Category: Proportional Representation

The Trudeau Government spent millions on the much lampooned My…



The Trudeau Government spent millions on the much lampooned My Democracy survey (far more than on the ERRE Committee’s cross Canada Consultation… and then the Trudeau Government said Canadians didn’t want Proportional Representation!  

The survey (deliberately ?) didn’t ask for specific electoral systems, but contrary to Government claims, by far the results supported adoption of some form of Proportional Representation as in the above pie chart.

Read the surbey result yourself here:
MyDemocracy.ca — Online digital consultation & engagement platform

“2015 will be the last election using First Past The…



“2015 will be the last election using First Past The Post.”

—Justin Trudeau, 2015

A Liberal friend assured me that, since the Liberals believe in evidence based policy, this *had* to mean we would end up with Proportional Representation.

And she was right: even though the ERRE Consultation was woefully underfunded and the lions share of the outreach was left up to ordinary Canadians DIY community dialogue and information sharing, even though the ERRE Committee recommended Proportional Representation… and then Prime Minister Trudeau pulled the plug.  

Every issue Canadians have will benefit from Proportional Representation, which is why we need it back on the table.  On May 31st Parliament will vote on whether it will accept the ERRE Committee Recommendation.  

Your Vote Should Count!!It was NOT Mr. Trudeau’s decision to…



Your Vote Should Count!!

It was NOT Mr. Trudeau’s decision to decide to over-rule the majority of Canadians who voted for parties advocating electoral reform.  

(Nor should it be his decision to overule the majority of his own party who supported the electoral reform policy he repeated over and over as a campaign promise, then reaffirmed as part of the throne speech, then spent millions of dollars consulting with Canadians about.)  

Not in a democracy, anyway

The MyDemocracy survey results demonstrated a majority of its respondents want a fair inclusive political system.

More than 130,000 Canadians signed the e-616 parliamentary e-Petition* telling Mr. Trudeau’s Government we want the Electoral Reform process to continue.  

The ERRE Consultation confirmed that Canadians want electoral reform… and a majority want Proportional Representation.  And that is what the ERRE Committee recommended.

The Government response is the equivalent of “No. Because I said so.”

The House of Commons will vote on whether to accept the recommendation of the ERRE Committee on May 31st, 2017. 

Tell your MP you want all Canadians to have votes that matter, and that you expect them to vote to accept the ERRE Committee Recommendation.

Because Canada ought to be a democracy in which we can all expect fair representation. 


*more than any other Canadian Parliamentary e-Petition… almost twice as much support as the next most successful petition. 

TODAY is the day the Trudeau Government promised to introduce…



TODAY is the day the Trudeau Government promised to introduce electoral reform legislation.

But instead of showing real leadership by improving Canadian democracy, Mr. Trudeau didn’t even allow the consultation to run its course but unilaterally overruled:

• his own Liberal Party, which overwhelmingly supported adopting electoral reform, and

• all the Canadians from coast to coast to coast who voted for parties that promised #ElectoralReform, and

• Canadians who watched the ERRE Committee hearings with experts in Ottawa and some who participated via Twitter, and

• Canadians who did research and attended information nights, and

• Canadians who hosted their own DIY ERRE Consultations, and

• Canadians who attended MP ERRE Town Halls, and

• Canadians who spoke to the ERRE Committee on its tour, and

• Canadians who engaged with Maryam Monsef on her tour, and

• Canadians who made written #ERRE submissions, and

• 383,074 Canadians who completed the mydemocracy survey in spite of its shortcomings

• 130,452 Canadians who signed the e-616 Parliamentary Petition

In his defense, Mr. Trudeau said, “It was my decision to make.”

Apparently, Mr. Trudeau has forgotten Canada is supposed to be a representative democracy. This was not his decision to make.

We elect our representatives because we agree with the promises they make about how they will govern. This is not acceptable.

ERRÉ BraveheartI took this photograph of Nathan Cullen giving…



ERRÉ Braveheart

I took this photograph of Nathan Cullen giving his Keep Your Promise: a path towards democratic reform to a standing room only crowd in Kitchener, Ontario on Wednesday night.  Walking and talking in front of his slide projections resulted in interesting images, and I just couldn’t resist adding this caption to this iconic image :)

The full tour list (so far) can be found HERE