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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-CA link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Dave Arthur<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Your letter explains the problem very well from a national perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I agree that we need PR.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>One of the challenges with a nation as large geographically as Canada is that people want representatives from their immediate area or region. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Consequently the idea of constituencies based on geography creates this situation of large majority of votes in some cases and less than majority (i.e. less than 50%) in other cases electing representatives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>And the perception of ‘wasted’ of votes. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I have never considered my vote to be ‘wasted’ because I always vote according to my principles and political philosophy, not for who might win or to get rid of a bad character (‘strategic voting’).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Maybe we need to require that every elected rep (event at municipal level) must achieve 50+% on the first ballot or there is a ‘run-off’ to obtain that majority as is done in some European elections.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It would be interesting to see the result.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Also, we must engage and encourage everyone to vote so that governments are not elected by less than half of the eligible or actual voters.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> fvc-wat-disc [mailto:fvc-wat-disc-bounces@listserv.thinkers.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Dave Arthur<br><b>Sent:</b> December-03-16 7:03 PM<br><b>To:</b> FVC Waterloo Region Discussion<br><b>Subject:</b> [fvc-wat-disc] my letter responding to Gordon Domm<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Here’s my letter responding to Gordon Domm’s letter of last week.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Dave A<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><a href="http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/6999431-regular-distortions/" title="http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/6999431-regular-distortions/">http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/6999431-regular-distortions/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>