Fair Vote Canada held its 10th Annual General Meeting on June 10 and 11 in Ottawa.

On Friday evening, a panel discussion was held at the Fox & Feather Pub on the deliberately vague topic “Where are we, how did we get here, and where do we go from here?” It was a chance to look back on the past ten years of Fair Vote Canada, and to look ahead to new developments in a changed political environment.

The distinguished panel included Larry Gordon, founding Executive Director of Fair Vote Canada, who recently stepped down to found Canadians for Tax Fairness, a new organization to promote progressive tax reform; Ed Broadbent, former leader of the NDP and a champion of proportional representation since he entered grad school in 1954, Bruce Hallsor, former Chair of the Conservative Party in British Columbia, former Vice-President of FVC, and former President of Fair Voting BC; and Johan Hamels, Executive Director of the Green Party of Canada and a former provincial member of parliament in Belgium.

Saturday morning the official AGM convened at the Desmarais Building, University of Ottawa. The brief formal AGM was followed by a member-centred day of workshops and seminars, starting with reports from FVC chapters across the country and various campaigns in which FVC is involved, including a charter challenge against the voting system which is headed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Spokespersons from various parties participated in a political panel to give their point of view on how to move forward on electoral reform in the new political landscape.

The afternoon was taken up with workshops on chapter organizing, social media, dealing with media and effective communication, and an introduction to voting systems.

The results of the National Council elections were announced in the morning. Each year, FVC elects five councilors to our board of directors for a three year term. Congratulations to returning Councilors Andy Blair (Ottawa) and Doug Bailie (Edmonton), and new Councilors Anita Nickerson (Waterloo), Diane Searle (Victoria), and Kelsey Wagner (Ottawa).