This has nothing to do with taxation other than the way that you elect the
government that taxes you.
We have a Citizen's Committee in BC to decide what method we will use to
elect our provincial government in the future.
-----Original Message-----
From: Fair Vote Canada [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 11:59 AM
To: Fair Vote Canada
Subject: Newsletter
Fair Vote Canada
NEWSLETTER
July 22, 2003
In this issue ...
-- Sign Our Online Petition
-- Next Quebec Election Will Be Proportional
-- Study Shows Nova Scotia Elections Waste a Majority of Votes Cast
-- FVC Commends New Brunswick Premier's Pledge
-- FVC Calls for Better PR Models in PEI
-- More Campaign Endorsements
Our apologies if you have received more than one copy of this newsletter.
Please inform us at [email protected].
Aussi disponible en français.
--------------------------------------------------------
-- Sign Our Online Petition
The Make Every Vote Count petition is now online. You can add your name
to the list of Canadians from across the country and across the political
spectrum who support Fair Vote Canada's campaign. With your support, we
will make Canadian elections more democratic and
our representatives more accountable.
Sign the petition at http://www.fairvotecanada.org/petition.php.
After adding your name, you can send a message through the website to
friends and colleagues whom you'd like to tell about the online petition.
Please help circulate the news and build our movement for fair voting!
-- Next Quebec Election Will Be Proportional
Quebec will abolish the current voting system in favour of proportional
elections in time for the next provincial election. Minister responsible for
Reform of Democratic Institutions, Jacques Dupuis, said on July 9, "There is
a big enough consensus in our society for us to go ahead. That is the
mandate I have received from the Premier."
Prior to last spring's provincial election, the Parti Quebecois government
announced its intention of adopting a proportional voting system. The
project
has been taken up by the new Liberal government. The third party in the
National Assembly, Action Démocratique du Québec, also favours the move.
At the Estates-General, held in February, 90 per cent of the participants -
over 800 Quebecers from across the province - voted in support of
proportional representation.
-- Study Shows Nova Scotia Elections Waste a Majority of Votes Cast
According to a study of provincial elections between 1980 and 2000
conducted by Fair Vote Canada, more than half of the votes cast (50.2%) by
Nova Scotians did not produce political representation for those voters.
During the period of the study, only Ontario voters were less likely than
Nova
Scotians to be represented as they wished.
"Political scientists call these 'wasted votes', which are a result of our
widely
discredited winner-take-all voting system," explained Larry Gordon,
executive director of Fair Vote Canada. "Under our current voting system,
the only voters who win political representation are those who support the
most popular candidate in their riding.
"Winner-take-all is just what it says. One group of voters wins the right to
representation, while the others lose that right."
Nova Scotians go to the polls August 5 in what appears to be a close
competition between the governing Tories, the Liberals and the NDP.
The current voting system also frequently creates phony majority
governments, in which one party wins a majority of seats without winning a
majority of the popular vote. The 54 provincial elections between 1980 and
2000 produced 33 phony majority governments. The last Nova Scotia
election was a classic case, where the voting system allowed the PCs to win
a majority of seats with only 39% of the popular vote.
-- FVC Commends New Brunswick Premier's Pledge
Fair Vote Canada commended Premier Bernard Lord for his election promise
to establish a commission to study proportional representation for New
Brunswick.
The commitment to an electoral reform study came partway through the
provincial election campaign in May, and two weeks after Fair Vote Canada
released a report identifying New Brunswick as the province with the most
distorted election outcomes.
Premier Lord's commitment is included in the "Reaching Higher, Going
Further" platform released on May 26. The platform states: "Bernard Lord's
plan will focus on strengthening democracy by establishing a commission on
legislative democracy to study the concept of proportional representation,
fixed election dates and other mechanisms."
-- FVC Calls for Better PR Models in PEI
FVC Atlantic Canada coordinator J'Nan Brown made a presentation at the
public consultations of the Electoral Reform Commission in PEI in June. Ms
Brown commended the commission for its focus on key issues, but called for
the developments of several voting system models for PEI that will deliver
broadly proportional election results.
-- More Campaign Endorsements
Fair Vote Canada is proud to receive official endorsements for its campaign
from the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU)
and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).
OPEIU has 11,500 members who work for large and small employers in both
the public and private industry sectors, including the utility industry,
tourism
and travel, education, information technology, call centers, research,
manufacturing, insurance and transit industries.
CUPW's membership includes a variety of Canada Post workers plus new
members such as couriers, emergency medical dispatchers, and warehouse
workers.
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 page in the "About Us" section of the website,
www.fairvotecanada.org.
If you are interested in helping start a local chapter in your area, please
contact [email protected] or phone 416-410-4034.
-------------------------------------------------
If you wish to be removed from this mailing list or if your e-mail address
is
changing, write to [email protected].
--------------------------------------------------
Fair Vote Canada
26 Maryland Blvd.
Toronto, Ontario
M4C 5C9
phone: 416-410-4034
fax: 416-686-4929
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.fairvotecanada.org
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