[fvc-wat-disc] Cohn column in today's Star

[Donald Fraser]

well done ... never give up ... your fight is well worth the effort!

On 12 January 2017 at 10:15, Sharon Sommerville <sharonsommerville at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Way to go Dave.  It will be interesting if Martin responds to your email.
> What is so astounding is that all the best evidence in the world is
> contained in one tidy package, the ERRE report.  We should send the link to
> it when obstinate type like Martin turn up.
>
> Have a great day,
> Sharon
>
> On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 9:44 AM, Dave Arthur <arthurd23 at bell.net> wrote:
>
>> Martin Reg Cohn had a column in today’s Star.
>> https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/01/11/a-short-surpr
>> ising-history-of-democratic-reform-cohn.html
>> I sent him an e-mail rather than a letter to the ed since they have so
>> far refused to publish my rebuttal to Bob Hepburn’s piece a few weeks ago.
>> Do they shy away from letters about their writers errors?
>> Anyway, here’s my e-mail to Martin and the submission about Hepburn’s
>> piece.
>>
>> Hello Martin
>> Just read your column today.
>> Too bad many in the media can’t seem to get their information correct.
>> I sent a letter to the editor about the errors in Bob Hepburn’s piece a
>> few weeks ago.
>> It was *Changing our voting system a bad idea: Trudeau is smart to back
>> away from ill-conceived election promise*
>> Your paper has so far refused to publish it.
>> I’ve included it below if you’re interested.
>> You and others point to the failed attempts to get PR in Canada.
>> The fact is that BC voted 58% for STV but the government, who didn’t
>> really want it, required 60%.
>> That in spite of the fact that 37% can give a government 100% power.
>> In the recent referendum in PEI the voters who were paying attention and
>> cared about their electoral system voted for MMP but there were too many
>> who were not paying attention or didn’t care and didn’t vote.
>> The Ontario referendum was a sham in that the government made no effort
>> to publicize the issue or the work of the  Citizens’ Assembly.
>> Polls showed that 50% of Ontarians had no clue about the issue and 70%
>> didn’t know what MMP was.
>> Duh, it’s a two sided ballot where you vote for your choice of local
>> candidate and vote for your choice of party and a portion of the seats are
>> top-ups to achieve PR. Duh!
>> Yes, the UK (i.e. England) uses FPTP and voted down AV (not a PR system).
>> But when Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland created their own
>> parliaments in 1998 they gave the boot to FPTP in favour of PR and without
>> referendums. How dare they?
>> 90% of EU and OECD countries use PR.
>> Friends in Sweden, New Zealand, and Scotland can’t understand why Canada
>> is so stuck on an unfair and unrepresentative system.
>> I talk to a lot of Canadians about electoral reform.
>> Too many of them ask what’s that about, what’s wrong with what we have,
>> or why would I want to see parties other than the Conservatives and
>> Liberals get representation at my expense.
>> When I explain the issue, the distortions, the unequal votes, etc., etc.,
>> many of them come onside.
>> What is needed is education, education, education.
>> It would be nice if the media would help.
>> Dave Arthur, Kitchener
>>
>>
>>
>> Hepburn’s Arguments Ill-Conceived
>>
>> Bob Hepburn says changing our voting system is a bad idea.  But 88% of
>> the witnesses and briefs submitted by Canadians who have studied the issue
>> say we need proportional representation, the system used by 90% of other
>> developed democracies in the world.  What do those countries know that
>> Hepburn doesn’t?  PR countries typically have more stable, longer
>> lasting governments, better representation for all citizens, more
>> cooperation and consensus, less partisan bitterness, longer range planning,
>> less policy lurch, better voter turnouts, and sincere rather than strategic
>> voting.  Systems using multi-member or larger ridings with additional
>> MPs give constituents more, not less contact with representatives.  Candidate
>> lists adding proportional MPs can be open and ranked by voters adding more
>> democracy, not less.  Canada is almost alone with its unfair version of
>> democracy. Friends in countries with PR can’t believe we have stayed with a
>> system where votes are not equal and too many do not count toward
>> representation.
>>
>>
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