The Reform Party has traditionally been in favour of what they call a "Triple-E" Senate<br>(Equal provincial representation, Elected by the People, and Effective). This would<br>be more like the U.S. Senate, which has its own problems.<br>
<br>The author is saying that they would prefer abolition if triple E could not be achieved.<br>Perhaps when Harper isn't exploiting it for his partisan purposes, this could be true.<br><br>Harper's abuses also strengthen the case for abolition, whether that's their position<br>
or not.<br><br>Kevin.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 8:09 PM, Alida and George <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:burrettga@golden.net">burrettga@golden.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div bgcolor="#ffffff">
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">The letter to Jack contains a number of points
complimentary to the New Democratic Party position.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">I just didn't understand this:" <font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The Harper Conservatives have themselves<div class="im"><br>laid
the groundwork for a referendum on Abolition stating that Abolition<br>would be
preferable to the status quoi, if the idea (awful) of an elected<br></div>triple E
Senate cannot be achieved,"</font></font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Could anyone believe that "Abolition" is on the CPC
agenda? Does the author of the letter?</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">George Burrett</font></div>
<blockquote style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-right: 0px;"><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<div style="font: 10pt arial;">----- Original Message ----- </div>
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(228, 228, 228); font: 10pt arial;"><b>From:</b>
<a title="lanickerson@b2b2c.ca" href="mailto:lanickerson@b2b2c.ca" target="_blank">lanickerson@b2b2c.ca</a> </div>
<div style="font: 10pt arial;"><b>To:</b> <a title="fvc-wat-announce@listserv.thinkers.org" href="mailto:fvc-wat-announce@listserv.thinkers.org" target="_blank">fvc-wat-announce@listserv.thinkers.org</a>
</div>
<div style="font: 10pt arial;"><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, March 15, 2011 3:10
PM</div>
<div style="font: 10pt arial;"><b>Subject:</b> [fvc-wat-disc]
[fvc-wat-announce] Fwd: [FVCchapters] Senateabolition & proportional
representation: An open letter toJack Layton</div>
<div><br></div>For anyone who wants to send feedback to Ron Brydges on his
letter to Jack<br>Layton, please feel free!<br><br>Anita<br><br>-----
Forwarded message from "B. Hopkins" <<a href="mailto:brianhopkins2@sympatico.ca" target="_blank">brianhopkins2@sympatico.ca</a>>
-----<br> Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:18:57
+0000<br> From: "B. Hopkins" <<a href="mailto:brianhopkins2@sympatico.ca" target="_blank">brianhopkins2@sympatico.ca</a>><br>Reply-To:
"B. Hopkins" <<a href="mailto:brianhopkins2@sympatico.ca" target="_blank">brianhopkins2@sympatico.ca</a>><br> Subject:
[FVCchapters] Senate abolition & proportional representation: An
open<br>letter to Jack Layton<br> To: FairVote
messagelist <<a href="mailto:fvcchapters@yahoogroups.com" target="_blank">fvcchapters@yahoogroups.com</a>><br><br><br>The message below
was posted to a Yahoo group to which I belong. It is written<br>by Ron
Brydges, a St. Catharines, Ontario resident and long time NDP supporter.<br>He
is very concerned about the health of democracy in Canada and
would<br>appreciate hearing responses to his letter. I too am interested in
hearing your<br>responses and will forward such to Ron (without your name or
email address<br>unless otherwise requested).<br>Brian<br><br>P.S. Ron's
writings have appeared in the Niagara Falls
Review<br>(<a href="http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1342724" target="_blank">http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1342724</a>)<br>and
elsewhere. A recent letter appeared in the St. Catharines
Standard<br>(<a href="http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2982918" target="_blank">http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2982918</a>)
and the<br>Toronto
Star<br>(<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/939412--democracy-2-0-coming-to-a-country-near-you" target="_blank">http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/939412--democracy-2-0-coming-to-a-country-near-you</a>).<br>
<br><br>Posted
by: "Ron Brydges" <a href="mailto:gardcity@sympatico.ca" target="_blank">gardcity@sympatico.ca</a><br>Sun Mar 13, 2011<br><br>This was
sent to all sitting members of the Federal NDP<br><br>Open Letter to Jack
Layton and the NDP<br><br>Remembering with appreciation the words of Federal
NDP leadership candidate<br>Pierre Déclassé's signature campaign refrain "To
have the result you have<br>never had, you must do what you have never done",
the following election<br>proposal offers a way for putting his thought into
play.<br><br>Democratic reform deserves serious consideration as a lead issue
in the<br>upcoming federal NDP election campaign. There can be little argument
that<br>our democracy is broken, especially so when a good number of
political<br>pundits such as Andrew Coyne and the esteemed CBC political panel
have<br>emphatically and repeatedly declared that to be so.<br><br>Fixing our
democracy by way of electoral reform is a ready made issue for<br>Jack Layton
and the NDP. Jack has already laid the groundwork in declaring<br>the need for
election reform (proportional representation) and the need to<br>Abolish the
Senate for which he would have a national referendum. There are<br>already
strong currents and active citizen involvement - Fair Vote Canada -<br>to
bring forward some form of P.R. The Harper Conservatives have
themselves<br>laid the groundwork for a referendum on Abolition stating that
Abolition<br>would be preferable to the status quoi, if the idea (awful) of an
elected<br>triple E Senate cannot be achieved. It is obvious Harper has
abandoned that<br>project and has made his Senate appointments and Senate
abuses a strong<br>point for Abolition.<br><br>The NDP could take ownership of
the Democracy issue as the Liberals have<br>been absent or obstructive to P.R.
