FairvoteWRC meeting 2017-04-12

Meeting notes from the 2017 Spring Strategy Meeting

Held: Wednesday, 12 April 2017 at Donald and Maureen Fraser's house

Event notice: Spring Strategy meeting

Present: Bob Jonkman, Donald Fraser, David Dirks, Evan Rosamond, Stuart Chandler, Jonathan Cassels, Mo Markham, David de Weerdt, Steve Dyck

• Agenda:
  • Past Events
    • Nathan Cullen (Wednesday, 29 March 2017 at Kitchener Public Library)
    • Newpaper Letters to the Editor
    • FairvoteWRC Website Letters
  • Media Strategy: David Dirks and Kathy Scott
  • Summer Festivals
  • All Votes Count with Steve Dyck and David de Weerdt
• Introductions: Steve Dyck and David de Weerdt introduced themselves.
• Past Events
  • Nathan Cullen Tour
    • Jonathan Cassels summarized the evening at Kitchener Public Library (Wednesday, 29 March 2017).
    • He also summarized tour stops at Guelph and Toronto.
    • The intent is to introduce the ERRE report for Parliament to vote to concur on the report.
    • This needs at least 20 Liberal MPs to vote in favour for this vote to pass.
    • All opposition parties are on board, according to their house leaders (they will vote in favour to concur with the report).
    • We (members of Fair Vote Waterloo) should continue to approach Liberal MPs to vote in favour.
    • These votes (for concurrence) have historically not been whipped votes.
    • Can we use the attention given to the Conservative leadership race to engage people in this vote?
      • (the CPC leadership vote will be early May, the concurrence vote will be held late May).
    • Karina Gould has a letter about the ERRE report online: Government Response to ERRE Report
    • Donald Fraser intends to write (Email) all Lib MPs (probably leave out Cabinet) encouraging them to vote with conscience.
• Media presence
  • Jonathan Cassels relates information about his letter to Marwan Tabbara (Liberal, Kitchener South -- Hespeler), Mr. Tabbara's response received, and Jonathan's reply: There is a responsible path forward — Electoral Reform
  • Letters to the Editor in all publications has slowed.
    • January 2017: 2 letters + 1 media mention
    • February 2017: 8 letters + 7 media mentions
    • March 2017: 2 media mentions
  • Jonathan Cassels will make an appearance in Ottawa as a representative of 130,000 Canadians (E-616 petition signatories)
    • He will try to get Ottawa media to respond and publish his appearance
    • Try to get local (Waterloo Region) media to prime this
    • Contact Jonathan Cassels at cassels.jon@gmail.com to help with publicity
  • Media strategy
    • David Dirks and Kathy Scott have written a proposal.
    • Summary: Get other groups to ally with us, eg. Basic Income Waterloo Region, local Environmental groups.
    • Connect with women's leadership organizations, eg. Hive Waterloo and UofW Women in Engineering
• Summer Festivals
  • Sharon Sommerville has done most of the work in setting up summer festival appearances for FairvoteWRC
  • Bob Jonkman will ask on the Discussion mailing list for assistance
  • Festivals to target:
    • EcoFest at Waterloo Region Museum (Sat, 27 May 2017)
    • TriPride (Sat in June)
    • KW Multicultural Festival (Sat-Sun, 24-25 June 2017)
    • Kultrún (Sat-Sun, 8-9 July 2017)
    • WR Nonviolence Day In The Park (Sun, 9 July 2017)
    • Open Streets Waterloo (Sat or Sun, various weekends)
    • Afrofest (Sat in July)
    • LINK Picnic Festival (Sat-Sun, 26-27 August 2017)
    • Waterloo Region Labour Council Labour Day Picnic (Mon, 4 September 2017)
    • Cambridge International Festival (Sat, 23 September 2017)
• Visits to MPs
  • Kathy and Mo Markham visited Raj Saini (Liberal, Kitchener Centre)
    • non-favours didn't get a chance to speak.
  • Another visit with Marwan Tabbara (Liberal, Kitchener South -- Hespeler)
    • Contact Mo Markham if you want to join.
  • For letters to MPs, write "Personal and Confidential" on the envelope.
    • It is thought that P&C items must be opened personally by the MP.
    • But such letters may not get immediate attention.
• All Votes Count and Democracy Guelph
  • Arose from a meeting with Lloyd Longfield (Liberal, Guelph), who complained "It's always the same faces."
  • Former MP Frank Valeriote (Liberal, Guelph) responsible for the "proportional" language in Liberal Party's policy.
  • Democracy Guelph commissioned a poll from Strategic Directions firm.
    • Put poll on Lloyd Longfield's desk
    • 30 people came to Lloyd Longfield's office
    • David de Weerdt organized a meeting with "new faces".
  • Lloyd Longfield: "If you can agree on a system that would be useful."
    • Must have community support.
    • No new Members of Parliament.
    • No riding boundary changes.
  • In response, "Local PR" electoral system was designed by Byron Weber Becker.
    • LocalPR has support from Frank Valeriote, Lloyd Longfield.
  • David de Weerdt gave us an explanation of LocalPR
    • Uses a ranked ballot.
    • Has STV in individual ridings
  • LocalPR is a strategy to move Electoral Reform forward in government.
    • Getting a Liberal MP to champion this.
    • Long-term strategy must have cross-party support.
  • It's better to approach MPs with a specific form of PR (LPR) so that many of their objections are already answered. This is not FVC's or Leadnow's approach.
  • Democracy Guelph's main activity is gathering signatures going door to door.
  • Setting up a local "WR Democracy" group will help the All Votes Count effort.
    • This is not a Fair Vote initiative
    • but individuals can register at the All Votes Count web site; David de Weerdt will contact people to set up a local group.

Meeting notes taken by Bob Jonkman