Your civil rights are in danger.
Have you ever wanted to protest anything? The first protest I went to at Queen’s Park was to protest Ontario eliminating provincial OSAP grants for post secondary education. Later, when I was a young mom when I took my toddler to the next protest when Mike Harris was cutting social services and dismantling public education.
People are allowed to protest in a…
Your civil rights are in danger.Have you ever wanted to protest anything? The first protest I went to at Queen’s Park was to protest Ontario eliminating provincial OSAP grants for post secondary education. Later, I was a young mom when I took my toddler to the next protest when Mike Harris was cutting social services and dismantling public education.
People are allowed to protest in a democracy. I know people who protested G7 and G20 and I know people who have never protested in their lives. All sorts of people who never thought they would ever protest anything came out to protest Bill C-51. The Harper Government (and the Justin Trudeau Government that followed) chose to ignore the protests. They can do that.
What they can’t do is stop people from protesting. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the right of every Canadian to dissent.
Maybe you’ve never protested, and maybe you never will. But today you have the right to protest. No government approval required.
This is especially important in our unrepresentative representative democracy because its the only way to even get winner-take-all government to pat attention. But the City of Toronto is considering removing that right…preventing you or anyone from protesting on city or provincial property without permission.
If the City of Toronto goes ahead with this, if they stop peaceful protests from taking place on city or provincial property, it won’t just affect Torontonians. This could prevent Citizens from anywhere in Ontario from expressing their dissent at Queens Park without breaking the law.
This is a motion, not a law, but even so, with this in place, serious breaches of civil rights will undoubtedly follow. [As they happened at Toronto’s infamous G20.]
If it goes unchallenged, other municipalities will likely follow suit. Which is why I’m sharing this call to action.
No information, no process, no visibility – just privileged access to power.
Tell Mayor Tory and all councillors this ill-conceived and ill-considered motion will not pass in our city.
URGENT – Meeting this Tuesday (Nov 28 at 9:30 am)
Toronto City Council is considering an item that came to Council on Sep-19 from Councillor James Pasternak (Ward 10 – York Centre) who is seeking a motion to shut down or prohibit access to public demonstrationson city and provincial property for so-called “hate-infested” rallies and he particularly mentions “Al Quds Day” as an example.
According to Pasternak, the Al Quds Day rally is “hate-infested” and “anti-Semitic”. Moreover, Councilor Pasternak places the Al Quds Day rally in the same category as white supremacist and neo-Nazi rallies. He also writes that “for the past several years there has been an Al Quds Day rally held in Toronto outside Queen’s Park featuring speakers making anti-Semitic and anti-Christian remarks, spreading hatred, inciting violence and supporting of terrorist organizations such as Hamas. Al Quds Day was originally created to call for the destruction of the state of Israel.” (see link below for full text.)
Not only are the claims unsubstantiated, they are untrue, misleading and grossly defamatory. If Councilor Pasternak has a problem with Al Quds Day, he should pursue it directly and not try to implicate other groups, movements and protests in sweeping action which will harm our freedom of expression and protest.
It is obvious that the larger goal of this motion is to engulf and shutdown ALL protests or actions supporting Palestine solidarity. This is typical “thin edge of of the wedge” attack which can be eventually applied to ever-broader definitions and eventually include any protest against mainstream / corporate / institutional policies and programs. This motion is a blatant assault to responsible civil society – its role and conduct
And moreover it is being done behind the backs of citizens with no notice, no attempt to contact or inform the accused or affected groups or organizations. Another abuse of fair process and reliance on privileged access to power
Now is the time to cut down this duplicitous and vile initiative before it goes any further in the council decision process. The matter is being considered at Executive Committee on Tuesday Nov-28 (9:30 am) and will be brought to City Council the following Tuesday (Dec-05 at 9:30am)
We need to let the Committee and also Council that this is NOT OK and we categoricallyreject any attempt to silence the public’s natural right to protest against power, injustice and inequality
You can read the documents related to this item from the city website. The last item is from the City Deputy Manager and the Toronto Police Service, are very encouraging to public protest. We need to ensure that city politicians do not meddle with what is a relatively open policy.
Link to the item on Executive Committee agenda for Nov28
http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2017.EX29.42
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-109011.pdf
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-109012.pdf
This is the list of Executive Committee Members:
Attached is an excel sheet with contact emails (Executive Committee are indicated by “x” in a column). Alternate source of contact information for the Mayor and Councillors can be found at the following link. https://web.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/9612-council_offices.pdf
This battle is only beginning and you can expect more calls to action between now and City Council Meeting on December 5th, 2017.
