Fair Vote Canada
NEWSLETTER
Oct. 16, 2000

CONTENTS:
1) Announcing Fair Vote Canada
2) House of Commons Resumes PR Debate
3) UK Referendum Delayed
4) New Zealand Reviews MMP

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1) Announcing Fair Vote Canada

The push for proportional representation in Canada is underway with today's launch of Fair Vote Canada. Our aim is to educate the public about electoral reform and to help organize those Canadians who favour proportional representation.

Our hope is that Fair Vote Canada (FVC) will attract the necessary support to pressure the next Parliament into holding a referendum on electoral reform prior to or concurrent with the federal election of 2005/06.

To that end, FVC has:

-- Launched a website, http://www.fairvotecanada.org

-- Written a start-up proposal for the organization (copies are available
from the web site, or by request from )

-- And FVC is putting together several other publications which we hope will help spread awareness of the inequities of the current electoral system and the positive alternative available in proportional representation. A study of recent provincial and territorial elections will be released in the coming weeks.

Also, it is our hope that this newsletter will encrourage co-operation between electoral reformers across Canada, and help keep all interested persons informed about developments here and abroad.

FVC's Interim Planning Council, currently consisting of Doug Bailie (Edmonton), Christopher Billows (Winnipeg) and Larry Gordon (Toronto), began work on this project last summer, and hopes to expand its group
of volunteers and supporters in the coming months. Please check out our web site and consider how you might be able to help.

2) House of Commons Resumes PR Debate

The House of Commons will resume debate of a motion on proportional representation, on Tuesday, October 17, 5:30-6:30 pm EST.

The debate on the private member's motion, M-155, sponsored by Lorne Nystrom (Regina-Qu'Appelle - NDP), began on May 18. Members from all the opposition parties expressed support.

The motion calls for the creation of an all-party committee to study proportoinal representation, followed by a referendum on proposed changes to the electoral system.

During the debate, Bloc Quebecois MP Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral (Laval Centre) proposed the motion be amended to restrict the committee to studying electoral systems that would be proportional "by province."

When the debate resumes, it will be on the Bloc's amendment.

3) UK Referendum Delayed

There was good news and bad news for supporters of proportional representation at the UK Labour Party conference in late September.

A referendum on proportional representation in the UK before the next election appears to be almost impossible at this point in the
government's mandate. However, delegates at the conference voted in favour of the report of the Democracy and Citizenship Commission which contained the commitment to a referendum on the electoral system for Westminster Robin Cook, the foreign minister and one of the strongest voices for proportional representation in the government, says that the party policy
is to hold the referendum during the term of the next parliament.

However, the Labour Party manifesto in the last election promised a referendum in this term, and division within the party and an apparent lack of enthusiasm by Prime Minister Tony Blair himself has caused the government to back away from that commitment.

The referendum would be on the adoption of the system proposed by Lord Roy Jenkins, called AV-Plus -- which would mix the Alternative Vote with a measure of party proportionality.

The BBC reported that the Labour Party's anti-reform group was celebrating victory at the party conference -- confident that there would never be PR elections for the UK parliament.

4) New Zealand Reviews MMP

New Zealand's review of its electoral system, Mixed Member Proportional (MMP), is underway. The Select Committee has heard submissions from a variety of groups, parties, and academics.

The review is required by the electoral law which established MMP in the mid-1990s. The committee is considering several amendments to the electoral law, and may recommend another referendum be held.

Some of the changes under consideration are: adjusting the threshold required for a party to receive list seats (currently 5 per cent of the popular vote); reducing the number of seats in parliament; and adopting an open list system. Also under consideration is changing the consituency elections from First Past The Post to the majoritarian Alternative Vote.

Such changes would represent only relatively minor adjustments to MMP.
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