The Council of Canadians Nelson chapter will be rallying for electoral reform this coming Saturday.
The Nelson Daily Star reports, “Nelson is going to be part of the push against the Liberal government plan to retain the current electoral system when supporters march on National Day of Action on Electoral Reform Saturday, February 11. The public is asked to join the Council of Canadians and FairVoteCanada for a rally at noon at the amenity area on 400 block Baker Street in downtown Nelson. FairVoteKootenay leader Ann Remnant says Canadians should write an email, send a letter or phone Justin Trudeau. Or attend the rally Saturday at noon in Nelson.”
During the last federal election, the Liberals promised that the 2015 election would be the last held until the first-past-the-post voting system and set a deadline of May 2017 to introduce legislation on electoral reform. Undoubtedly many people voted for Trudeau because of this pledge to make our voting system more democratic.
Now, just 15 months after the election, Trudeau has abandoned that promise.
We strongly condemn Trudeau’s decision to not make every vote count.
We believe it is wrong that the current electoral system means that the Liberals with only 39.47 per cent of the popular vote hold 54.48 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons and basically 100 per cent of political decision-making power.
Rallies are also scheduled to take place in Antigonish, Kingston, Montreal, Orillia, Ottawa, Toronto, St. John’s and Victoria on February 11, and in Vancouver on February 26. Our Northumberland chapter will be joining with the local Fair Vote Canada chapter to protest in front of Liberal MP Kim Rudd’s constituency office in Cobourg on February 11. A cross-country day of action is also being planned for April 20.
The full list of demonstrations taking place on February 11 can be found here.
Following Trudeau’s announcement on February 1 that he was abandoning his promise on electoral reform, the Montreal chapter rallied for proportional representation outside his constituency office (February 2), the Saint John chapter has written the prime minister and the local Liberal Member of Parliament to express their disappointment (February 3), the Montreal and Ottawa chapters protested on Parliament Hill (February 5), and the London chapter has been attending rush hour rallies in front of the constituency offices of two local Liberal MPs this week.
More than 77,000 people have also signed this House of Commons e-petition calling on the Government of Canada to “immediately, declare its on-going commitment to ensuring the 2015 election be the last Federal Canadian election under the First Past The Post system.” The petition is open for signature until March 2, 2017, at 11:20 am EDT.
Since the last federal election, 28 chapters have called for proportional representation by attending consultations with the federal minister of democratic institutions, attending MP town halls, meeting with their MPs, organizing their own public events, handing out leaflets, publishing articles in local newspapers, and holding workshops.
#electoralreform
