May 8, 2003

In this issue..

-- B.C Makes History with Citizens Assembly Plans
-- FVC Calls on Quebec Liberals to Honour Pledge for Voting Reform
-- Welsh Assembly Sets World Record for Gender Parity
-- National Council Election Results
-- New Executive Committee
-- Annual General Meeting Events
-- SEIU Canada Endorses FVC's Campaign

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B.C. MAKES HISTORY WITH CITIZENS ASSEMBLY PLANS

The British Columbia government introduced a historic plan for a
citizens assembly on electoral reform, last week. The government
proposes a 159-seat assembly (two people from each provincial
constituency, plus a chairman). If the assembly recommends changing
the province's voting system, that recommendation would then be put
to a referendum.

The legislation is, however, flawed in one key area that contradicts the
government's stated goal of "letting the people decide directly."

"While I will repeat our praise over the past year for Premier
Campbell's leadership in establishing a citizens assembly, the process
should not impose an inflated mega-majority requirement in any
resulting referendum to ratify a new voting system," said Bruce
Hallsor, Fair Vote Canada's vice-president.

Under the government's proposal, for a referendum to pass, it would
require an overall 60 per cent "Yes" vote across the province, plus a
majority in 60 per cent of the province's constituencies.

Fair Vote Canada believes the mega-majority requirement should be
dropped to a simple majority, or else the issue should be handed over
to the citizens assembly itself for discussion, public input and a
decision that would then be embedded in the referendum process.

FVC CALLS ON QUEBEC LIBERALS TO HONOUR PLEDGE FOR
VOTING SYSTEM REFORM

Fair Vote Canada is calling on the Quebec Liberal Party to act quickly
on its commitment to bring a proportional representation voting system
to Quebec within two years of being elected. The commitment was
made in a Liberal Party policy resolution adopted in September 2002.

"Given that both opposition parties also support moving to
proportional representation, a position that was overwhelmingly
endorsed at the Estates General in February, we urge Premier
Charest to act now," said Larry Gordon, executive director of Fair Vote
Canada. "It's time to put an end to distorted results and phony majority
governments. Mr. Charest and Quebec have an opportunity to lead
the way with a long-overdue electoral reform that will likely sweep
across all jurisdictions in Canada in the coming years."

WELSH ASSEMBLY SETS WORLD RECORD FOR GENDER
PARITY

Half of the members of the Welsh Assembly are now women, following
last week's proportional election. Wales now has the highest degree
of gender parity of any legislature in the world.

Thirty women were elected to the 60-seat assembly on May 2 in the
second election for the assembly that was created in 1999.

The results mark a stunning turn-around for the representation of
Welsh women. Until 1997, Wales had only elected a total of four
women MPs in its history.

Countries with proportional voting systems generally have more
women and visible minorities elected, because these systems
encourage parties to run a diverse range of candidates. This effect
was demonstrated once again in Wales.

The proportional election system divides Wales into five electoral
regions. Within each region there are 12 seats. Eight seats are
elected from single-member districts by first-past-the-post, and four
seats from party lists.

NATIONAL COUNCIL ELECTION RESULTS

The results of the mail-in vote for six seats on the National Council
were announced at our Annual General Meeting in Ottawa on April 25.
The first five candidates declared elected under the proportional
voting system each receive three-year terms. They are:

Karen Etheridge
John Baglow
Dennis Pilon
June Macdonald
J'Nan Brown

The sixth candidate declared elected, Patricia Marsden-Dole, will
serve the remaining two years of the seat that had been vacant.

Biographies of all the candidates are on the FVC website.

Every year, five of the fifteen seats on the council are open for
election, on a rotating basis. Candidates are elected through a
proportional system called the single transferable vote. The system
ensures that every vote counts. More details about how the election
system works can be found on our website.

NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

At a meeting of the National Council held in Ottawa on April 27, a new
executive committee was elected. The only new member of the
committee is Bruce Hallsor of Victoria who was elected vice-president,
replacing Troy Lanigan who did not run for re-election to the council
this year.

The members of the executive committee are:

Doris Anderson, president
Bruce Hallsor, vice president
John Deverell, treasurer
Lisa Dale, executive committee member
Julian West, executive committee member

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING EVENTS

This year's Annual General Meeting showed how far the movement for
voting reform has come in the two years since FVC's first conference.
The 70 people in attendance heard many encouraging presentations,
including:

-- Representatives from provincial organizations in B.C., Ontario,
Quebec, and P.E.I. were confident that voting reform would succeed in
their provinces within the next few years.

-- Nathalie Des Rosiers, president of the Law Commission of Canada,
emphasized the need for the voting system to enhance transparency,
accountability and representativeness. The Commission will deliver a
report on its public consultations to the federal government next year.

-- Patrick Boyer, former Tory MP, and Lorne Nystrom, NDP MP, gave
a session on mobilizing support across the political spectrum.

Also, the day before the AGM, NDP leader Jack Layton announced
his party would put a votable motion before the House in the fall on
the principle of proportional representation.

SEIU CANADA ENDORSES FVC's CAMPAIGN

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Canada has joined
the growing list of organizations which endorse Fair Vote Canada's
campaign for electoral reform. The union represents 80,000 workers in
a variety of service occupations.

FVC has previously received endorsements from various unions,
including the Canadian Labour Congress, and other organizations
such as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

CHAPTER AND CAUCUS NEWS

For information about activities of the Fair Vote Canada chapter in
your area check the Chapters and Caucus page of the website
www.fairvotecanada.org.

If you are interested in helping start a local chapter in your area,
please contact info@fairvotecanada.org or phone 416-410-4034.