Stop the Hogs!

Neil Young among artists, activists urging Trudeau government to reform electoral system

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/elector ... -1.3942661 ]

Alliance calls on Liberals to keep platform promise to replace Canada's 1st-past-the-post system

By Aaron Wherry, CBC News Posted: Jan 19, 2017 11:04 AM ET| Last Updated: Jan 19, 2017 11:21 AM ET

A collection of activists, political players and artists — including musician Neil Young — is calling on Justin Trudeau's Liberal government to keep its promise to implement a new federal electoral system in time for the 2019 election.

"We congratulate the newly appointed minister, the Hon. Karina Gould, and urge her to move to implement the key recommendation of the parliamentary committee and move to a system of proportional representation for the next federal election," reads a statement signed by former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley, environmentalist David Suzuki, musicians Neil Young and Sarah Harmer, and artist Robert Bateman, among others. [ http://www.everyvotercounts.ca/updates/ ]

The statement was issued by the Every Voter Counts Alliance, which is sponsored by the Broadbent Institute, Fair Vote Canada and various other organizations and labour unions, including Unifor and CUPE.

Karina Gould was appointed minister of democratic institutions earlier this month, replacing Maryam Monsef. In joining cabinet, she inherited a file that has challenged the Trudeau government for more than a year.

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PROMINENT CANADIANS CALL ON LIBERALS TO KEEP THEIR PROMISE ON ELECTORAL REFORM

[ http://www.everyvotercounts.ca/updates/ ] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JANUARY 19, 2017

In the 2015 Canadian election, the Liberal Party platform called for 2015 to be the last election held under First Past the Post. True to their word, the December 2015 Speech from the Throne committed that in this session of Parliament, in order to ensure that every vote counts, 2015 would be the last election held under the outdated majoritarian voting system, known as First Past the Post.

Following the commitment in the platform, the former minister for Democratic Institutions, the Hon. Maryam Monsef, put forward a proposal to the House of Commons to strike a Special Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reform. Her innovative proposal brought all Parliamentary parties into an intensive process to review the research and political science literature, hear from experts from Canada and around the world, as well as engaged citizens in every province and territory of Canada. The report on the Special Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reform was tabled on December 1, 2016.

The committee report represents a substantive and substantial contribution to the many studies conducted in Canada since the first occasion when a parliamentary committee considered electoral reform in 1921. Since that time, studies in many provinces, as well as reviews federally, have all concluded that Canadian democracy would be enhanced by a move to a voting system that ensured the way Canadians vote is reflected in the composition of our parliament.

The parliamentary committee recommendation is for a voting system that maintains the link between Canadian citizens and a locally representative MP while eliminating the risks posed by majoritarian systems (such as First past the Post and Ranked Ballots under FPTP) of severe electoral distortions of the will of the voters.

We congratulate the newly appointed minister, the Hon Karina Gould, and urge her to move to implement the key recommendation of the parliamentary committee and move to a system of proportional representation for the next federal election.

Maude Barlow – National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. et al . . . . .

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[ http://www.everyvotercounts.ca/updates/ ]