Hamilton chapter - meets 5 MPs on Electoral Reform

Hamilton chapter - meets 5 MPs on Electoral Reform

Postby Oscar » Thu May 25, 2017 5:32 pm

Hamilton chapter meets with 5 MPs to ask them to vote for electoral reform on May 31

[ https://canadians.org/blog/hamilton-cha ... orm-may-31 ]

May 25, 2017 - 2:06 pm

(PHOTO: Don Giberson (Hamilton chapter), Filomena Tassi (Liberal MP), Heather Yoell (Leadnow), and Martin Reid (Fair Vote Canada)

The Council of Canadians Hamilton chapter has met with five Members of Parliament to encourage them to vote for electoral reform.

The chapter has met with Bob Bratina (Liberal MP for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek), Filomena Tassi (Liberal MP for Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas), David Sweet (Conservative MP for Famborough-Glanbrook), Scott Duvall (NDP MP for Hamilton Mountain), and David Christopherson (NDP MP for Hamilton Centre).

The meeting with Bratina on May 23 included two members of Fair Vote Canada, while the meeting with Tassi on May 24 included members from Fair Vote Canada and Leadnow (see the photo above).

This blog on the chapter's website notes, "In our meetings with Bratina and Tassi we shared the results of Fair Vote Canada polls on electoral reform in their ridings as well as 19 other Liberal ridings across the country. Tassi’s riding was not originally included in the poll so our chapter helped raise the funds to include it in the polling. In all 21 Liberal ridings, a clear majority indicated that they support proportional representation, they want every vote to count and they want their Liberal MP to advocate for PR as the party promised during the 2015 election campaign."

And it highlights, "There is expected to be a vote in the House of Commons on May 31st on a motion asking Parliament to concur with the recommendations of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform. In all of our meetings, we asked the MP to vote in support of this motion. ...Given the Liberal majority, the motion would need the support of 15-20 Liberal MPs to pass. The Fair Vote Canada polls and our visits were all aimed at convincing Liberal MPs in the ridings polled to support this motion."

During the October 2015 federal election campaign, the Liberals explicitly promised: "We will make every vote count. We are committed to ensuring that 2015 will be the last federal election conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system. We will convene an all-party Parliamentary committee to review a wide variety of reforms, such as ranked ballots, proportional representation, mandatory voting, and online voting. This committee will deliver its recommendations to Parliament. Within 18 months of forming government, we will introduce legislation to enact electoral reform."

But by February 1, 2017, despite this very clear election promise, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ruled out electoral reform.

As noted above, a vote on electoral reform is scheduled to take place in the House of Commons on May 31. Council of Canadians chapters and allies across the country are demanding that their MP vote for electoral reform.

Please contact your MP today.
(Partial list here: [ https://canadians.org/blog/halton-chapt ... orm-may-31 ])


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Political Director of the Council of Canadians
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Oscar
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