[fvc-wat-disc] [fvc-wat-announce] Cooperate for Canada Event Thursday February 16 7 PM

Tue Feb 14 11:19:14 EST 2012

You are right, Les. And for almost every Fair Vote Waterloo event, I do sincerely and personally invite the Conservatives. I also made a signficant effort during Democracy Week. Not that in three years one has ever shown up, regardless of the topic - even on occasions when other parties have had tables and one of the speakers was taking their point of view. The exception was one event just ahead of the federal election when a couple of volunteers showed up with lawn signs. I would be happy to engage them with Fair Vote Canada Waterloo by holding a debate/panel on a topic of their choice. 

The reality of the last decade in Fair Vote is that although FVC is firmly commited to multi-partisanship, very careful with their messaging, keeping the door wide open, basing their campaign on research showing what is best for all voters long term, and constantly inviting more Conservatives to join us based on principle (if you know anybody that woud like to run for FVC council please ask them to submit their statement ASAP), that has been largely unsuccessful. It is just that point in history. I would hazard a well educated guess that there are no more than a handful of Conservative Fair Vote supporters in Canada, and 90% of FVC supporters who have strong feelings against the Conservatives at this point. FVC has taken the position that is it is better, looking at acheiving PR as a long term fight, to embrace multipartisanship, knowing that the tides of who is in power may come and go over decades but it adds credibility to the message when there are folks from all points on the spectrum, no matter what the ratio, endorsing FVC. The downside of this is that they cannot mobilize those who want PR more than anything right now in the same way that a group like Leadnow.ca/cooperate or Avaaz can. Unless the members decide to change that, that is the way it is.

"Cooperate for Canada" is not a Fair Vote Canada endorsed event. The national office would be highly opposed to making this a Fair Vote Canada event, because the aims of one time cross party cooperation are: 1) Pre-election cooperation to in select ridings with the goal of defeating the Conservative candidate and electing a government based on shared values of the majority and probably a few key commitments 2) Bringing in a government that has an immediate commitment to enacting PR or a fair process to get there before the next election, so we never have to do this again.

We considered making this a Fair Vote Waterloo event by inviting the Conservative to come, perhaps to explain how they are going to give us all voters a vote that counts so the three parties do not need to cooperate. We decided against it mainly because no reasonable person would expect the Conservative to show up. If ten or twenty years ago someone held a meeting about how the right could coordinate to defeat the Liberals, no-one would expect a Liberal to show up. And while the chapters do have autonomy (I can say we have used that here to the max as one of the most active chapters in Canada), it is just not worth causing strife with the national office for this particular event. I am on the national council and they were the first I informed I was doing this before they heard it anywhere else.

We are just starting up and hoping to get a Citizens for Cross Party Cooperation group going in KW. There is one in Toronto and Salt Spring Island, as well as the Leadnow campaign. As we build up our contact list, hopefully we will have another list to advertise on. But for now we will continue to let Fair Vote supporters know about upcoming events that have a strong tie to PR or democracy, no matter where they come from,  just as we sometimes do with other groups. 

Cheers.

Anita

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Les Kadar 
  To: fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org ; Anita ; fvc-wat-announce at listserv.thinkers.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 7:52 AM
  Subject: Re: [fvc-wat-disc] [fvc-wat-announce] Cooperate for Canada Event Thursday February 16 7 PM

  I happen to notice there is no " conservative " member ?
  lk
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Shannon Adshade 
    To: Anita ; fvc-wat-announce at listserv.thinkers.org 
    Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 2:49 PM
    Subject: Re: [fvc-wat-disc] [fvc-wat-announce] Cooperate for Canada Event Thursday February 16 7 PM

    That's fantastic!! Party co-operation could lead to huge positive developments for electoral reform and Canadian politics!! I will hopefully see you Thursday night and lets have a good turnout!!

    Shannon

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    From: fvc-wat-announce-bounces at listserv.thinkers.org [fvc-wat-announce-bounces at listserv.thinkers.org] On Behalf Of Anita [lanickerson at b2b2c.ca]
    Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2012 9:05 PM
    To: fvc-wat-announce at listserv.thinkers.org
    Subject: [fvc-wat-announce] Cooperate for Canada Event Thursday February 16 7 PM

    Dear Fair Vote Canada Waterloo supporters,

    This is not a Fair Vote Canada Waterloo event, but it is a first in Canada, and the topic is deeply connected and related to the mission of Fair Vote Canada. I am hoping this will be of high interest to many of you. Please, come have your say - share your support, your concern, or get help to make up your mind - on the movement for party cooperation that is catching fire across Canada! 

    And share widely.

    Anita and Jenn
    Citizens for Cross-Party Cooperation KW
    Cooperate for Canada

    Thursday February 16, 7 PM

    Waterloo Inn

      Exploring Why and How the Parties Should Work Together to Form a Government that Reflects a Shared Vision of the Majority, with a Commitment to Immediate Action on Proportional Representation

    Featuring:

    Liberal: John Deverell, Policy Director of the Pickering-Scarborough East federal Liberal Association

    NDP: Jamie Heath, Nathan Cullen Campaign Manager, former Research and Communications Director to Jack Layton,

    Green:: Katherine Acheson, Campaign Manager for Elizabeth May

      Matthew Carroll, Director of the Leadnow Campaign "Cooperate for Canada"

    Speakers to be followed by Q+A and town hall style discussion

    Free event, no registration, everyone welcome. More info: lanickerson at b2b2c.ca

    More info:

    You may be interested in a groundbreaking event we’re convening this Thursday in Kitchener-Waterloo.

    NDP leadership candidate Nathan Cullen has attracted attention by proposing the unthinkable – opposition party cooperation. He wants the NDP, Liberals and Greens to run jointly nominated candidates to defeat the Conservative federal government and bring in democratic voting reform. 

    Leadnow.ca just floated the party cooperation idea to their supporters, first on social media and then in a survey to their 80,000 supporters. Based on an overwhelming "yes", they have just launched the campaign "Cooperate for Canada", which has gained thousands of supporters in a few days. 

    Apparently ordinary Canadians are willing not only to support party cooperation but to join the NDP, Liberal and Green parties to bend the ears of the people whot make the decisions. Grassroots groups are springing up across Canada to help launch this initiative.

    The parties may not be happy about this, but voters want a Parliament which works for them.

    "Cooperate for Canada" is the first event in Canada in which someone from each of the centre-left parties, plus Leadnow, will speak publicly about the need to explore party cooperation to defeat the Conservatives and show how it can be done.

     We’d be very happy to see you at the meeting on Thursday.

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