[fvc-wat-disc] I want PR

Thu Sep 1 13:52:58 EDT 2016

As long as I have been listening to FVC the mantra has been: Fair Vote 
does not support a single system, but the principle of 
ProportionalRepresentation.

Now FVC has not only designed its own system.

As someone who knows well what it's like to be a rural person lacking 
representation, I hold a great deal of personal dislike for this 
particular system which I see as throwing rural folk under the bus in 
much the same way they were in the hybrid system we had for a time in 
parts of western Canada did.  So I complained a bit, and  I understand 
urban dwellers don't get it, but rural dwellers are in a minority, so it 
doesn't really matter as far as getting PR goes.   That said, I 
understand the reason for having such a system as a choice.

The problem is Fair Vote seems to be running around actively selling its 
new system every chance it gets.  I get that... I understand people I 
know and respect have been actively involved in the system's 
development, and that these folks are proud of the system in which they 
have invested so much time and energy.

At any other time it wouldn't be a biggie, but at *this* time what it is 
doing is distracting from getting PR.

The biggest single issue with getting PR is that, even though most 
Canadians know something is wrong (why getting rid of FPTP resonates) 
most people don't know what is wrong.  People don't know the jargon, 
something made worse by the fact there are no standards so different 
people use different words for the same thing or the same words for 
different things.  You can't even have a conversation without teaching 
the person you are talking to what the issue is even about.

Which is why I see no value (and in fact, distinct detriment) in Fair 
Vote adding to the confusion by pushing a specific system. As I 
understand it, system vs system factions contributed to the failure of 
the Ontario and 2nd BC electoral reform referenda.

Teaching people basic STV and MMP is plenty to start with. Getting 
tangled up in the weeds isn't good.

It is fine for the Committee to take submissions on systems, but the 
ERRE Committee has some idea of what is being talked about.

By pushing a specific system, FVC stops being a lobby group for ordinary 
Canadians and starts being a lobby group for FVC.

Much as I dislike your Rural Urban thing, I will suffer with it if it is 
ultimately chosen (tho it replaces Mr Dion's P3 as my own pick for worst 
PR).  The poiny is *this is not the time for arguing specific systems*.  
This is the time for educating Canadians, this is the time for arguing 
the need to implement PR during THIS administration.

Because if we don't get PR this time, I very much doubt we will get it 
at all.

If you still don't understand why I see pushing your Urban-Rural system 
as having a serious potential to derail the chance of actually getting 
PR , please go watch

  Proportional Representation vs. Alternative Vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu31U5fogzU&index=2&list=PL66aOelRZ1qsEgqfd2BbE1CLL7EeDTCZ7

You don't have to watch the whole thing again, skip ahead to the 
audience questions where 2 people waylay the discussion by getting into 
the nitty gritty of the pet systems they developed.  Most of the 
audience was not remotely keen to go there (nor was the panel) and that 
was an audience that has some idea what is being talked about.  Even if 
they hadn't going in, Dennis Pilon explained it all nicely, so to start 
those folks would have been better off than the average Canadian who is 
listening and certainly confused by all this.

It took me a couple of years before I understood PR well enough to talk 
about it; even then, it took another year before I discovered AV was the 
same as IRV.  (And another couple of years before I twigged to the act 
American electoral reformers lump IRV & STV together as Ranked Choice 
Voting... being able to use Cambridge's STV results to make AV city 
results look more diverse).

Step away from your hobby horse, get out of the weeds and push for PR.  
There are too many people actively working to stall, delay, derail and 
generally make sure no meaningful electoral reform happens without Fair 
Vote muddying the water further.

Bob tells me Fair Vote Waterloo is spending a pile of cash to bring Mr. 
Kingsley in.  Presumably to push his new system.  While I get that 
electoral reformers and political junkies may get a tingle at bringing 
in such a guest, frankly I doubt very much that the wider public will 
have a jot of interest.

In light of everything else I've said above, you'll understand I might 
think this is not only a waste, but a detriment to what I want, which is 
getting PR.

The worst is the fact you've scheduled this event to compete with (and 
this undermine) one of FVCwrc's own Public Library presentations.  I get 
that Waterloo Region Libraries only serve the rural population, I mean 
who cares about New Hamburg?  Well, I have to tell you, the New Hamburg 
Election Debate was the only debate where Conservative MP Harold 
Albrecht had to face an angry constituency.   You know, he's the only 
Waterloo Region MP who is NOT holding his own town hall or lifting a 
finger to inform his constituents.

So, how many Fair Vote folk are going to go to New Hamburg to help 
deliver the Make Every Vote Count message when they can instead be 
political groupies at the Kingsley event instead?

If you still don't get what I am saying, maybe this Winnipeg Free Press 
article will help:

*Debate over electoral reform about values *
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/debate-over-electoral-reform-about-values-391834921.html 
<http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/debate-over-electoral-reform-about-values-391834921.html>

I'm wondering if Fair Vote needs to figure out what it really wants.

I know I want PR.

Regards,
Laurel Russwurm

PS: I am not looking for an argument here.  I've said my piece; Fair 
Vote can ignore it or not.
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