Electoral reform forum February 21
Exciting news: The Forum intended to re-launch electoral reform in Ontario after the referendum defeat is attracting new activists.
As of 9:00PM this evening, of the 103 registered, 57 are Fair Vote Canada members and 46 are new; 62 have paid the regular registration fee, while 41 have paid $5 as "Students/Low Income" to attend the event in Toronto Saturday Feb. 21.
Click on the above link for details. Top speakers include:
- Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, the former Ontario Minister for Democratic Renewal, who announced after the referendum that she had voted for MMP.
- Dr. Jonathan Rose, former Academic Director of the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, presents the lessons learned from the Citizens Assembly, and how a cross-Canada Citizens' Assembly could work.
- Dr. Henry Milner, University of Montreal, author of Making Every Vote Count, talks about the models still open other than closed-province-wide-list MMP.
A panel on "How I Would Put Electoral Reform Back on the Agenda" features
- Andrew Coyne, National Editor, Maclean’s, political commentator
- Bruce Cox, Executive Director, Greenpeace Canada, former NDP campaign director
- Jim Harris, former leader, Green Party of Canada
And I'm really looking forward to seeing the MC for the day - Camille Labchuk, 24, who was about to win the CBC's Next Great Prime Minister contest when they changed their minds about inviting her to compete.
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Exciting news: The Forum intended to re-launch electoral reform in Ontario after the referendum defeat is attracting new activists.
As of 9:00PM this evening, of the 103 registered, 57 are Fair Vote Canada members and 46 are new; 62 have paid the regular registration fee, while 41 have paid $5 as "Students/Low Income" to attend the event in Toronto Saturday Feb. 21.
Click on the above link for details. Top speakers include:
- Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, the former Ontario Minister for Democratic Renewal, who announced after the referendum that she had voted for MMP.
- Dr. Jonathan Rose, former Academic Director of the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, presents the lessons learned from the Citizens Assembly, and how a cross-Canada Citizens' Assembly could work.
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I can read it if I click "quote"
Exciting news: The Forum intended to re-launch electoral reform in Ontario after the referendum defeat is attracting new activists.
As of 9:00PM this evening, of the 103 registered, 57 are Fair Vote Canada members and 46 are new; 62 have paid the regular registration fee, while 41 have paid $5 as "Students/Low Income" to attend the event in Toronto Saturday Feb. 21.
Click on the above link for details. Top speakers include:
- Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, the former Ontario Minister for Democratic Renewal, who announced after the referendum that she had voted for MMP.
- Dr. Jonathan Rose, former Academic Director of the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, presents the lessons learned from the Citizens Assembly, and how a cross-Canada Citizens' Assembly could work
- Dr. Henry Milner, University of Montreal, author of Making Every Vote Count, will talk about the models still open other than closed-province-wide-list MMP.
A panel on "How I Would Put Electoral Reform Back on the Agenda" will include:
- Andrew Coyne, National Editor, Maclean’s, political commentator
- Bruce Cox, Executive Director, Greenpeace Canada, former NDP campaign director
- Jim Harris, former leader, Green Party of Canada
And I'm really looking forward to our MC for the day: Camille Labchuk, 24, who was about to win the CBC's "Next Great Prime Minister" contest when they changed their minds about inviting her to compete.
We have 144 attendees as of ten minutes ago. The eventbrite site will only sell tickets if there is room, and the room holds 175 people, so we have put a max of 175 on eventbrite. So there are 31 tickets left. Register soon at:
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/259279512
I received this by email this weekend from Fairvote.ca:
On Thursday, March 3, the federal NDP used their final Opposition Day of the session to present the following motion in Parliament:
Mr. Christopherson (Hamilton Centre) — That: (a)
the House recognize the undemocratic nature of the current form of representation in the Parliament of Canada, specifically the unnecessary Senate and a House of Commons that does not accurately reflect the political preferences of Canadians;
(b) the House call on the government to (i) propose amendments to the Referendum Act in order to allow the holding of a special referendum at the same time as the next general election, (ii) put a simple question, as written by the Special Committee for Democratic
Improvement, which would allow Canadians to vote to abolish the Senate;
(c) the House appoint a Special Committee for Democratic Improvement, whose mandate is to (i) engage with Canadians, and make recommendations to the House, on how best to achieve a House of Commons that more accurately reflects the votes of Canadians by combining direct election by electoral district and proportional representation, (ii) advise the government on the wording of a referendum question to abolish the Senate; and [details on the composition and operation of the Committee.]
Fair Vote Canada was happy to endorse the proportional representation component of this motion. We issued a media release that resulted in favorable coverage in the Winnipeg Free Press and other media.
Although it was refreshing and exciting to watch fair voting reform being debated in the House of Commons, and Fair Vote Canada was mentioned and quoted several times, no other parties or MPs supported the motion, likely because of the inclusion of Senate abolition in the package.
FVC has no position on the abolition of the Senate. Our position on the Senate is included in our February 2010 statement on Reform of Parliament, which is available on our Web site at http://www.fairvote.ca/en/node/15418.