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<DIV>And then there is Mr. Aissa, who stated on local CBC that “I am not a
politician, I am a business man.”</DIV>
<DIV>Oh, those conniving, thieving, nasty politicians. And those angelica
paragons of virtue: “Businessmen.” (No mention of business
women.)</DIV>
<DIV>hr</DIV>
<DIV>____________________</DIV>
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<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5">
<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=sharonsommerville@gmail.com
href="mailto:sharonsommerville@gmail.com">Sharon Sommerville</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, October 14, 2018 9:15 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=fvc-wat-disc@listserv.thinkers.org
href="mailto:fvc-wat-disc@listserv.thinkers.org">FVC Waterloo Region
Discussion</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [fvc-wat-disc] Karen Redman comments on ranked
ballots</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
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style='FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri"; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline'>
<DIV dir=ltr>Hi Jonathan,
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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 <SPAN tabIndex=-1
id=:1yk.28>STV</SPAN>. At the time, she said she would be okay with
that. As a long time Liberal politician, she might well support ranked
ballots. </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><BR class=gmail-Apple-interchange-newline>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 <SPAN
tabIndex=-1 id=gmail-:1yk.30>STV</SPAN>, but as an experienced politician she
went with the flow. In this most current situation on <SPAN tabIndex=-1
id=gmail-:1yk.31>Reddit</SPAN>, she homogenized the issue and then did a
pivot. A classic political move to not be pinned down by any
definitive position.</DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>On another occasion she asked me why do we need electoral reform? Her
point being that <SPAN tabIndex=-1 id=:1yk.29>FPTP</SPAN> 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....</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Cheers,</DIV>
<DIV>S.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>
<DIV dir=ltr>On Sun, Oct 14, 2018 at 4:51 PM Jonathan Cassels <<A
href="mailto:cassels.jon@gmail.com">cassels.jon@gmail.com</A>>
wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<DIV dir=ltr>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.<BR><BR>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:<BR><BR><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: "Segoe UI",arial,sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: pre-wrap; COLOR: rgb(20,23,26); BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,248,250)'>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.</SPAN> <BR><BR>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. <BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>
<DIV dir=ltr>On Sun, 14 Oct 2018 at 15:00, Sharon Sommerville <<A
href="mailto:sharonsommerville@gmail.com"
target=_blank>sharonsommerville@gmail.com</A>> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr>Also disappointing that she is talking about mandatory voting,
something nobody is considering. She is creating a distraction & red
herring issue.
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Not great for us if she is elected. Rob Deutschmann would be a
better choice for us.</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>
<DIV dir=ltr>On Sun, Oct 14, 2018 at 1:51 PM Jennifer Ross <<A
href="mailto:2jennross@gmail.com" target=_blank>2jennross@gmail.com</A>>
wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Jenn<BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
class=m_-8243592316182217455m_-2923360745514194709m_6114097773938973547gmail_signature
dir=ltr data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
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<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Bookkeeping Services</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>519-501-2736</FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<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></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>
<DIV dir=ltr>On Sun, Oct 14, 2018 at 1:17 PM Jonathan Cassels <<A
href="mailto:cassels.jon@gmail.com"
target=_blank>cassels.jon@gmail.com</A>> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">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:
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P
style="FONT-SIZE: 1em; FONT-FAMILY: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0.35em; LINE-HEIGHT: 1.42em; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(247,247,247)">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.</P>
<P
style="FONT-SIZE: 1em; FONT-FAMILY: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN: 0.35em 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 1.42em; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(247,247,247)">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.</P>
<P
style="FONT-SIZE: 1em; FONT-FAMILY: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN: 0.35em 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 1.42em; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(247,247,247)">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.</P>
<P
style="FONT-SIZE: 1em; FONT-FAMILY: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN: 0.35em 0px 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 1.42em; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(247,247,247)">I
look forward to seeing the results of the referendum in Cambridge and
continuing the
conversation.</P></DIV>_______________________________________________<BR>This
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