<div dir="ltr"><div>Hi everyone. </div><div><br></div>In terms of "to be expected" that they would answer this way - yes and no. <div><br></div><div>Up until our FVC campaign, I don't think any of them but Caron were going to be specific, promise to campaign vocally on PR (which Mulcair did not), and most important, say PR will be a condition of supporting a Liberal minority. Every opportunity to say anything other than "I support PR", they took a <i>pass</i>.<br><br>Our campaign pushed them - we're not huge, but since we actually asked people to join the NDP to vote for exactly this reason - we are votes.<br><br>On the support for minority question: <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,0)"><b>Read the candidates answers on that very closely. </b>They might sound the same but are different.</span><br><br><b>Ashton</b>: <span style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;font-size:14px">As leader of the NDP, I would ensure that any potential partnership would include</span><br style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;font-size:14px">conditions to institute electoral reform.<br></span><br><b>Singh: </b><span style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;font-size:14px"> In a minority parliament, I would consult with our caucus and advocate for the inclusion of proportional representation as a condition of any alliance or support for a minority government.</span></div><div><font color="#444444" face="Open Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14px"><br></span></font></div><div><font color="#444444" face="Open Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14px"><b>Caron</b>: </span></font><span style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;font-size:14px">As part of my policy on electoral reform in the NDP leadership race, I explicitly made a commitment to make electoral reform a necessary condition and prerequisite for any potential alliance or support of any minority government.</span></div><div><font color="#444444" face="Open Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14px"><br></span></font></div><div><span style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;font-size:14px"><b>Angus:</b> Yes. While I did not get into politics to put other parties into power, I would make proportional representation one of the key demands on any government supported in Parliament by the NDP.</span><font color="#444444" face="Open Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14px"><br></span></font><br>This is VERY important. </div><div><br></div><div>We have one candidate saying PR would be "<b>one </b>of the key demands". We have another saying he'd <b>consult </b>with his caucus and advocate for PR, we have a third saying that a <b>partnership </b>would require a commitment to electoral. Then we have Caron saying basically, this one issue is a deal breaker. No PR, no support.<br><div><br></div><div>Let's suppose it's a minority situation. Which candidates have a list of important concessions they want, which includes PR, but if they don't get PR they'll take some other victory and say "well, we asked"? <i>We've been here before.</i> And for the Liberals, any other concession will be preferable and many other concessions would help the NDP look good to the public - electoral reform is one of those things that doesn't boost your polling, and makes you look self-serving. You need a determined will to keep at it anyway.</div><div><br></div><div>There's one candidate who made this <b>a KEY platform plank months ago</b> - Basic Income and PR - Guy Caron. He put out a news release on it. (It is on his website under news - not a good spot). Guy's platform did not inspire the others to make any commitments until we signed people up to vote. <br><br>Sean says:<br><br><span style="font-size:12.8px"><i>I also have the impression that Guy Caron actually supports PR. I suspect the other candidates have PR on their checklist. </i></span><br></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><i><br></i></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Yes, my impression, too.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">It is encouraging that Singh has been saying since the beginning that "electoral reform" is one of "four pillars." </span><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Another thing I like about Singh (a trivial point, but to me it's a point) is that while they are all saying "MMP with regional open lists" (repeat policy book - same as last election) Singh said to somebody "probably MMP." If the NDP are in a situation to negotiate with the Liberals, and the Liberals don't want MMP, it's good that there is a candidate who might be clued in that there are other good systems out there. Nathan Cullen and Alexandre Boulerice did a LOT of work on that end during the ERRE. If they do their homework in the background, we don't have to go back to square one on this.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><i>In the end we're going to have four candidates whose commitments to PR all SOUND almost the same. Which is exactly what we wanted! Vote for any of them and it's all good!</i></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><b>For those of us following this closely, though, the question is who is most believable on this issue, has the best understanding, and is most likely to put this issue first?</b></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div>I have my opinion, but who really knows. Things change. Our job is to push whoever gets elected.</div><div><br></div><div>Anita</div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 16, 2017 at 8:37 AM, Dave Arthur <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:arthurd23@bell.net" target="_blank">arthurd23@bell.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<div style="FONT-SIZE:12pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Calibri';COLOR:#000000">
<div>They all gave virtually the same answers – not unexpected.</div>
<div>Why is there nothing on any of their websites?</div>
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<div> </div>
<div style="BACKGROUND:#f5f5f5">
<div><b>From:</b> <a title="2jennross@gmail.com">Jennifer Ross</a> </div>
<div><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, August 15, 2017 9:43 PM</div>
<div><b>To:</b> <a title="fvc-wat-disc@listserv.thinkers.org">FVC Waterloo Region
Discussion</a> </div>
<div><b>Subject:</b> [fvc-wat-disc] NDP Leadership Candidates on Proportional
Representation</div></div></div>
<div> </div></div>
<div style="FONT-SIZE:small;TEXT-DECORATION:none;FONT-FAMILY:"Calibri";FONT-WEIGHT:normal;COLOR:#000000;FONT-STYLE:normal;DISPLAY:inline"><div><div class="h5">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Please see where each of the four candidates stand on PR, and what they
will do about it.<br><br><a href="http://www.fairvote.ca/asked-ndp-candidates/" target="_blank">http://www.fairvote.ca/asked-<wbr>ndp-candidates/</a><br><br></div>(8:58
if anyone was keeping track on timing.)<br clear="all">
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<div><br>-- <br>
<div class="m_6558253905364235834gmail_signature">
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<div style="FONT-SIZE:10px;COLOR:rgb(0,0,0);FONT-STYLE:normal;BACKGROUND-COLOR:transparent"><span><font color="#888888"><font size="1"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:tahoma,new york,times,serif"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT:10px">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:10px">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></div></div></div></div>
</div></div><p>
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