[fvc-wat-disc] The Government Wants To Know!
Laurel L. Russwurm
laurel.l at russwurm.org
Wed Aug 3 19:49:05 EDT 2016
Monsef's visit would coincide with a Liberal MP Town Hall? A Liberal
Cabinet Minister attending a Liberal MP's town hall is news? More like
partisan PR of the other kind, "Public Relations." Or Vanity press.
The stuff of tweets and selfies.
Waterloo Region went from 100% Conservative MPs to 80% Liberal/20%
Conservative, making it the poster child example of policy lurch. The
39% of citizens who supported the Conservatives in 2011 are suddenly
without representation after a decade. Their party is telling them the
Liberals are not to be trusted, and the Minister's partisan visit is
hardly going to demonstrate anything different. Certainly this visit is
unlikley to reach out to most of the currently disenfranchised here.
What such a visit does is send the very clear message to the locally
disenfranchised-- that the LPC is only interested in talking to its
friends about electoral reform. How many Conservative ordinary people
are likely to show up in a forest of Liberals? I expect it would be
lucky to get the Conservatives who have been attending FairVoteWRC
events over the last decade.
I can see why your party might not want the Committee to come before an
informed and engaged community. But Fair Vote WRC ought to be fighting
like mad to get the committee here.
Perhaps you forget this hotbed of electoral reformers could only
partially fill the Kitchener City Hall gallery. We may be loud, but we
are not many. THIS is grass roots. Citizens. Ordinary people, not
professionals. Grass roots. Multipartisan ordinary people. These are
people the Committee -- and the public -- need to hear from.
Yes, it would be nice to have the Minister drop by. But it is no
substitute for having the Committee here.
Because the Committee *is* multipartisan. THAT is the point of them
taking the dog & pony show on the road: to reach out to *all* citizens,
not just those in the ruling party. I understand Liberal "natural
ruling party" conceit flows into thinking they represent everybody but
they don't, no more than the Conservatives did.
Regards,
Laurel
On 08/03/2016 06:49 PM, Jennifer Ross wrote:
> Sorry, Laurel you misunderstand. We are likely the last place the
> committee will want to stop at as we are an informed and engaged
> community on this subject. They are going after those who know
> nothing. That said, I definitely hope our informed and engaged
> community send in lots of dialogue reports because of course our voice
> is just as important--you just don't need the pull and educational
> component to receive our voice.
>
> Monsef would be attending the Liberal MPs Town Hall, in the hopes of
> getting those we aren't directly communicating with, to come out
> through the NEWS it would be.
>
> On Wed, Aug 3, 2016 at 6:41 PM, Laurel L. Russwurm
> <laurel.l at russwurm.org <mailto:laurel.l at russwurm.org>> wrote:
>
> I disagree. I expect Bob & I were the only people paying
> attention to the Harper Government Copyright Consultation. To me,
> that is the gold standard of consultations. They had online stuff
> but they also did a physical cross Canada dog & pony show.
>
> If the ERRE public dog & pony was coming here it would be NEWS.
>
> Not only that it would be a sure thing, unlike your
> "promised/threatened/dangled" Ministerial visit. What happens if
> the Minister says, "I'll be there this afternoon at 1pm tomorrow
> and I can give you 15 minutes.
> (Which may be overly generous as lately I've heard of
> consultations where people are allowed all of 3 minutes to speak).
>
> Even if there is enough notice to round up people, the Minister
> coming here for a private audience would be virtually invisible.
> Even a public whistlestop a would rate a photo op. If we're
> really really lucky it might rate a sound bite on the local news.
>
> Waterloo Region is a hotbed of electoral reformers. This is
> EXACTLY the kind of place the committee SHOULD come, because it
> can hear from a bunch of ordinary people
>
> As to where they *are* going: talk about disproportionality.
>
> Ontario, the province with the largest population gets all of 1
> committee visit when the smaller Québec gets 3.
>
> Not fair.
>
> Regards,
> Laurel
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 08/03/2016 03:50 PM, Jennifer Ross wrote:
>> Not at all. The committee stuff goes to her. We skip a step.
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 3, 2016 at 3:48 PM, Laurel L. Russwurm
>> <laurel.l at russwurm.org <mailto:laurel.l at russwurm.org>> wrote:
>>
>> Maryam Monsef herself but no committee?? That SUCKS. It is
>> not the same thing at all.
