Fair Vote Canada

Fair Vote Canada
Founded Incorporated July 27, 2001
Founder Chris Billows, Doug Bailie and Larry Gordon
Focus Electoral reform in Canada, proportional representation
Location
Area served
Canada
Key people
 Réal Lavergne, President
Anita Nickerson, Acting Executive Director
Website www.fairvote.ca

Fair Vote Canada (FVC) is a grassroots, nonprofit, multi-partisan citizens' movement for electoral reform in Canada.[2] It promotes the introduction of an element of proportional representation for elections at all levels of government and throughout civil society, instead of the first-past-the-post electoral system currently used at all levels of government in Canada.[3]

Purpose

Its aim is "to gain broad, multi-partisan support for an independent, citizen-driven process to allow Canadians to choose a fair voting system based on the principles that all voters are equal, and that every vote must count." Fair Vote Canada does not advocate for any particular form of proportional representation, but has been involved in the design and discussion of different models from a made-in-Canada perspective.

It has worked to mobilize its supporters in support of proportional representation in the context of several initiatives coming out of the Canadian provinces, and was one of the prime drivers of citizens' engagement federally as part of the public consultation process in 2016.

The organization is guided by a statement of purpose identifying five goals:[4]

History

Fair Vote Canada was created in June 2001, following a founding conference in Ottawa. It is a membership organization headed by a national council of 15 members and has chapters and action teams across the country. It has a strong social media presence through its website, Facebook and Twitter.

Over the years, it has:

  • organized events, tables and presentations;
  • written letters, articles and op-eds;
  • educated and lobbied MPs and politicians from both inside and outside the parties;
  • pulled together research and worked with academics;
  • participated in six referendum campaigns (two in PEI, one in Ontario and three in BC); and
  • submitted briefs to numerous electoral reform committees and commissions.

Fair Vote Canada is particularly active in British Columbia, Ontario and Prince Edward Island. In British Columbia and Quebec, there exist parallel organizations, Fair Voting BC and Mouvement Démocratie Nouvelle respectively, which are independent of Fair Vote Canada but share similar goals. Fair Vote Canada collaborates closely with these organizations

Fair Vote Canada strives to maintain a nationwide, multi-partisan support base, with members from all points on the political spectrum, regions and walks of life. Its work is endorsed by its National Advisory Board, which includes prominent Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats, and Greens. Rick Anderson, a former advisor to Preston Manning, was elected to the group's board at the federal level in 2006, the first prominent conservative at that level since the 2004 resignation of Bruce Hallsor. Fair vote Canada supports political parties and politicians that share its aspirations for electoral reform.

Democracy Day

On August 2, 2011, Fair Vote Canada launched Democracy Day and Democracy Week in Canada[5] annual events encouraging participation, education, and celebration of Canadian democracy. In its first year events were held by different groups[6] in cities across Canada.[7] Fair Vote Canada designated Democracy Day to be Canada's celebration of the United Nations International Day of Democracy[8] and Democracy Week to be the seven-day calendar week in which Democracy Day falls[9] (September 15 each year). A number of Canadian non-profit and governmental organizations participate in and promote the events, including Elections Canada.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Contact Us!". Fair Vote Canada. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  2. ↑ "About Fair Vote Canada". Fair Vote Canada. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  3. ↑ Pilon, Dennis (August 2007). The Politics of Voting: Reforming Canada's Electoral System. Emond Publishing. p. 89.
  4. ↑ "Fair Vote Canada Statement of Purpose" (PDF). Fair Vote Canada. August 21, 2009. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Fair Vote Canada Newsletter August 2011". Fair Vote Canada. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Invitation aux médias - 15 septembre Journée de la démocratie". Mouvement pour une démocratie nouvelle (MDN). Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Fair Vote Canada Launches Democracy Week". Fair Vote Canada. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  8. ↑ "International Day of Democracy". United Nations. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Happy Democracy Day, Canada! Or Is it?". Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  10. ↑ "PR: Young Canadians Invited to Create "The Art of Democracy"". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 16, 2011.

Further reading

Archival holdings

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.