Fair Vote Canada
NEWSLETTER
May 9, 2001
CONTENTS:
1) FVC Committee Projects
2) Upcoming Local Meetings
3) Report on Toronto Meeting
4) PEI Considers Proportional Representation
5) Lopsided Result Predicted in BC Election
6) Green Party Launches Suit Against the Voting System
7) Débat Conférence
8) "Votes and Seats" Conference
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1) FVC Committee Projects
It's been a busy month for Fair Vote Canada (FVC) committees. Work is almost complete on our new membership brochure. The brochure will soon be circulated to everyone on this newsletter list. Be prepared to become an official FVC member! And think about how you can recruit other members to FVC.
Another FVC committee met with MP Lorne Nystrom's staff on May 2. Lorne will be organizing an all-party parliamentary committee to examine approaches to voting system reform. FVC will be playing a supportive role as soon as the committee is formed.
FVC representatives also met with the Law Commission of Canada (LCC), which intends to initiate projects in the coming year on electoral reform. FVC and the LCC are examining whether joint projects and programs may be possible.
2) Upcoming Local Meetings
Ottawa -- The next meeting of the local chapter will be held on May 14 at 7 pm at the Public Service Alliance building on Gilmore between Metcalfe and Elgin. Contact Dan Biocchi at .
Edmonton -- A meeting for supporters of voting system reform will be held on Tuesday, May 29 at 7:30 pm in the Heritage Room of Edmonton's City Hall. The objective of the meeting will be to discuss how to promote voting system reform and the possibility of establishing a local chapter of Fair Vote Canada for the Edmonton area. Contact Doug Bailie at or 432-9407.
Toronto -- The next meeting of the local chapter will be held on June 4. (See below.)
3) Report on Toronto Meeting
The Toronto Chapter of Fair Vote Canada held its third meeting on April 23 with fifteen people in attendance.
Volunteers stepped forward to form teams
-- to contact provincial parties and inform them about the FVC agenda;
-- to obtain a list of local citizens groups, including university and high school student councils and other groups such as Democracy Watch and Citizens For Local Democracy;
-- to seek funding from sources such as the Trillium Foundation;
-- to approach and contact the youth wings of the political parties;
-- to develop a media strategy;
-- to initiate a petition for high profile supporters;
-- to contact aboriginal groups; to develop workshops for those who wish to learn how to present FVC information (train the trainer); and
-- to work on a presentation package.
Each person at the meeting also agreed to speak to six friends about Fair Vote Canada, and to report back to the group.
Wayne Smith and Lisa Dale volunteered to serve as interim Co-chairs of the Toronto Chapter, and to be responsible for setting up chapter elections.
The next meeting of the Toronto Chapter will be Monday, June 4 at 7:30 p.m., in the Party Room.
For more information on the Toronto Chapter of Fair Vote Canada, contact Wayne Smith, 29 Mount Royal Avenue, Toronto ON M6H 2S2, 416-407-7009, wayneon@hotmail.com.
4) PEI Considers Proportional Representation
A committee of the Prince Edward Island legislature has recommended the province study the possibility of adopting a system of proportional representation.
On April 27, the Special Committee on the Election Act tabled its final report in the legislature. Committee chairman Jim Bagnall noted that of the 15 presentation made to his committee, seven related to proportional representation.
The report recommends that Elections PEI study the use of proportional representation in other jurisdictions and in particular those of similar geographic size and population to the Island. The report goes on to recommend that after that study is presented to the legislature, "Islanders should be broadly consulted on a specific system or systems."
In last year's general election, only one member of the opposition was elected to the PEI legislature in spite of the 42 per cent of the popular vote for opposition parties. Such a result is fairly typical of Island elections. The special committee was struck because of concern over the way the voting system tends to return a weak opposition.
5) Lopsided Result Predicted in BC Election
The general election in British Columbia on May 16 is expected to end in a lopsided result. Polls indicate that the opposition will be reduced to only a handful of the 79 seats in the legislature, or even completely wiped out.
Such a distortion of the popular vote is expected to increase calls for a reform of the voting system. The BC Liberals, widely expected to win the election, have as part of their platform a promise to create a Citizens Assembly that would recommend changes to the voting system. The recommendation would then be the subject of a referendum.
All other parties, except the NDP, have made similar promises of voting system reform. Visit the Fair Voting BC website at .
6) Green Party Launches Suit Against the Voting System
Last week, the Green Party of Canada filed a suit in the Federal Court of Canada claiming that the voting system violates the Charter of Rights.
The suit is based on research by the Constitutional Test Case Centre at the University of Toronto. Professor David Beatty said that the current voting system fails to treat all Canadians equally and that it
should be replaced by proportional representation.
Speaking at the conference on voting system reform held by the Institute for Research on Public Policy on May 3 (see below), Beatty said that he thinks the case has an excellent chance of succeeding. He expects the case to take three or four years to make it to the Supreme Court of Canada.
7) Débat Conférence
Assistez à la naissance d'un mouvement en faveur d'une réforme du mode de scrutin.
Débat Conférence:
Centre Saint-Pierre de Montréal (métro Beaudry), 30 mai 2001, 19h00
Ce débat est organisé par le Mouvement pour une démocratie nouvelle (MDN).
Experts :
-- Vincent Lemieux, politicologue
-- Henry Milner, politicologue
Les acteurs politiques :
-- Jacques Chagnon, député et porte-parole du Parti libéral du Québec en matière de réforme électorale
-- André Larocque, porte-parole de l'Action démocratique du Québec en matière de réforme électorale
-- Paul Cliche, ex-candidat de l'Union des forces progressistes lors de l'élection partielle de Mercier
-- Un porte-parole du Parti québécois est officiellement invité.
Pour plus d'information, veuillez consulter le site web 514-354-9880
8) "Votes and Seats" Conference
The Institute for Research on Public Policy held a conference in Ottawa, May 2-3, titled "Votes and Seats: Opportunities and Challenges for Electoral Reform in Canada."
The speakers included former prime minister of New Zealand Jim Bolger, author Judy Rebick, Tom Flanagan (political scientist, University of Calgary), Louis Massicotte (political scientist, University of Montreal), David Beatty (law professor, University of Toronto). There was also a panel of representatives from all the political parties in Parliament and the Green Party.
Proceedings of the conference will be published in a future edition of IRPP's periodical _Policy Options_.
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[ This Message was edited by: admin on 2002-09-06 10:49 ]