Electoral Reform is Alive and Kicking in Waterloo Region

The Hon. Bardish Chagger’s office reached out to Fair Vote Waterloo to invite a delegation to meet with the Hon. Karina Gould on Electoral Reform.

Cathy Scott, Byron Weber Becker and Bob Jonkman meet the Hon. Karina Gould and her infant son Oliver outside Waterloo City Hall

The Fair Vote Waterloo delegation Cathy Scott, Bryron Weber Becker and Bob Jonkman met with the current Minister of Democratic Institutions, the Hon. Karina Gould (and Oliver) at Waterloo City Hall

The morning meeting was productive.

Later that afternoon, the KW Liberal Association hosted a meet and greet for the visiting Minister just down the street at Patent Social. Fair Vote Waterloo Co-Chair Bob Jonkman attended the open-to-the-public event in hopes of engaging further with Minister Gould.

Local electoral reform advocates from Fair Vote and others rally to remind Minister Gould that electoral reform is still top of mind for many Canadians voters across the political spectrum.

There were excellent opportunities to discuss Proportional Representation with passersby.

Electoral reformers welcomed the opportunity to show off their artwork and discuss Proportional representation with the Minister of Democratic Institutions.

Canadians are (understandably) unhappy that the Liberals’ Electoral Reform promise was so cavalierly broken.

The Hon. Karina Gould was asked some hard questions.

Electoral Reform isn’t a partisan issue.

I found it interesting how many “honks” we got from passing motorists. Perhaps the greatest irony associated with Mr. Trudeau’s broken promise is that the exercise did more to raise Canadian public awareness of Proportional Representation than anything else in my lifetime.

Proportional Representation is an idea whose time has come. And it’s not going away.

(additional photos are available in my Reminding Liberals Flickr Album)

AGM

What a turn out for the Waterloo Region Chapter’s AGM.

The numbers keep going up.

You might even think people are serious about wanting equal and effective votes in a proportional representation electoral system.

 

Reminding Raj Saini about Electoral Reform

Fair Vote WRC visits Raj

Friday’s Petition Crew

To encourage the Liberals to keep their promise to reform our electoral system,on Friday afternoon (November 10th, 2017) we delivered our 500+ signature Fair Vote petition to Kitchener Centre MP Raj Saini.  We had a brief opportunity to meet with Mr. Saini to explain our frustrations with his government’s failure to deliver on their oft repeated Electoral Reform Promise.

Mr Saini told us the only reason he voted against accepting the ERRE report was the inclusion of a referendum.  (Of course, had the Liberals on the ERRE Committee had been willing to work across party lines with the Greens and NDP there would have been no need for the inclusion of a referendum in the report.)  He did, however, promise to submit the Petition to the House of Commons.

In case you’ve forgotten, this is what Mr. Saini had to say about electoral reform before he was elected MP.

Visit our YouTube Channel

Did you know Fair Vote Waterloo has its own FairVoteWRC YouTube Channel?

Fair Vote Waterloo co-chair Sharon Sommerville talks about her feelings of “Real Betrayal” in this 5 minute soundbite from the Day of Action for Electoral Reform.

You can check out our curated playlists on:

Subscribe today!

More Pictures of the National Day of Action on Electoral Reform, 11 Feb 2017

Pictures from the National Day of Action on Electoral Reform held Saturday, 11 February 2017 at Carl Zehr Square at Kitchener City Hall.

Photos by Laurel L. Russwurm.

Sign: Make My Vote Count

Sign

People listening to speakers

Listening to speakers

Sign: Trudeau broke his promise

Sign

People rallying

Rallying

Sam Nabi

Sam Nabi

Catherine Fife

Catherine Fife

Richard Walsh

Richard Walsh

Sign: Perform On Reform

Perform On Reform

Sign: Support Voter Reform | Make Every Vote Count | for Equity, Social Justice, Climate Justice

Justice

Two signs: Proportional Representation for a Better Democracy | "First Past The Post", Abuse of Dominance, Abuse of Rights, Bad Corporate Behaviour

Signs

David Weber

David Weber

Sign: How Can We Reach Consensus If We Don't Understand Their Alternatives

Consensus

Supporter in the audience

Supporter

Sign: Nobody believes Liberal excuses

No-o-o-obody!

Sam Nabi and Sharon Sommerville

Sam Nabi and Sharon Sommerville

Unhappy citizens in the audience

Unhappy Citizens

Anita Nickerson

Anita Nickerson

An audience member taking pictures

Taking pictures

Sign: 39 ≠ 100

39 ≠ 100

Sign: Justin, You Promised | Make Every Vote Count

Protesting

Catherine Fife

Catherine Fife

Sign: Perform On Reform

Big sign

People in the audience

Rallying

Sign: I want my vote to count

Little sign

Nadia Matos and a camera

CTV News

@Lulex (Louisette Lanteigne) holding a sign: Support Voter Reform | Make Every Vote Count | for Equity, Social Justice, Climate Justice

@Lulex

Bob Jonkman

Bob Jonkman

Sharon Sommerville

Sharon Sommerville

Photographer

Photographer

Tiger Hat

Tiger Hat

Sign: Democracy demands trust | R.I.P. Democracy | PR -- the peoples choice | Lies -- the Prime Ministers

Sign

Oz Cole-Arnal

Oz Cole-Arnal

Mo Markham

Mo Markham

Sign in the gallery: Make My Vote Count

Gallery

Louisette Lanteigne

Louisette Lanteigne

Food Not Bombs

Food Not Bombs

Aden Seaman

Aden Seaman

Stacey Danckert

Stacey Danckert

Lunch is served

Lunch is served

Alim Nathoo

Alim Nathoo

Hat embroidered with the Liberal logo and "Real Betrayal"

Real Betrayal

Rallying dog

Rallying dog

Sign: Just-In | Nous Sommes Canadiens | Not Fringe | We Believed You | Believe In Us | And Just-ice

Nous Sommes Canadiens

Sign: The 1% is the "Fringe" Group PM Trudeau Should Worry About | #PR Now

The 1%

Photos are copyright ©2017 by the photographers, and used under a CC BY-SACreative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license.

Other pictures of the National Day of Action on Electoral Reform