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Harper Misses the Point on "Democratic Reform"

HARPER MISSES THE POINT—“DEMOCRATIC REFORM” PACKAGE DOESN’T MENTION FAIR VOTING

The Conservatives have completely missed the point on democratic reform, according to Fair Vote Canada, a multi-partisan citizens’ group for fair voting reform, and are dodging the real issue. Stephen Harper’s democratic reform package, announced yesterday, included no commitment to changing the way we vote to elect our MPs.

“Surely the first thing we need,” said Fair Vote Canada president Wayne Smith, “is a fair voting system for Canada.”

Ironically, the current first-past-the-post voting system has been the single most important factor keeping Mr. Harper’s party from breaking through in Ontario and Quebec.

“In 2004, the Conservative Party got more votes in Ontario than they did in B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan combined,” Smith said, “but they won only 24 seats in Ontario, compared to 61 in those three western provinces. In fact, their 301,000 votes in Quebec elected no one at all in the last election, while 178,000 votes in Saskatchewan elected 13 Conservative MPs. Our voting system systematically marginalizes the Conservative Party while shutting the west out of power.

“But Stephen Harper is hanging on for a phony majority government. He thinks this time it will be the Conservative Party that gets 40% of the votes, 60% of the seats, and 100% of the power. Mr. Harper had better wake up and smell the coffee.

“Before a single ballot is cast in the upcoming election, we already know the outcome,” said Smith, “Approximately six million voters will cast wasted votes that elect no one to represent them in Parliament. Some parties will get far more seats than their votes warrant, and others will win too few, or none at all. The resulting Parliament will not represent the electorate accurately, which means the resulting Government will not be accountable to Canadian voters.”

Fair Vote Canada is calling on all parties to follow the lead of the B.C. and Ontario governments on electoral reform and establish a citizen-driven process that will allow Canadians to learn about modern, proportional voting systems and choose a fair voting system for Canada in a binding referendum.

“We need a fair voting system now,” said Smith, “and we need Canadians themselves—not politicians—to identify and choose the best system for Canada.”



Fair Vote Canada
26 Maryland Blvd.
Toronto, ON M4C 5C9

Phone: 416-410-4034
Fax: 416-686-4929

Email: info@fairvotecanada.org
Web: www.fairvote.ca

posted by Annamarie at 7:18 PM