[fvc-wat-disc] [fvc-wat-announce] Results from the BC referendum on electoral reform
Mary Jackes
mkj at bell.net
Sat Dec 22 17:06:22 EST 2018
Anita,
I would like to echo Stu's message to you. It's been depressing reading
the analyses here. But it is clear that FVC did the very best it could
and was defeated by a number of factors over which it could have no control.
Congratulations on all that FVC did! It was a very noble effort and no
doubt served to educate a lot of people.
Warm regards,
Mary.
On 2018-12-22 4:21 p.m., STUART CHANDLER wrote:
> Dear Anita.
> Thank you for your heartfelt analysis.
> I share your grief over this unexpected and depressing loss. As an
> Ontarian who loves BC, I was expecting more from the BC electorate, as
> so many have been fighting against rich and powerful interests to save
> their beautiful coastline from greed and pollution. I thought that
> surely, of all the people in Canada, those in BC would understand the
> real and urgent need for the government to be responsible and
> accountable to the people. And that PR was imperative to accomplishing
> that goal.
> Thank you for all that you and the hard-working PR proponents did to
> try to influence the outcome. Too bad the NDP did not work as hard.
> Once again, the rich and powerful have been able to win the day for
> the status quo by using their wealth, influence and people's
> gullibility & fear of change.
> But we must "soldier on".
> Thanks again for all you do.
> Best regards.
> Stu Chandler
>
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry — the most secure mobile device — via the
> Rogers Network
> *From:* anitann88 at gmail.com
> *Sent:* December 22, 2018 12:07 AM
> *To:* fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org
> *Reply to:* fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org
> *Subject:* Re: [fvc-wat-disc] [fvc-wat-announce] Results from the BC
> referendum on electoral reform
>
>
> Thanks for asking, Matthew.
>
> Yes, we'll do a review. There's nothing to hide.
>
> There are 25 active chapters who formed a wonderful community of
> leaders and volunteers knocking themselves out to win this referendum
> so we're all intimately familiar with what went on day to day for over
> a year. We made decisions together.
>
> We were the only organization with any ground game and we squeezed
> every last volunteer and dollar off that list.
>
> My personal take:
>
> As someone who lived and breathed this for the past 18 months, in
> terms of things we could have foreseen and done differently, there
> wasn't much.
>
> I'm not trying to escape accountability - this was a horrible and
> discouraging failure and if there were mistakes we as FVC-BC made that
> I could point to and say "this was a big mistake that helped cost us
> the referendum", I really would. I'd own it.
>
> But as I look at what we did as FVC-BC, all I can see is how we might
> have spent a few thousand dollars a bit differently and more
> efficiently out of the large sum that was spend on the campaign, and
> it wouldn't have made much difference to the outcome.
>
> Please remember that while are the group with people who care the most
> about this - people who will start in the summer of 2017, people who
> will volunteer 40 hours a week for months and can count things like 40
> presentations given in one small town, 40 banner waves, thousands of
> doors knocked on, every event attended, local media, 250,000 flyers
> (no other group even had flyers) in many places etc etc etc - we were
> the SMALL group here. With mailing list and potential to raise money
> about 1/20th some of the larger groups who were advertising sponsors.
> They made their own decisions if they spent peanuts.
>
> And please remember we were not the official proponent group.
>
> The proponent group, Vote PR BC, got $500,000 from the government and
> could raise an additional $200,000.
>
> We raised more money than they did it turned out - because people
> believed in what we were doing and could see we were knocking
> ourselves out as a citizens org trying to fill in real gaping holes.
> But we didn't have the people, the budget or the connections to nearly
> fill them all. We did what we could.
>
> And we were not the NDP.
>
> Who ran a campaign that basically amounted to John Horgan saying he
> liked PR and making a cute video of himself with sunglasses.
>
> It was a campaign that effectively said "We don't really care if we
> win this."
>
> Since this campaign was divided completely along partisan lines - with
> the (right wing Con) BC Liberals stating at the outset that they were
> fighting for their very survival and would do whatever it took to kill
> PR - which amounted to their party making it #1 priority and spending
> every penny lying to people non-stop for over a year - there needed to
> be a HUGE effort by the BC NDP to pull almost every person who voted
> for them (the 40%) to vote for it. A ground game organized six months
> ahead. TV commercials etc etc. They chose not to do that.
>
> In some ridings that voted for the NDP about 20 something percent
> voted for PR. While the Liberal MLAs held town halls across the
> province against PR and got local ethnic leaders on board to mobilize
> their communities, and sent emails to their local lists, NDP MLAs sat
> back.
>
> This is really a horrible and devastating loss for many of us. What
> was the hardest thing by far was FIVE POLLS in a row showing it was
> 50/50 and then on voting day getting 38%. Many of us were in shock.
>
> I had allowed myself to be deluded that all the things I KNEW were
> necessary to win a referendum like this and weren't in place...well, I
> thought there was hope we could win it anyway. Those polls gave me
> hope. It sure wasn't for lack of passion, intelligence and hard work
> from all our leaders.
>
> From a FVC perspective I can account for every dollar and every
> activity - we're all one team - and I honestly don't think there was
> much else we could have done. We can write pages of stuff if it makes
> us look more "accountable" - one group of talented volunteer leaders
> to another - but I don't think anything we could have done differently
> as FVC-BC would have shifted the vote more than 1%.
>
> Anita
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 11:24 PM Matthew Piggott
> <piggott.matthew at gmail.com <mailto:piggott.matthew at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi Sharon et al.,
>
> I share that disappointment.
>
> My honest, but also somewhat disruptive question is: what went
> wrong? More importantly, is FVC and FVBC doing a thorough campaign
> review? What were the gaps? Were we outspent? Not have enough
> volunteers? I think members deserve to know this info (even at a
> higher level). There are so many questions we could ask.
>
> The reason I also ask is that mature/maturing organizations should
> always have the structures in place to do at least a basic review.
> Certainly, organizations I want to be part of, volunteer for,
> donate money to :) I'm personally reminded of how the GPC did a
> review of the 2015 federal campaign when we fell so short of our
> goals.
>
> Any case I hope the questions are asked and that FVC members will
> be get to know and hear more.
>
> Matthew Piggott
>
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry — the most secure mobile device — via the
> Rogers Network
> *From:* sharonsommerville at gmail.com
> <mailto:sharonsommerville at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* December 20, 2018 7:48 PM
> *To:* fvc-wat-announce at listserv.thinkers.org
> <mailto:fvc-wat-announce at listserv.thinkers.org>
> *Reply to:* fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org
> <mailto:fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org>
> *Subject:* [fvc-wat-announce] Results from the BC referendum on
> electoral reform
>
>
> Hello FairVoting Friends,
>
> The results from BC's referendum were announced this afternoon.
> Sadly, the outcome is not what we were hoping for; below is a link
> to a CBC report on the results. Changing our electoral system is
> long & vital process. FVC will continue to work toward
> instituting a more fair and equitable electoral system which
> ensures that every vote cast influences the election results.
>
> https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/electoral-reform-referendum-results-1.4954538
>
> Wishing you all the very best of the season,
>
> Sharon Sommerville
> for FVC-WR
>
>
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>
> --
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