FVAlta: Alberta should commit to Citizens' Assembly (18 Nov 2004)
November 18, 2004
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Alberta should commit to Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform
Ontario becomes the second province to initiate citizens' assembly
Edmonton - "We urge the Government of Alberta to follow the lead of British Columbia and Ontario and commit to address our provincial democratic deficit by initiating a citizens' assembly on electoral reform, said Helene Narayana, Edmonton spokesperson for Fair Vote Alberta. "Today's announcement from Ontario that it will initiate a citizens' assembly is another positive step in a nationwide trend. B.C.'s citizens' assembly has already completed its work and made a recommendation for change that will be put to B.C. voters in a referendum in their next election on May 17, 2005."
"The citizens' assembly concept has already been endorsed in Alberta by the Alliance, Green, Liberal and NDP provincial parties," said Narayana. "The question is does Premier Klein think Alberta suffers from a democratic deficit? Does Klein believe it is fair his party receives a substantially higher percentage of seats then the Progressive Conservative's popular vote?"
In the 2001 provincial election, the PCs received 62 per cent of the vote, but were awarded 89 per cent, or 74, of the seats in the legislative assembly. If their seats had been determined by the popular vote, the PCs would have won 52 seats.
On October 22nd, Fair Vote Alberta launched a campaign to call on the Government of Alberta to initiate a Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. The Citizens' Assembly would assess all possible models for electing the Members of the Legislative Assembly. If it recommended changes to the electoral system, that option would be put to a province-wide referendum.
Fair Vote Alberta is a campaign of Fair Vote Canada. It is comprised of voters from all parties, all points of view and all walks of life. We are helping Albertans learn about the problems with our voting system and the availability of better alternatives.