[*NOTE: IF THERE IS ANY CHANCE YOU WILL WANT TO SPEAK TO COUNCIL, YOU MAY NEED TO REGISTER IN ADVANCE —LLR]
There is no online site or facebook page as yet. We are in midst of organizing… this is only an opening action. Please write NOW; you are welcome to some of the words or thoughts above in this email or use your own.
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The other Liberal MP who voted to support Mr. Cullen’s Motion to concur in the Second Report of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform was MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, MP for the Beaches–East York, Ontario riding.
He went on the record back when the promise was broken on February 2017.
“Democracy’s legitimacy lies in its authority from the people, and the majority of Canadians are left unrepresented in governments under our current voting system.”
Only 2 Liberal MPs were heroes today. #ERRE
Liberal MP Sean Casey was one of only 2 Liberal MPs who voted to support Mr. Cullen’s Motion to concur in the Second Report of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform.
Had that motion passed, it would have meant the federal Electoral Reform process that had been promised by the Liberals while campaigning in 2015, then reiterated multiple times by PM Trudeau and the Trudeau Government, and which they spent millions on before the PM unilaterally decided to pull the plug, then Parliament would have accepted the ERRE Committee report, and the process would have continued.
Sean Casey is the MP for the riding of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where they had a referendum in which voters chose to adopt the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system, and which that Provincial Government chose to ignore.
Here’s the relevant bit of MP Sean Casey’s official statement:
Today in the House of Commons, I cast my vote in favour of a motion on concurrence with the report of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform.
PEI has a special connection to electoral reform. In November 2016, Islanders voted to support the implementation of a form of proportional representation in our voting system.
In Charlottetown, about two-thirds of the ballots cast, in the end, supported a proportional system.This process ran concurrently with our government’s consultation process on changing our federal voting system as well. Understandably, many people were frustrated and disappointed with the announcement that the government would not be pursuing electoral reform, given a lack of consensus around a new electoral system.
Those who have been following the work of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform will know the amount of effort that went into producing a majority report recommending a referendum – which would include a proportional option. I cast my vote in favour of the report in order to represent the two-thirds of Charlottetown voters who supported a provincial proportional option, and in recognition of the important work conducted by the members of the Committee.
Despite my vote and the votes of other members, the motion did not pass. An important part of our system is respecting the will of the House of Commons, whose members represent all Canadians across the country. I hope my constituents know that I will continue to stand for them when it matters.
Electoral Reform is NOT a new idea in Canada.
Change Deemed Necessary with Three Parties Contesting
Parliament Passes “Alternative” Balloting Motion – Rejects “P.R.”
“Ottawa, Mar 9 — Canada’s Parliament has just taken an interesting step in the direction of Electoral Reform. With the advent of a third party, the Progressives, as a vital factor in politics, it soon became clear that the old system of voting under the changed conditions could no longer guarantee satisfactory results.”
For those who don’t know, at the end of Second World War the victorious Allies governments imposed Mixed Member Proportional Representation on West Germany. They did this specifically to prevent the rise of another Hitler. Although these powerful government leaders clearly understood this, they chose not to follow the same path for their own nations. Presumably they believed such limitation…
For those who don’t know, at the end of Second World War the victorious Allies governments imposed Mixed Member Proportional Representation on West Germany.
They did this specifically to prevent the rise of another Hitler. Although these powerful government leaders clearly understood this, they chose not to follow the same path for their own nations. Presumably they believed such limitation on their own power wasn’t necessary. Just as Canada’s current Prime Minister doesn’t feel his power needs limitation.
Here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter if there is a good Prime Minister or a bad one. It doesn’t matter if there’s a bad government in place or not.
What matters in a representative democracy is that voters secure representation in Parliament. All Canadians need representation, period. Just as Canadians need the Charter, in times of good or bad. Like the Charter, representation provides citizens with security.
Had Harry Truman implemented such a change on the USA, the likelihood of a Trump presidency would be nil.
Had Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King implemented some form of Proportional Representation in Canada, Canadians would not see be seeing a rise in dog whistle politics. My brother wrote about this phenomenon before either of us knew the term.
Here’s the thing: fear and dog whistle politics are a powerful tools used over and over again in winner-take-all systems because they work. One of the things so dreadfully wrong with winner-take-all politics is that the governments we elect are so unaccountable to voters, it isn’t a question of whether they will keep all their promises, it is a question of which promises they will keep. And, incredibly, we accept that. We have been conditioned to understand they won’t. No doubt this is a major reason the young and the idealistic don’t engage in politics: they see it for a sham, and choose to invest their energies elasewhere.
MP Iqra Khalid’s Private Member’s Motion is not the first to reference House of Commons e-petition (e-411).
