What: Fair Vote Canada National AGM (open to non-members) Date: Saturday 29th of May 2010 Time: 8:30-5:00 pm Location: University of Ottawa, Desmarais Building, 55 Laurier Ave East, 12th floor - Room 12102
Wheelchair access: Yes
Price: 10$-60$, depending on income type and food Registration & agenda: http://fairvotecanada2010.eventbrite.com/
More info: 416-410-4034 or email office@fairvote.ca
Join us to learn about and discuss the issues, strategy and tactics for advancing the fight for fair voting and proportional representation at all levels of government.
Date: Tuesday 27th of April Time: 7 pm Location: Sandy Hill Community Centre, 250 Sommerset St. Wheelchair access: Yes Transit routes:
- #16 brings you at the door
- #5 brings you within walking distance
- Campus transitway station within walking distance
Elizabeth May, electoral reform supporter and leader of the federal Green Party will provide a keynote address at our annual general meeting. We are pleased to welcome Ms. May, author of “Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy” to address the democratic deficit in Canada and the pressing need for electoral reform. The meeting will be held Tuesday April 27th at the Sandy Hill Community Center (Somerset E./Nelson) at 7 pm. Elections for positions on the executive will be held.
Open to the public at large. Free entrance. Donations are appreciated and will go to the Ottawa chapter of Fair Vote Canada. (http://ottawa.fairvote.ca)
A $10 first-year membership or a $25 membership renewal, available at the meeting, is necessary to vote in elections or on motions.
Provincial seat inequities pale in comparison to voting system distortions
Today the Harper government moved to add 30 seats to the House of Commons to reflect the growing populations of Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia – but failed to address a more egregious problem: the partisan inequities created by the electoral system. (more…)
I didn’t have a chance to speak at the rally because I contacted the rally organizers too late. But our mission is so connected to prorogation issue and the lack of cooperation we see in parliament. So here’s my speech for your consideration.
My name is Julien Lamarche and I’m with the Ottawa chapter of Fair Vote Canada. I joined Fair Vote because I think allot of the problems we see in Canadian politics is a consequence of our electoral system, known as first past the post or winner take all.
It has this funny trait called plurality. Plurality means that you only need 1 more vote than any other candidate to win an election. For example, across the river, in Gatineau, the wining candidate got 29% support of all the voters who took the time to cast a ballot. The remaining 70% go unrepresented.
But the lack of representation goes beyond a few ridings. Across Canada in that same election, 51% of all votes didn’t go to a winning candidate. Our electoral system produced more unrepresented voters than represented ones! (more…)
Well, the anti-prorogation protest was very well attended on the Hill today. Many people protesting various aspects of Harper’s policies spoke. The NDP, Liberal, Bloc Québecois, Green Party, unions and environmentalists were all out.
Why protest Harper and bad politicians when you can work on advocating to change the rules of the game that allow this kind of behavior in the first place?
We we’re the only ones there that had a solution, a proposal to actually fix the system, rather than protest specific policies or the prorogation itself as an isolated incident. As Wayne Smith commented on noprorogue.ca on January 13th:
This is only the latest in a series of actions by governments of different political stripes to diminish the relevance of Parliament and concentrate power in the office of the Prime Minister. The root problem is our inability to hold politicians and political parties accountable because of our antique, winner-take-all voting system.
Fair Vote Canada sent and issued open letters to the Prime Minister and opposition leaders - now is the time for action on electoral reform.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Re: Prorogation and Re-examination: Cut to the Chase S’il Vous Plait
Dear Prime Minister Harper:
On Wednesday you said you ended the current Parliament (without its approval) to give your government an extended opportunity “to re-examine the overall agenda.”
You have granted yourself and your party two unsupervised months to correct course.
Will elimination of Canada’s democratic deficit be on your government’s new agenda? If not it should be.
Your party represents fewer than 40 per cent of Canadian voters. You can’t square that minority support, and the unilateral shutdown of Parliament, with any reasonable concept of legitimate and representative democratic government.
I do not accuse you of violating democracy itself only because the Canadian political system as it stands is intrinsically undemocratic. (more…)
“A short video making fun of the absurdity of Canada’s “First Past the Post” electoral system, in which it’s normal for a majority of people to vote for someone other than the winning candidate. We need to implement fair voting in Canada, and join the vast majority of other Western democracies that have already done so”
I’m wondering if I can use LinkedIn to increase membership renewals by a notch. I’d like to e-mail two or more local members that share a connection, but I’d probably be violating privacy rules by revealing to both those members that they are members. But if they were both members (either in the past year or years ago) how could they be offended that that information be revealed to another member they share a linkedin connection with?
If both connections have Fair Vote membership, I feel asking the closer connection of the two: “Oh, btw, could you ask X to renew her membership” is ok, especially if I know the closer linkedin connection very well . The latter becomes a volunteer who’s been given privileged but very limited information.
But I don’t think that’s as effective as “Hey, you both have expired memberships. So who’s going to renew first?” It might get a conversation going between two supporters who would otherwise not know they were members!
In both cases however, I’ve revealed to one or both members another persons membership, and I’m not sure that’s right. But again, how could they be offended that that information be revealed to another member they share a linkedin connection with?
Amir Khadir, leader of Quebec Solidaire, held a press conference last Thursday announcing that the entire Quebec legislature passed a motion that, according to M. Khadir, instructs the Quebec government to include proportionality in its revision of the elections act.
“I think the people have spoken and, sadly, we need to accept their determination to remain in the electoral Stone Age for the foreseeable future.”
To which I wrote back the following:
Fair Vote Canada has been in existence since 2001. No other movement has managed to get 4 referendums in such a short time span. Provincially, electoral reform has support more support than the Green
Party and NDP combined. In the riding (of Ottawa-Centre) it has 47% support, more than provincial liberals and conservatives combined. Its a great cause to be part of. The question facing Fair Vote Canada isn’t how to convince the remaining 20%, but how to mobilize the 40% that voted for it. If we do, we are an unstoppable force.
The question remains: how to mobilize the 40% who did vote yes for reform?
