[fvc-wat-disc] Fwd: Re: An Open Letter to ERRE Committee Liberals

Sun Jun 4 10:09:21 EDT 2017

Hi Everyone

John Aldag's reply is partly correct; the ERRE did not actually recommend 
electoral reform or implementing PR.

You can find the ERRE's list of recommendations here:
http://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/ERRE/report-3/page-408

And you can find the government's response here:
http://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/ERRE/report-3/response-8512-421-122
(The government agreed to 8 of the 13 recommendations; the remaining 5 had 
to do with using the Gallagher Index and holding a referendum)

I attended several of Nathan Cullen's Town Halls and he seemed to suggest 
that if this motion passed, it would revive electoral reform.

If you read the actual recommendations the MPs were being asked to concur 
with, this was somewhat disingenuous.

There are no recommendations that actually ask the government to reform our 
electoral system or adopt PR.

Personally, my sense was that, by voting for this motion, Parliament would 
be saying that they support the principle of PR.

But they would not be committing to making any actual changes to our 
electoral system.

I worked very hard in support of Cullen's initiative because I felt getting 
Parliament to agree in principle with PR would be a significant step forward 
for our cause.

But I had no illusions that it would revive electoral reform.

This is the case we made to our two local (Hamilton) Liberal MPs: Filomena 
Tassi and Bob Bratina.

We suggested that by voting for the motion:
* they would be representing the wishes of a clear majority of their 
constituents (as shown by the results of the FVC polls in their ridings)
* they would be indicating their support for PR, at least in principle
* they would not be committing to taking any concrete action on electoral 
reform
* this would be consistent with their campaign promise and would allow them 
to win some brownie points without compelling them to actually do anything

And that, to me, is why the Liberals could have, and should have, voted for 
it.

I believe Nathan Cullen is a true proponent of PR and electoral reform.

But he had to know that passing this motion was not going to revive PR or 
electoral reform.

So John Aldag may be correct that this was, at least in part, a political 
move by the NDP to score points against the Liberals.

But, for the reasons mentioned above, I still feel the Liberals should have 
voted for the motion.

However, they didn't and that weakens them even further.

We can make the above points and also point out how a number of Liberal MPs 
knowingly voted against the express wishes of their constituents.

Even those who don't care about electoral reform are likely to resent their 
MP knowingly voting against the wishes of their constituents.

This shows a certain degree of arrogance and disconnect on the part of the 
Liberals; and that has always been their Achilles' Heel.

And that could cost them votes and possibly seats in 2019.

The results of the vote also provide fodder for our ongoing campaign for PR.

If the motion had passed, it would have been a victory for PR.

But I think the defeat of the motion, although disappointing, actually helps 
the larger ongoing campaign for PR because it draws attention back to the 
issue and reminds voters of the Liberals' broken promise.

The question is where do we go from here?

And that was the focus of the FVC AGM yesterday in Montreal.

This was my first AGM so it was great to meet other FVC members from across 
the country and also meet some of the people I have seen taking part in 
these discussions.

The newly elected National Council is meeting today to consider possible FVC 
strategies going forward.

It will be interesting to see what emerges from that meeting!

I expect the next two years to be a very exciting time for electoral reform!

Blessings, Don Giberson (Hamilton)

-----Original Message----- 
From: Laurel L. Russwurm
Sent: Friday, June 02, 2017 10:32 PM
To: FVC Waterloo Region Discussion
Subject: [fvc-wat-disc] Fwd: Re: An Open Letter to ERRE Committee Liberals

Dear Electoral Reformers:

I was surprised to get a reply from ERRE Committee Liberal John Aldag.
I was flabbergasted by:

"I would like to take the time to point out that this motion was brought 
forward largely as a political move, and not as an action to bring forward 
any real change or point to any true reform. In saying such, if the vote 
were to go forward, it would not have led to the implementation of 
proportional representation.

I'll probably respond next week; at this point I lack the fortitude to
respond with civilty.  Oh, and there is no "o" in my name.

Regards,
Laurel

.........................................................................................................................................
Hi Ms. Russworm,

Thank you for reaching out about electoral reform. I would like to clear up 
a slight misunderstanding about the Motion to Concur with the ERRE 
Committee's Majority Report, which was voted on yesterday in the House of 
Commons. I would like to take the time to point out that this motion was 
brought forward largely as a political move, and not as an action to bring 
forward any real change or point to any true reform. In saying such, if the 
vote were to go forward, it would not have led to the implementation of 
proportional representation.

However, at this time I would like to share my thoughts on the matter of 
Electoral Reform and my work as a former member of the committee. In short, 
as I do personally feel some aspects of the report would be advantageous, 
there were others that my colleagues and I felt were problematic. Further, 
at this time no real consensus could be reached and our Government believes 
that to move forward with such little engagement on the issue on the part of 
the majority of Canadians at this time would be irresponsible.

As a former member of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform, I had the 
opportunity to study this topic in great detail. I have released a public 
statement on the matter that I believe would be informative, and explain my 
full position on the issue. You can read this statement here: 
http://www.johnaldagmp.ca/my-work/electoral-reform-open-letter

For a more complete understanding of the aforementioned report, I invite you 
to take a look at it here: 
http://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/421/ERRE/Reports/RP8655791/errerp03/errerp03-e.pdf

  Sincerely,

  John Aldag
.................................................................................................

The letter I sent was published in my Whoa!Canada 
bloghttps://whoacanada.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/an-open-letter-to-erre-committee-liberals/

  ________________________________
?  Laurel L. Russwurm, Author<http://laurel.russwurm.org/blogs/>  ? 
Libreleft Books<http://libreleft.com>  ?  Laurel L. Russwurm's Free Culture 
Blog<https://laurelrusswurm.wordpress.com/>  ?  Libreleft 
Pictures<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL66aOelRZ1qtZ49PbicKRQC-OgAXPUhNz> 
?  Whoa!Canada<https://whoacanada.wordpress.com/>  ?  visual 
laurel<http://laurelrusswurm.tumblr.com/>   ?  on 
Flickr<https://www.flickr.com/photos/laurelrusswurm/albums/>  ?

_______________________________________________
This is the fvc-wat-disc mailing list
Post a message: fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org
Unsubscribe: 
http://listserv.thinkers.org/mailman/listinfo/fvc-wat-disc_listserv.thinkers.org 