The Canadian MSM is now reminding us that all the MPs in Parliament — including those Conservative Leadership Candidates seeking to ride a wave of prejudice to 100% power in Parliament — voted in support of Mr. Mulcair’s October Petition. This was long before 6 Quebec Muslims were murdered at prayer.
Mr. Speaker, following discussions with all parties in the House, I hope you will find consent for the following motion. I move:
That the House join the 69,742 Canadian supporters of House of Commons e-petition (e-411) in condemning all forms of Islamophobia.
— The Honourable Thomas Mulcair, Hansard, House of Commons, October 26th, 2016
So what has happened? Do these Conservative Leadership Candidates feel a majority of their constituents approve of gunning down Muslims at prayer?
I don’t believe that for a minute. But our winner-take-all political system allows for the distribution of a disproportional amount of power. Ms. Leitch doesn’t need a majority of Conservative Party Members to support Islamaphobia in order to win her party’s leadership crown, or even a majority of voters to become the Prime Minister of Canada. So long as we continue to use this First Past the Post Electoral System, the right dog whistle can win a 39% (or less) majority.
It doesn’t matter if we have a few women or minority MPs in the House of Commons. We are staring in the face of the polarization inherent in FPTP. The example before starkly contrasts what happens when a powerful old white male MP puts forward a Motion condemning Islamaphobia with what happens when a young ethnic woman MP does. And it is a not pretty picture. But it happens. And it will keep on happening so long as we retain an electoral system that rewards dog whistle politicians with more than their fair share of power.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. In spite of his totally specious arguments to the contrary, Prime Minister Trudeau’s disavowal of his electoral reform promise not only paves the way for institutional racism, it fuels Islamaphobia. If Ms. Khalid (and other Liberal MPs) want to change this dreadful FPTP side effect, it is time they told their leader he must restore the Electoral Reform process and get the legislation through Parliament by October. Because if Canada wants to be a healthy multicultural democracy, we must have Proportional Representation.
At this time of writing, Petition e-616 is up to 120,651 signatures. If everyone who has already signed it can convince 2 Canadians to sign it our chance of having Proportional Representation implemented by 2019 will be greatly improved.
You can Download the full size colour PDF here (4 MBytes)
or Download the full size Black and White PDF here (3 MBytes)
or Download the full size Duotone PDF here (1 MByte)
or choose the jpg image size you want from Flickr
This poster is released with a 
Creative Commons 0 Public Domain Dedication which allows anyone to legally print and use it for any purpose.
If you’re in or near Waterloo Region, Ontario, please print and distribute as many posters as possible on public property where allowed Be sure to get permission before posting on private property, in retail stores, on community bulletin boards etc.
Plan to attend if you can, and bring as many friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers, your kid’s teachers … anyone you know! This isn’t about politicians , it is really about us… we deserve to have our votes count. It’s only fair!
Sign up on the Facebook Event Page
https://www.facebook.com/events/1371976016188409/
Share the event (click on the “share” button at the top of the right sidebar and choose where to share)
Retweet @FairVoteWaterloo’s event announcement
Confirmed! National Day of Action for #ElectoralReform rally at 1pm on Saturday, 11 Feb 2017 at #Kitchener City Hall https://t.co/n88ySTIOBh
— Fair Vote Waterloo (@fairvotewrc) February 8, 2017
and other tweets about the event between now and Saturday.
For making your own tweets, the event hashtags include:
#PerformOnReform
#ChaqueVoteCompte
#SeeYouSaturday
#ERRE
#CDNpoli
Give your inner child free reign to create your very own sign!
If you’ve got kids, get them involved ~ make it a family art project. Use Bristol Board or just ordinary cardboard.
Sign Tips
Keep it Simple : One Idea per sign (although you can have another on the back of a double sided sign)
Black and white, primary colours
Big easy to read letters
Not everyone feels they are artistic, so if you’re feeling inspired, if you make extras, no doubt there will be folks happy to carry them.
If you are looking for inspiration, you might get some ideas from the graphics in my PR For Canada or ERRE Flickr Albums.
Whether or not you can make it out on Saturday, you can sign the record breaking (85552 signatures as of writing) House of Commons e-616 ePetition here. You don’t need to set up an account to sign, but you will need to confirm in email before it counts. As I understand it this one was started by a Waterloo gent.
There is still time for the Canadian Government to adopt electoral reform in time for 2019.
That’s would still be the BEST possible outcome for Canadians.
And it just *might* happen if we make enough noise now.
(If not, we can get to work on making sure the next government does.)
Regards,
Laurel
Excellent short explaining *why* #CDNpoli needs #ProportionalRepresentation now. #Liberals must keep their promise
Winner-Take-All electoral systems like our own First Past The Post produces “safe” ridings often filled by party hacks. Unfortunately these are often unassailable so long as the winning party enjoyss disproportional power.