[fvc-wat-disc] Phone convo with Bardish Chagger

Sun Mar 12 19:11:59 EDT 2017

Excellent comments, Sharon!

“Bardish is a very smooth talker and when needed, she makes stuff up as she goes depending on what she thinks the person in front of her needs to hear.  “

Yes she does!

Several years ago, at a Labor Day picnic she told me that “We need more New Democrats elected”. 

“She has recently taken a strip off some people…..”

The first time we met, she did that to me! And she was totally ‘out to lunch’ with the comment she made. 

Do not believe anything she says and do not trust her.

From: fvc-wat-disc [mailto:fvc-wat-disc-bounces at listserv.thinkers.org] On Behalf Of Sharon Sommerville
Sent: March-12-17 6:58 PM
To: FVC Waterloo Region Discussion
Subject: Re: [fvc-wat-disc] Phone convo with Bardish Chagger

Hi Martha,

Great to hear about your conversation with Bardish.  Thanks for letting us know about it. It is always interesting to hear what Liberal MPs are saying to justify breaking an important promise about democracy.

The week before last, 7 people met with Bardish at her office, generally they reported similar conversations to the one that you had with her.  She wants you to think she cares about you and what you think, mainly she is smoothing ruffled feathers hoping that you will support her re-election in 2019.  Bardish supports electoral reform, what she doesn't say is that she supports Alternative Vote which for PR supporters is as good as no change.  Bardish is a very smooth talker and when needed, she makes stuff up as she goes depending on what she thinks the person in front of her needs to hear.  Such as the comments about FVC being dismissive toward people who don't share our point of view. I can't speak for every PR supporter and every conversation anyone has ever had but I can confidently say that any conversation at a FVC information table or information evening is respectful.  That is just more made up stuff like when she told a PR supporter that she thought that FVC educational material was way over the heads of the average Cdn. or that the government had additional information that we don't have that they used to make the decision on the direction of electoral reform etc..  She has recently taken a strip off some people. When she knows the talking points aren't going to work, she goes on the offense and is quite offensive.  Glad that you didn't get that treatment.

It would be great if Bardish called me, I would respect her for that but it has been over 5 weeks since the announcement and no call.... not expecting one at this point! :)

Thanks again Martha, appreciate your perspective.

All the best,

Sharon

On Sun, Mar 12, 2017 at 4:37 PM, Martha Lauzon <mmlauzon at uwaterloo.ca> wrote:

Hi all,

I don't write in much here, just tend to lurk (and take action where appropriate--e.g., pestering Bardish)

Bardish Chagger just called me to chat about electoral reform. A lot of what she was saying was basically talking points, i.e., we need to govern for all Canadians, not just people like you & me who are knowledgeable. Well, yes, but if you see a problem with a lack of knowledge, perhaps the government should launch an education campaign? She claims that's what the new bill C33 does, which I was skeptical about, but since I haven't read the bill, I wasn't able to speak to the point. I did mention the new Local PR initiative taking off in Guelph, whose name escaped me on the phone, but which turns up with a quick Google search. She said she would look into it, and just in case she gets stuck, I'm about to send her a link. Because I'm helpful like that.

I'm concerned because she says that many constituents approached her after the town halls, saying that they had felt that FVC folks were very dismissive of opinions that run counter to ours, and that instead of being brought in to the conversation, they felt driven away. Assuming that she's not making this up, perhaps this is something we could work on, to be more welcoming and information-dispensing, and a little less judgy. Many of us have been working on this for years and years, and it can be easy to get impatient with people who are just hearing about PR for the first time, especially if they don't see the light right out of the gate.

She also claimed that the Liberals had conducted a poll, and while most people they talked to advocated reform, once they asked people what system they preferred, FPTP came out the winner. I asked her if this survey and its results were public, because I'd LOVE to see the actual questions that were asked, but she dodged that one.

She also had the nerve to champion the mydemocracy.ca survey. I may be reading more into her explanation than she intended, but what I heard was that they deliberately didn't ask any questions related to electoral reform because people aren't educated. I tried to explain to her that that was BS because they could have constructed questions that addressed PR without using any of the PR jargon, but she stuck to her guns that what they really cared about was people's values (and "hard working people everywhere").

