We’re making an impact!

Webinar with Dennis Pilon

Almost 100 people joined us September 16th for our first webinar of 2020, Friends and Enemies: who wants proportional representation in Canada and who does not. And why. Professor Dennis Pilon joined us for a lively hour examining the status of voting reform in Canada, discussing friends of the movement as well as the entrenched and powerful opponents to improving Canada’s democracy.

If you were unable to attend the webinar, you can watch the recording on Fair Vote Canada’s YouTube channel.

Save the date of our next webinar: Wednesday, October 21, 7 pm. Seth Klein will talk about his new book A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency, and how proportional representation can help bring about a just recovery and decarbonized future.

 

Celebrating our Letter Writing Wins

Getting Letters to the Editor (LTEs) on PR published in the media is an important way for us to keep our issue consistently in front of politicians and the public. In the last month, we’ve written eleven letters. Here’s one by Toronto volunteer Joyce Hall, just published in the Calgary Herald:

“Re. ‘Alberta burned for billions in energy investment gambles’.

Chris Varcoe is right to be skeptical of Premier Kenney’s assertion that he saved the taxpayers a few hundred million. As he points out, the NDP dispute this statement, with good reason.

UCP campaigned on cancelling the crude-by-rail contracts, so their doing so comes as no surprise. However, it’s possible that this export capacity will be needed in the future — if not, why all the clamour for pipelines? So the contracts, valued at zero by the UCP — and divestment thereof paid for at huge cost — may in fact gain value later. That value is now irretrievable. But a promise is a promise, so cancel they did.

The giant loss of $2.1 billion to Alberta taxpayers comes courtesy of the hyperpartisanship of electoral politics. The UCP’s knee jerk reaction to the policies of the NDP was to oppose, promise to cancel, and when they gained power, they did so, ignoring future value potential.

Canadians have come to accept a version of democracy where such wasteful and erratic “policy lurch” is normal. Yet such huge losses should cause us to look deeply at the way we do politics. Do they perhaps indicate that we need to move towards a model that is less partisan, more co-operative, and more likely to provide Canadians with consistent, evidence-based decision-making?

Proponents of proportional representation cite evidence that the governments resulting from PR elections, often coalitions, provide more co-operative, cool-headed governance. Partisanship is tempered as parties adjust to the norm that they will need to work together.”

Note – The Herald has over 400,000 readers each week, so hats off to Joyce and her letter — and to everyone else who wrote a letter last month!


Upcoming Events

Writer’s Drop-In — Wednesday, September 23, 7 pm to 8 pm

Writing letters, as you see, is an ongoing project of Fair Vote Toronto. At our first Writer’s Workshop last month, we met to share our plans and tools with volunteers. At this month’s workshop, we’ll read an article, discuss a few talking points connected to electoral reform, and start writing. You’re invited to join us! Everyone is welcome — no experience required.

Register here and save the date: Wednesday, September 23, 7 pm

Virtual Volunteer Rendezvous — Tuesday, September 29th, 7 to 8pm

Thinking about getting more involved with Fair Vote Toronto? Then come to our next Virtual Volunteer Rendezvous on September 29! You’ll meet other volunteers, chat with the Fair Vote Toronto Action Team and learn about our current projects to bring Proportional Representation to Ontario. Find out about our opportunities for activists, including letter-writing, creating content for newsletters and social media, lobbying politicians, graphic design, making community presentations and more!

fair vote toronto proportional representation electoral reform canada volunteer rendezvous


The Military Voters Act of 1917 – intended to enfranchise soldiers under the age of 21 – inadvertently benefitted women as well. The Bluebirds, Canadian military nurses serving in the war effort, were allowed to vote in the 1917 federal election.

 

Given the time difference between Europe and Canada, these women pictured voting at a

Canadian field hospital in France, December 1917, likely voted before women in Canada, making them among the first Canadian women to vote in a dominion election.