[fvc-wat-disc] Karen Redman comments on ranked ballots

[Sharon Sommerville]

Hi Jonathan,

You are being most open minded toward Karen.  My thinking is based on a
specific conversation about RB she & I had a couple of years ago in which
she clearly stated her support for RB.  I pointed out that in an election
for 4 seats in a single jurisdiction such the election for regional
councillors here in Waterloo Region, RB would become STV.  At the time, she
said she would be okay with that.  As a long time Liberal politician, she
might well support ranked ballots.

We often expect experienced politicians to know about electoral systems and
many don't.  Karen may not even have known what I was referring to when I
said RB would become STV, but as an experienced politician she went with
the flow.  In this most current situation on Reddit, she homogenized the
issue and then did a pivot.   A classic political move to not be pinned
down by any definitive position.

On another occasion she asked me why do we need electoral reform?  Her
point being that FPTP is fine.  It is a bit hard to say what Karen thinks
about electoral reform but we can be fairly certain that it isn't very high
on her list of priorities.  In fact she stated during this campaign that
she doesn't have any priorities and will be guided by what the electorate
wants...  uh huh.... right... listen I have some land here, looks a bit
like a swamp at the moment but it is for sale and the LRT is going to be
going right by here....

Cheers,
S.






On Sun, Oct 14, 2018 at 4:51 PM Jonathan Cassels <cassels.jon at gmail.com>
wrote:

> To be fair to Karen, I only asked about Ranked Ballots. For all I know,
> she was coy about ranked ballots because she actually favours STV locally,
> but didn't want to say so without knowing the opinions of the questioner.
>
> I agree that Rob Deutschmann is the regional chair candidate who's been
> most vocal in supporting election reform, though. When Yes, Cambridge!
> posted a pledge on twitter yesterday (asking all Cambridge candidates to
> sign on to support ranked ballots municipally), he commented:
>
> I voted yes for ranked ballots. If elected I pledge that I will do what I
> can as Regional Chair to support the upper and lower tier municipal efforts
> to introduce ranked ballots for the 2022 municipal elections.
>
> As far as I know, no one specifically solicited Rob for that comment. He
> was paying attention to the local effort to bring in ranked ballots himself
> (even though he's running at a different level) and pledged his support to
> bring in ranked ballots at that level.
>
> On Sun, 14 Oct 2018 at 15:00, Sharon Sommerville <
> sharonsommerville at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Also disappointing that she is talking about mandatory voting, something
>> nobody is considering. She is creating a distraction & red herring issue.
>>
>> Not great for us if she is elected.  Rob Deutschmann would be a better
>> choice for us.
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 14, 2018 at 1:51 PM Jennifer Ross <2jennross at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Well, that's not good.  In the past, we have discussed with Karen the
>>> Regional issue that it would be STV and she's been very happy to support
>>> that.  Nothing said here about the proportional aspects of ranked ballots
>>> in the Regional context.  Disappointing.
>>>
>>> Jenn
>>> Bookkeeping Services
>>> 519-501-2736
>>> No other Western democratic country concentrates as much political power in
>>> the hands of one person as Canada does with her Prime Minister.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Oct 14, 2018 at 1:17 PM Jonathan Cassels <cassels.jon at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Karen Redman did an AMA on Reddit today, and I asked her about ranked
>>>> ballots in Cambridge and whether she'd be open to adopting it at the
>>>> regional level. I thought you all might like to see her answer:
>>>>
>>>> There is a real appeal for the ranked ballot system and knowing that
>>>> whoever represents us at the Regional level will have received 50% or more
>>>> of the vote.
>>>>
>>>> Voter turnout is alarmingly low normally citing between 30-40% for
>>>> Municipal Elections. Local elections matter because the decisions made at
>>>> Regional Council impact you, your family and business almost immediately.
>>>>
>>>> I am in favour of finding a way to get more voters engaged in local
>>>> elections. Maybe ranked ballots could be considered as part of a larger
>>>> electoral reform package similar to Australia's where there is mandatory
>>>> voting? Anyone who does not vote is fined through the tax system.
>>>>
>>>> I look forward to seeing the results of the referendum in Cambridge and
>>>> continuing the conversation.
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