So, all in all, a little frustrating. She insisted several times that she herself was committed to electoral reform but now that they're governing for all Canadians they need to set personal preferences aside in favour of the greater good yada yada yada. I *am* impressed, because this is the first time in my 40-odd years that my MP has chosen to call me to address issues that I've contacted them about. Usually, I'm doing well with a polite written PFO.

Y'all may be receiving your own phone calls soon.

Cheers,
Martha

________________________________________
From: fvc-wat-disc [fvc-wat-disc-bounces at listserv.thinkers.org] on behalf of fvc-wat-disc-request at listserv.thinkers.org [fvc-wat-disc-request at listserv.thinkers.org]
Sent: March 12, 2017 12:00 PM
To: fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org
Subject: fvc-wat-disc Digest, Vol 96, Issue 11

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: been monitoring Chagger-Tweet (STUART CHANDLER)
   2. Re: Chagger tweets (fvc-wat-disc Digest, Vol 96,  Issue 10)
      (Eleanor Grant)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2017 19:02:06 -0500
From: STUART CHANDLER <stuchandler43 at gmail.com>
To: Donald Fraser <fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org>, FVC Waterloo
        Region Discussion <fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org>
Subject: Re: [fvc-wat-disc] been monitoring Chagger-Tweet
Message-ID: <20170312000206.6107221.43418.12964 at gmail.com>
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Message: 2
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2017 21:31:55 -0500
From: Eleanor Grant <eleanor7000 at gmail.com>
To: fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org
Subject: Re: [fvc-wat-disc] Chagger tweets (fvc-wat-disc Digest, Vol
        96,     Issue 10)
Message-ID:
        <CAEYE8EB4=WJ0Ac_Xn3zsryTdGLzJu67SesEy_d7quwwt8z0V8w at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Donald, what's your Twitter handle?
Follow me @eleanor70001 .

On 11 Mar 2017 18:13, <fvc-wat-disc-request at listserv.thinkers.org> wrote:

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> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
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> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of fvc-wat-disc digest..."
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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. been monitoring Chagger-Tweet (Donald Fraser)
>    2. Re: been monitoring Chagger-Tweet (Donald Fraser)
>    3. Re: been monitoring Chagger-Tweet (Jon Bathmaker)
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Donald Fraser <donaldafraser at gmail.com>
> To: FVC Waterloo Region Discussion <fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org>
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2017 17:45:35 -0500
> Subject: [fvc-wat-disc] been monitoring Chagger-Tweet
> not much substance ... mostly meet & greets ... social events ... so far
> nothing about which I could tell her "it would go better with PR". (I have
> a lot better luck with Trump-Tweet ... lots of ammunition there!)
>
> cheers,
> Don
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Donald Fraser <donaldafraser at gmail.com>
> To: FVC Waterloo Region Discussion <fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org>
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2017 17:58:48 -0500
> Subject: Re: [fvc-wat-disc] been monitoring Chagger-Tweet
> NO sooner did I speak when she gave me an opportunity!
>
> On 11 March 2017 at 17:45, Donald Fraser <donaldafraser at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> not much substance ... mostly meet & greets ... social events ... so far
>> nothing about which I could tell her "it would go better with PR". (I have
>> a lot better luck with Trump-Tweet ... lots of ammunition there!)
>>
>> cheers,
>> Don
>>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Jon Bathmaker <jon.bathmaker at gmail.com>
> To: fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2017 18:13:02 -0500
> Subject: Re: [fvc-wat-disc] been monitoring Chagger-Tweet
>
> Good work Don!
>
> Best,
> Jon
> On 3/11/2017 5:58 PM, Donald Fraser wrote:
>
> NO sooner did I speak when she gave me an opportunity!
>
> On 11 March 2017 at 17:45, Donald Fraser <donaldafraser at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> not much substance ... mostly meet & greets ... social events ... so far
>> nothing about which I could tell her "it would go better with PR". (I have
>> a lot better luck with Trump-Tweet ... lots of ammunition there!)
>>
>> cheers,
>> Don
>>
>
>
>
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