
> > > >
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