Raj Saini on Proportional Representation
Channel: Laurel L. Russwurm
Date: 2017-03-04

Kitchener Centre Electoral Reform Debate, 25 August 2015

During the 2015 Election, Liberal Candidate Raj Saini spoke about electoral reform at the August 25th Fair Vote Waterloo All Candidates Meeting at the Queen Street Commons in downtown Kitchener.  http://www.fairvotewrc.ca/2015/08/

Raj discussed his view of the different Proportional Representation systems possible, as well as clarifying the Liberal Party promise to have a new system chosen within 18 months of forming government.  Raj told the audience his personal choice for Proportional Representation was Stephane Dion's P3 system.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLB5bXbZDYQ&t=1s

Raj Saini was elected MP for Kitchener Centre.  And enough Canadians believed Liberal promises that the party didn't just form government, it replaced the Conservative Government's phony majority with its own phony majority based on only 39% of the vote.  And yet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reaffirmed his commitment to replacing our unfair First Past The Post system with one that will "make every vote count" in the throne speech. 

The Electoral Reform process unfolded much as Raj said it would in this video.  Although four of the five Waterloo Region Conservative MPs were replaced by four brand new Liberal MPs, as it happened none of them managed to host a town hall in which they could speak to Canadians "person to person."  Most of them promised to do their best to bring the ERRE Committee to Waterloo, but that never happened.  What we got instead was a consolation prize visit from then Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef, which all four Liberal MPs seem to have used as an excuse not to hold their own Electoral Reform Town Hall.   

The promised All Party Committee sat through the summer, listening to the expert witnesses Raj had promised, an overwhelming majority of the testimony supported adopting Proportional Representation.  When the ERRE Committee took their consultation on the road to talk to Canadians, there was little advance notice of the Committee's itinerary.  And still Canadians showed up.  A preponderance of the Canadians who managed to show up also clearly supported adopting some form of Proportional Representation.  At the 11th hour, Minister Monsef announced an online survey, but refused to take guidance from the ERRE Committee, instead spending a vast amount of money on a campaign widely ridiculed for it's ambiguity from coast to coast to coast.  In spite of the fact the Liberals never actually asked Canadians to choose a specific system we wanted, we made it clear we wanted a system on which MPs worked together across party lines for the good of Canada -- a characteristic of Proportional Representation (something no winner take all system does).

When the ERRE Committee made it's report, Canadians were startled to learn all the parties -- except the Liberals -- reached a consensus on Proportional Representation with a Gallagher index of 5 or less and a confirmation Referendum.  

In spite of all that support for the Liberal Promise, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unilaterally decided to pull the plug on his election promise to make every vote count, the promise that 2015 would be the last unfair election did not go over well with a great many Canadians across the political spectrum.  

But it is not too late to get the process on back on track.  

Unfortunately for the citizens of Kitchener Centre, Mr. Saini has not supported Electoral Reform as he so clearly promised in this video.  Although his constituents are calling and writing and visiting him about the electoral reform promise made by both the Liberal Party and himself he continues to maintain no one cares.  

Yesterday his constituents held a "Reminding Liberals" rally outside a downtown Kitchener church where Raj and the other three Waterloo Region Liberals hosted a meet and greet for the Hon. Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage.
http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1069747

Canadians need fair representation.  This issue is not going to fade away.

Another Whoa!Canada ERRE soundbite


Learn More about Proportional Representation

Whoa!Canada Proportional Representation 4 Canada series
https://whoacanada.wordpress.com/pr-4-canada-resources/

Fair Vote Waterloo
http://www.fairvotewrc.ca/

Fair Vote Canada
http://www.fairvote.ca/

See the Waterloo Region reaction to the Liberal broken promise at #WRally4PR here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBrWjxgmdK0

Music Credit:
"Nothing in the Dark" (instrumental version) from "heretoday" is copyright by Josh Woodward 
https://www.joshwoodward.com/song/NothingInTheDark
and released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Video by Laurel Russwurm/Libreleft Pictures
https://www.youtube.com/user/LaurelRusswurm/videos
is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/