>>
>> regards,
>> steamed Laurel
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 08/03/2016 03:43 PM, Jennifer Ross wrote:
>>> I believe that is because Maryam Monsef is going to do
>>> Waterloo Region herself. Or so we keep being
>>> promised/threatened/dangled with.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Aug 3, 2016 at 3:22 PM, Laurel L. Russwurm
>>> <laurel.l at russwurm.org <mailto:laurel.l at russwurm.org>> wrote:
>>>
>>> It certainly looks as though the ERRE Committee will NOT
>>> be stopping in Waterloo Region:
>>>
>>> It was agreed, — That, in relation to the study of
>>> viable alternate voting systems, mandatory voting
>>> and online voting, the following travel budgets be
>>> adopted:
>>>
>>> • Regina (SK), St-Pierre Jolys (MB), Winnipeg (MB),
>>> Toronto (ON), Québec (QC), and Joliette (QC): $
>>> 137,111.80
>>>
>>> • Whitehorse (YT), Victoria (BC), Vancouver (BC),
>>> LeDuc (AB), Yellowknife(NT): $ 162,667.05
>>>
>>> • Montréal (QC), St. John’s (NL), Halifax (NS),
>>> Charlottetown (PE), Fredericton (NB) $ 130,711.80
>>>
>>> • Iqaluit ((NU) $ 109 517.50.
>>>
>>> It was agreed, — That, should the Board of Internal
>>> Economy adopt these budgets, the Analysts and the
>>> Clerks, in consultation with the Chair, prepare a
>>> news release for publication on the Committee’s
>>> website, announcing the cities that will be visited.
>>>
>>> It was agreed, — That, the Committee hire two (2)
>>> research assistants for the period of June 21 to
>>> December 1, 2016, for a total amount not to exceed $
>>> 58,300.00.
>>>
>>> It was agreed, — That, a proposed budget in the
>>> amount of $ 80,250.00 for the study of electoral
>>> reform be adopted.
>>>
>>> http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=e&Mode=1&Parl=42&Ses=1&DocId=8396591
>>>
>>> If they were stopping once in each province & territory
>>> it would be different, but the 17 stops include
>>>
>>> 3 in Quebec
>>> 2 in Manitoba
>>>
>>> but only ONE in Ontario.
>>>
>>> What now?
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Laurel
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 08/01/2016 10:34 PM, Sharon Sommerville wrote:
>>>> Hello FairVoting Friends,
>>>>
>>>> The Electoral Reform Committee wants to hear from
>>>> Canadians, we have an amazing opportunity to let our
>>>> government know that we want PR and why.
>>>>
>>>> COMMUNITY DIALOGUES
>>>>
>>>> The Electoral Reform Committee is asking Canadians to
>>>> participate in community dialogues and submit reports
>>>> to them on what is important in an electoral system and
>>>> why.
>>>>
>>>> Starting on Tuesday, August 9th and every Tuesday at
>>>> 6:30 from till October we will be at the Queen Street
>>>> Commons (43 Queen Street South) in Kitchener to
>>>> facilitate conversations about electoral reform. We
>>>> will talk together, record the conversation and submit
>>>> it to the government. Join us for a coffee and a chat.
>>>>
>>>> PR IN THE BACKYARD
>>>>
>>>> On Friday, August 12th at 7 pm join Catherine Fife, MPP
>>>> for Waterloo to learn more about PR. There will be a
>>>> presentation, comments from Catherine, discussion
>>>> groups and a Q & A. Learn, discuss and debate in a
>>>> pleasant, informal backyard setting.
>>>>
>>>> Hope to see you soon!,
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Sharon
>>>> for FVC-WR
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Laurel L. Russwurm, Author
>>> <http://laurel.russwurm.org/blogs/> § about.me
>>> <http://about.me/laurelrusswurm> § Libreleft Books
>>> <http://libreleft.com>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> No other Western democratic country concentrates as much
>>> political power in the hands of one person as Canada does
>>> with her Prime Minister.
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Laurel L. Russwurm, Author
>> <http://laurel.russwurm.org/blogs/> § about.me
>> <http://about.me/laurelrusswurm> § Libreleft Books
>> <http://libreleft.com>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> No other Western democratic country concentrates as much
>> political power in the hands of one person as Canada does with
>> her Prime Minister.
>
>
> --
> Laurel L. Russwurm, Author <http://laurel.russwurm.org/blogs/> §
> about.me <http://about.me/laurelrusswurm> § Libreleft Books
> <http://libreleft.com>
>
>
>
>
> --
> No other Western democratic country concentrates as much political
> power in the hands of one person as Canada does with her Prime Minister.
--
Laurel L. Russwurm, Author <http://laurel.russwurm.org/blogs/> §
about.me <http://about.me/laurelrusswurm> § Libreleft Books
<http://libreleft.com>
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