Fair Vote Canada - news
December 19, 2008

Latest partisan fracas over Senate appointments illustrates the urgent need for a two-question national referendum

This latest partisan uproar over Canada’s unelected and unaccountable Senate, along with the ongoing national debate on the need for true democratic representation in the House of Commons, should be settled by a national referendum on democratic reform, says Fair Vote Canada.

“Government after government has failed to move our political system out of the 19th century,” said Barbara Odenwald, President of Fair Vote Canada. “The time has come to let Canadian voters decide on the reform of Parliament – an institution with two chambers. The termination, one way or another, of an unelected and unaccountable upper house is long overdue. Likewise, we need a system for electing the House of Commons in which every voter has an equal effective voice.”

Fair Vote Canada calls on all the Parliamentary parties to authorize a referendum to allow Canadian citizens to give clear direction on the reform of both chambers. Fair Vote Canada proposes a referendum with two questions.

One would let voters direct the government on the future of the Senate, indicating their preference for either an elected Senate or Senate abolition.

The other would let voters direct the government to establish an independent Citizens’ Assembly to design a fair and equitable made-in-Canada voting system for use in future elections of the House of Commons.

The referendum would take place after an extensive one-year public education, dialogue and debate process so all citizens could cast informed votes.

“Parliaments have been unwilling to reform themselves,” said Larry Gordon, Executive Director of Fair Vote Canada. “Meanwhile a December 11 poll indicated that 59% of decided voters believe some type of proportional representation should be used to elect the House of Commons. We simply cannot afford to let the political degeneration of Parliament continue. The development of Canadian democracy in the 21st century should be directed by all Canadians. We call on the four party leaders to let all Canadians shape the future of Canada’s Parliamentary democracy.”

Fair Vote Canada (FVC) is a national multi-partisan citizens’ campaign to promote voting system reform. FVC was founded in 2001 and has a National Advisory Board of distinguished Canadians from all points on the political spectrum.

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