[fvc-wat-disc] Arguing for PR

[Jennifer Ross]

Hi, Jay.  Welcome to the movement (and the country!)

I am a Liberal.  I have tried each of those arguments many times; they sure
make sense to me, and they made some sense to my Liberal friends prior to
around October of 2016.  After all, Sharon and I only wrote the "important"
part of Resolution 31 (the policy that brought about the election platform
on Electoral Reform); we couldn't have passed it through the policy
gauntlet by ourselves and without buy-in from the membership, and
particularly from the caucus.

But, in a telling reason why we need PR to end hyper-partisanship, most
Liberal rank and file no longer want to hear it, and Liberal MPs will
"engage" with you without actually paying any attention to you.  In fact,
Francis Scarpaleggia actually said, out loud and during a press conference
"platform promises are just a way to engage with Canadians."  That's not
what I was doing when I was helping our Liberals win government, I can
assure you!  I was highlighting the *promise*.

Oh, and non-engagement of Canadian citizenry translates to they don't want
to change the voting system, not that they are so non-engaged they don't
even know other options are available.  Or an understanding of what we have
now for that matter.  Or they don't feel they know enough about the options
that they should weigh in on the decision-making (which I think is the
majority).

Maybe hearing about it from someone new will be helpful, particularly if
you have some lived experience or a different perspective to inform your
conclusions.  Telling the story as to why you've come to believe it, as it
were.

But, we don't give up because I'm the Treasurer of Fair Vote Canada, and am
right now going through our membership list for reasons that aren't
important to the discussion.  And I am totally blown away by the number of
members whose membership had lapsed and they renewed after December 1st
(when the Report of the ERRE came down) and the new members who signed up
after February 1st (when Justin Trudeau pulled the plug on electoral
reform).  People are doing the opposite of walking away, I mean to say.

We even have two members who DIED and whose family is still paying their
membership dues.  That is how important this issue is to some.  So for
those dear friends as well as everyone still fighting for the cause, please
do all of it.  :)

The Record is good and we get our fair share of letters these days, I
think.  Even better are the Township papers who actually support PR (which
you'd think would be the other way around but there we are).  But you need
to be a rural person to be published by them, I think.  Then there's the
Waterloo Chronicle and the Kitchener Post, which we don't tend to
concentrate on so they may be ripe for the picking.  *We do have a letter
writing group and I hope someone else tells you more about that.*

Where are you from?  Because if there is a diaspora in the Region also from
that country or region, it would be most valuable to connect with them and
offer a PR 101 course for Canada (don't worry, we have people who are
experts to do it).

Thanks so much for stepping on board!

On Sun, Apr 30, 2017 at 11:17 PM, Jay Judkowitz <judkowitz at gmail.com> wrote:

> Fairvote folks,
>
>      As someone new to the area and the country, I am wondering what the
> best way is to argue the case for PR and where we should be arguing it.
>
>      I have mailed my MP, Mr. Tabbara, and received a long form letter in
> return that I'm sure most of you have seen (they did not even put my name
> on it and called me "Diana").  I replied to his mail, but am not
> anticipating a personalized engagement.
>
>       Letters to the editor can get some visibility.  What publications
> would you suggest I write to?
>
>       What about opposing organizations?  Is there any group in particular
> who it would be worthwhile to engage with to try and change their mind
> through open and honest discourse?
>
>       As for arguments that would work and would not work, I am trying to
> put myself in the position of the Liberals since the Liberals are the ones
> with the power to make or break PR right now.  And, in that mindset, there
> are three arguments that make sense to me.
>
>    1. Liberals have complete power now which is great, but it was only a
>    short time ago when they had no power.  Conservatives ruled for 10 years
>    while they waited.  Wouldn't they want some say all the time rather than no
>    say for a decade at a time.
>    2. PR is a huge benefit to the party in the middle of a system with 3
>    relatively popular parties.  Even when they can not just dictate policy,
>    they can partner to the left or the right to make policy on any given
>    issue.  It would seem that PR would benefit them the most of any party in
>    the long term.
>    3. It's scary to let a party with 39% of the vote get 100% of the
>    power.  Imagine a situation like the US.  Let's say 15% of Canadians (and
>    I'm just making up that number) are really fed up with things and
>    vehemently support a right wing demagogue like Trump and that demagogue
>    manages to become the Conservative Party leader.  Let's say at the same
>    time the Liberals and/or NDP falter due to scandal, a bad candidate, an
>    economic downturn, a terrorist attack, etc...   In that situation, it's not
>    hard to imagine another 24% of Canadians holding their nose and voting for
>    the Conservatives led by that demagogue.  They hit the 39% of the votes,
>    get the 51% of the seats and 100% of the power.  This does not seem like a
>    likely event for any given election, but seems to be a certainty to happen
>    eventually (based on the math and probability, not based on any notion I
>    have of Canadian preferences).   Wouldn't the Liberals want to do anything
>    to prevent this sort of scenario from being even possible?  I know the
>    counter argument to this is that the right wing radicals would always be
>    represented in a PR scenario, but I'd rather that they always have small
>    representation and continually expose themselves than that they can lie in
>    wait and eventually win a stunning victory like what happened in the US in
>    November.
>
>       Please let me know your thoughts on (a) where we should be making
> the case and (b) your thoughts on the case I'm making.
>
> Best regards,
> Jay
>
>
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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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