In Saskatchewan Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament held rallies in three cities. Representatives from the Saskatchewan Chapter of Fair Vote Canada attended all three.
In Regina the rally was held on the Scarth Street Mall and a couple of independent counts put the crowd at 300 plus. Despite the wind tunnel created by the down town high-rises, the crowd was engaged and boisterous. Two members of our Chapter executive spoke to the crowd wearing their other hats. Mike Burton a Political Science Masters Student and Larissa Shasko who is the leader of the Green Party in Saskatchewan.
Electoral reform was spoken of by several speakers and Dr. Joyce Green from the U of R was particularly persuasive about it in her presentation. We had five people from the Saskatchewan Chapter at the rally and we managed to hand out all the leaflets we had and we gathered 132 signatures on the Declaration.
Saskatoon’s rally was held outside City Hall in the blowing snow but despite the weather, 450 people turned out. We were a little light on the ground in Saskatoon but all the leaflets were handed out and well received. Proportional representation and Fair Vote Canada specifically was talked about by speakers. No declarations were gathered.
An indoor rally was held in Prince Albert, those guys know how to beat the cold weather. About fifty people braved the storm to attend, thirty three of those signed the declaration and we distributed leaflets.
The problem with our electoral system is not that it is not proportional. It is that the representatives represent political parties and not the voters. Proportionality would only worsen this defect. FVC should propose a system that will elect representatives that will represent the voters.
ReplyDeleteProportional Representation would, for a start make elected representatives understand that they would be much more answerable to the public than they are under the existing system when they can get elected with 40% support. MPs who didn't listen to those who elected them simply wouldn't last.
ReplyDeleteBesides consider this.
* Almost a million voters supported the Green Party in the last election and elected no one. In Alberta less than that number of voters elected 27 Conservative MPs.
* Here on the prairies the Conservatives got twice the vote than the NDP and the Liberals combined but elected 7 times as many MPs.
* The NDP got 1.1 million votes than the Bloc but the Bloc elected 49 MPs and the NDP elected 37
* In Toronto a quarter million Conservative voters elected no one
When people are unhappy with the individual that they have elected, they do not want to go to vote to change their political belief but to change the incumbent. A choice of political parties is not a choice. A choice of individuals that represent their favourite ideology is a real choice.
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