<div dir="ltr">Yes, very disappointing. I couldn't believe you guys were tweeting it to make people read that piece of rubbish. I'm sorry you had to be the poster-boy for "but I did get a second viewpoint" journalism.<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jun 28, 2016 at 4:11 PM, Bob Jonkman <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bjonkman@sobac.com" target="_blank">bjonkman@sobac.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----<br>
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I get quoted in today's column by Luisa D'Amato:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/6743051-d-amato-despite-brexit-we-need-a-referendum-on-electoral-reform/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/6743051-d-amato-despite-brexit-we-need-a-referendum-on-electoral-reform/</a><br>
<br>
> D’Amato: Despite Brexit, we need a referendum on electoral reform<br>
<br>
> Bob Jonkman, co-chair of the Waterloo Region chapter of Fair Vote<br>
> Canada, says there is barely time to put a new system in place,<br>
> let alone ask people what they think of it<br>
<br>
Ms. D'Amato and I had a 20 minute conversation yesterday and that's<br>
only a brief and under-representative quote of what we spoke about.<br>
Among other things, I expressed my opinion that a referendum on<br>
Electoral Reform isn't necessary because:<br>
<br>
1) Parliament (and provincial legislatures) may change the electoral<br>
system with a vote in parliament, as they have done for every other<br>
electoral reform issue such as giving the vote to women (1917-1918) or<br>
First Nations people (1960!)<br>
<br>
2) A referendum on electoral reform is not a constitutional<br>
requirement. The only issue that affects consitutionality is seat<br>
allocation to the provinces, and that requirement is easily met by not<br>
extending electoral boundaries across provincial lines. (We didn't<br>
discuss it, but there have been many electoral boundary changes,<br>
notably before the 2015 election, which didn't go to a referendum and<br>
were perfectly constitutional)<br>
<br>
3) That an effective and equal vote is a right, and that the<br>
First-Past-The-Post system violates that right, and rights issues are<br>
never decided by referenda.<br>
<br>
I spoke of the rarity of referenda in Canada, that the only national<br>
referenda have been on issues like prohibition (I thought that was in<br>
the 1930's, but it was in 1898), and the separation of Quebec (1992).<br>
Ms. D'Amato pointed out that we had a municipal referendum on<br>
fluoridation, and pointed out the many provincial referenda on<br>
electoral reform.<br>
<br>
We talked about the 2007 referendum in Ontario -- that example is a<br>
great reason to avoid referenda on these topics. Although the McGuinty<br>
Liberals made it an election promise in 2003, the Citizens' Assembly<br>
wasn't formed until 2006, leaving them only six months to become<br>
experts in voting systems and make a recommendation. Elections Ontario<br>
did not have enough information documents available; Fair Vote<br>
Waterloo members went door-to-door, and we ran out. Elections Ontario<br>
themselves were prohibited from giving out information on the proposed<br>
voting system, and when voters went to the polls in October most<br>
didn't even know there was a referendum on.<br>
<br>
I expressed dismay that it took the Federal Liberal government eight<br>
months to form the current All-party Parliamentary Committee, that the<br>
Committee's proposal is due on 1 December (and consultations need to<br>
wrapped up by 1 October), that the time it would take to move a bill<br>
through parliament could be as much as year, what with debate,<br>
multiple reading, and senate approval, and that Elections Canada will<br>
need a year to re-tool for a new electoral system.<br>
<br>
And that whole conversation was distilled down to the one sentence.<br>
<br>
- --Bob.<br>
<br>
<br>
- --<br>
Bob Jonkman <<a href="mailto:bjonkman@sobac.com">bjonkman@sobac.com</a>> Phone: <a href="tel:%2B1-519-635-9413" value="+15196359413">+1-519-635-9413</a><br>
SOBAC Microcomputer Services <a href="http://sobac.com/sobac/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://sobac.com/sobac/</a><br>
Software --- Office & Business Automation --- Consulting<br>
GnuPG Fngrprnt:04F7 742B 8F54 C40A E115 26C2 B912 89B0 D2CC E5EA<br>
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<br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:10px;background-color:transparent;font-style:normal"><span><font color="#888888"><font size="1"><span style="font-family:tahoma,new york,times,serif"><span style="line-height:10.909090995788574px">No other Western democratic country concentrates as much political power </span></span></font><font size="1"><span style="font-family:tahoma,new york,times,serif"><span style="line-height:10.909090995788574px">in the hands of one person as Canada does with her Prime Minister. </span></span></font></font></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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