Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has chosen his Party over Canadians by breaking his promise to “Make Every Vote Count”. “Canadians are outraged and disgusted that the Prime Minister has cynically abandoned his commitment to make 2015 the last unfair election. Instead, he will take another roll in the false majority casino,” said Fair Vote Canada’s Executive Director, Kelly Carmichael. “In 2015, so many voters believed him and cast strategic votes for the Liberal Party. We played his game and he played us”.
During national consultations on electoral reform, 80% of citizens and 88% of experts expressed a very clear preference for proportional representation (PR), The truth, confirmed by all parties in the Electoral Reform Committee, is that there was no support for the winner-take-all Alternative Vote system personally favoured by Justin Trudeau. While the Country was grieving a tragic event in Quebec, the disappointed Prime Minister quietly sent out his the newly appointed Minister to present alternative facts to justify the broken promise. In truth, he has made a calculated decision to keep an unfair system that provided him with 100% of the power with only 39% of the popular vote.
In the last federal election, the Liberal Party clearly promised to make 2015 the last unfair, first-past-the-post-election and to make every vote count. As a result, 63% of Canadians voted for political parties that promised to make every vote count. Since then, Elections Canada, opposition political parties, civil society, and individual Canadians have all collaborated in a great democratic exercise to reform Canada’s broken electoral system. Instead of giving Canadians what they want, the Prime Minister wants to kill this democratic exercise, and has walked away from his own crystal clear commitment.
The Liberal Party has promised electoral reform since 1919 under MacKenzie King, and in 2015 Liberals voted overwhelmingly for a policy resolution called “Restore Trust” that promised reform. The Prime Minister’s broken promise has created thousands of new political cynics.
“Politicians using citizens for their votes but not delivering on promises is what makes Canadians cynical. The Prime Minister has shown us that his word means nothing, and outraged voters will remember this in 2019.” said Fair Vote Canada President Réal Lavergne.
Demonstrations start today at Trudeau’s constituency office: https://www.facebook.com/events/1805729179691284/
Fair Vote Canada remains committed to fair voting through proportional representation and will not give up the fight for equal and effective representation for all Canadians. It just won’t be Justin Trudeau’s legacy.
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On a personal note:
We are truly disheartened to have to send you this press release. But we will use our outrage to fuel the campaign. This now signals the halfway-mark to Making All Our Votes Count.
The world is changing and democracy is a paramount goal for progress on issues we care about.
We are asking supporters to call and send letters to MPs registering your outrage. We are collecting letters for inspiration here.
Demonstrations are starting today at Trudeau’s constituency office (see full list of demonstrations below) : https://www.facebook.com/events/1805729179691284/
We will keep you in the loop as plans start to emerge for more actions and protest. Please subscribe to our facebook page to follow developments: https://www.facebook.com/FairVoteCanada/
And, if you have some spare change, please consider donating to the campaign!
https://secure.fairvote.ca/en/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=9
We are not giving up!
Sincerely,
List of Demonstrations so far:
Ottawa: https://www.facebook.com/groups/261507760951429/
Toronto: https://www.facebook.com/events/1406689206008564/
Calgary: https://www.facebook.com/events/136002573577245/
Vancouver: https://www.facebook.com/events/232194567241043/
Multiple protests will be planned in Ottawa on Parliament Hill the first is on Sunday February 5th:
https://www.facebook.com/events/459836840807249
There is also a large national event in all cities on April 20th: https://www.facebook.com/events/885031191552272