and Senate Abolition. They can step over<br>the Liberals while they play a
weaker hand of campaigning against the<br>Conservative record of abusing
democracy and lack of ethics while the<br>Conservatives attempt to fight back
with a rerun of the sponsorship<br>scandal. All this will simply serve to aid
and abet the need for electoral<br>reform which would bring more women,
aboriginal and other minority<br>representation into the House. The electoral
play with the Greens whose 7 to<br>10% voter share is critically important to
the NDP because there is a vote<br>tradeoff between these two parties. The NDP
carrying the Democracy issue<br>could appeal for Green support on the basis
that significant growth of the<br>Green Party will not materialize without the
adoption of a PR voting system<br>and only a strengthened NDP being elected to
government or forming a<br>coalition government can or will deliver Election
Reform. Absolutely true.<br>Senate Abolition is a necessary part of Election
Reform. The appointed<br>Senate is a significant part of what is undemocratic
and unfair with the<br>Canadian electoral and governing system. The Senate is
used, between and<br>during elections, as a publicly paid repository for
Conservative and Liberal<br>fundraisers and campaign organizers. It is
decidedly unbalanced in<br>representing the societal makeup of the Canadian
public, especially with<br>regards to the poor and disadvantaged. It is a
primary instrument in<br>maintaining a status-quoi neo-liberal globalist view
at a time when real<br>change is recognizably needed. Prior to the financial
meltdown and<br>accompanying economic disaster, a Senator declared to
the<br>sitting Senate Chamber "we are all de-regulators now". The history of
the<br>financial crisis has shown the lack of wisdom in that approach but
that<br>mentality still pervades the Chamber. All this put into a strong
narrative<br>will play well with the electorate.<br><br>The NDP is
historically the party of the working class and poor, which we<br>now call
ordinary Canadians. It is the party that, at its best, most<br>embodies
revolutionary change. This party of change does not have a single<br>Senator
in the 105 seat appointed Senate. Neither does the Green Party or,<br>of
course, the Bloc. This is untenable in a real democracy where the
people<br>are to make the decision of who shall govern and may someday soon
choose<br>real change. It has to be reformed or eliminated.<br><br>Just
recently, the appointed Senate, in a total affront to democracy, was<br>used
by the Conservatives, with Liberal Senate support, as a means to<br>summarily,
without debate, kill the NDP sponsored Climate Change Bill which<br>had passed
through the democratically elected House of Commons. This bill<br>was meant to
address the greatest peril facing our planet and humanity. In<br>the recent
past, the Senate was stacked by Brian Mulroney to pass the GST<br>legislation
and earlier the Canada U.S. Free Trade Agreement both opposed by<br>a majority
of Canadians.<br><br>Oft stated is the constitutional barrier concern to
Senate Abolition but<br>there is much reason to believe that barrier can be
overcome with a<br>referendum victory for Abolition which could not be ignored
at a time when<br>we are applauding the popular democratic uprisings in other
lands that are<br>democratizing their constitutions. There is expressed
concern that Quebec<br>would oppose Senate Abolition but even there the
public, given an informed<br>choice between electing and empowering the Senate
or abolishing the Senate<br>would vote for Abolition. Our Ballet Box
Revolution with a cry for<br>Democratic Reform will be hard to dismiss. The
Conservatives, Liberals or<br>the Provinces ignoring the people's election
decision would be seen as<br>opposing the voice of the people. Not good
politics.<br><br>Most Canadians would not have a clue as to who is even one of
their<br>regionally appointed Senators but are aware of their atrocious
attendance<br>records and their inflated salaries and pensions relative to the
ordinary<br>worker. Most see it as a waste of money. This is great election
fodder for<br>an elections style advertising campaign and, of course, fund
raising.<br>A preferential voting system, P.R., could be part of the
alternative to an<br>Abolished Senate by replacing the appointed Senate with
additional<br>regionally elected representatives to the House. These
elected<br>representatives will provide the regional representation which is a
stated<br>purpose for having a Senate. A process of legislative House
hearings, as is<br>utilized at the provincial level, rather than Senate
deliberations would<br>provide the supposed need for second sober thought.
This is in line with<br>what Ed Broadbent espoused a generation
ago.<br><br>Having an election platform calling for election reform by way of
Abolition<br>of the Senate and the adoption of a P.R. fair voting system could
excite the<br>nation and provide a real incentive for youth engagement
bringing to bear<br>their political clout of social media. It might even
appeal to the right who<br>want smaller government and less government
expenditure. Well executed, it<br>would influence voter turnout which is good
for the NDP and democracy.<br>The political landscape has never been more
favorable for an NDP<br>breakthrough. To do what we have never done before
with a bold stroke for<br>democracy could tip the balance. There can be no
more important election<br>issue than fixing our broken democracy. It is
through an improved democracy<br>we can then better address other great
societal needs. An unplugged Jack<br>Layton could make this the political
fight of his life.<br><br>My thoughts, welcome yours,<br>Ron Brydges<br>-----
End forwarded message -----<br><br><br><br><br>
</div></div><p>
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