FairvoteWRC Discussion Night 2018-04-25

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Today's topic: Questions for candidates at ACMs

Held
Wednesday, 25 April 2018 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Location
Community Room at Bread And Roses Cooperative, 307 Queen Street South, Kitchener Map

Other business

  • FairvoteWRC will be participating in the Yes Cambridge! event to celebrate and encourage a vote in favour of ranked ballots in the referendum during the fall municipal election.
    • There will be a meeting in mid-May, to be held at Sharon Sommerville's house.


  • There was an article in The Record on Kitchener South--Hespeler PCO candidate Amy Fee's husband Craig Fee's improper use of his position as a radio announcer to make election commentary


Questions for Candidates

  • Are you going to support Electoral Reform?
    • Separate your opinion from the party line
      • Will the candidates only quote from their party policy?


  • What is your party's platform on Electoral Reform?
    • What is your position?


  • What's the plan?
    • How do you plan to work towards Proportional Representation?


  • If your party holds the balance of power in a minority government, will you make Electoral Reform a condition for forming a coalition or agreement?


  • Debates? Do you favour including Green Party leader Mike Schreiner in the televised leaders debates?
    • Andrea Horwarth has recently endorsed https://fairdebates.ca and Mike Schreiner
    • Kathleen Wynne endorsed https://fairdebates.ca and Mike Schreiner right after the media consortium announced they would exclude Green Pary leader Mike Schreiner


  • How would you increase the youth vote?
    • Should 16 year olds have the right to vote?
    • Ask about beefing up the citizenship curriculum
      • The high school Civics course is only a 1/2 credit, make it a full credit?
      • Include educational material in all curricula, eg. math and literature


  • Is Democratic Representation a central Canadian value?
    • How "Canadian" are you if you oppose that?
    • Does your platform reflect that?
    • Is Proportional Representation democratic enough?


  • Is it right that all 42 Atlantic province (federal) seats are Liberal?
    • Democracy is not just "everybody gets to vote"
    • Start with "What is Democracy?"
    • 1/2 of the electorate did not vote Liberal but still deserve a place at the table


  • Campaign Financing
    • Threshold for spending for political activities
      • eg. Canadian Unitarian Council and Cambridge Naturalists
    • Third-party regulations
      • Third parties provide education, for a more informed decision
      • Rich organizations have more influence than poor ones
        • They can afford to register and hire a CFO, and pay for an audit


  • Candidates (Elected representatives) are not held accountable for election promises
    • Excuses:
      • "The financial books were worse than I thought"
      • "The job is more complicated than I thought"
      • "The previous government made a commitment, we now have a contractual obligation" (to follow through with their bad choices)
    • Electoral Reform gives us more confidence that these promises will be fulfilled
    • More cooperation between parties
    • Proportional Representation prevents hijacking the conversation
    • Ask about this issue as a question, how would you solve it?
      • The correct answer is Proportional Representation, of course!


  • Increase the civics course to a full semester/credit
    • Include political philosophy, nuances between Conservatives and Liberals, Neo-Cons and Neo-Libs.
    • Add a civics component to all courses: math, language
    • Study differnt Electoral systems and their consequences, eg. voting in Russia with 120% voter turnout


  • Look at the mandate of Elections Ontario to teach electoral awareness in schools
    • Municipalities: More controls from Elections Ontario
      • Consistency for municipalities, eg. ranked ballots; electronic voting; require by-elections, not appointments to fill vacancies
    • Voting is a community activity, a learning experience
    • Voting publicly is a statement