Cullen Electoral Reform Townhall to Feature Special Guest
Smithers, B.C. – Canada’s Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef will be in Kitimat on Thursday.
She will be there participating in Skeena-Bulkley Valley NDP MP Nathan Cullen’s townhall on electoral reform.
The minister is in the midst of a national tour to hear from Canadians about changing our country’s voting system and will participate in that discussion in B.C.’s northwest.
“We’re thrilled to be hosting the minister, and I know she will benefit from hearing from the people of the northwest,” said Cullen. “The government has committed to replacing our outdated, first-past-the-post voting system and replacing it with one that reflects Canada’s diversity, its people, and its heritage.”
Four townhalls on the issue have been scheduled this week though Cullen acknowledges none have been penciled in for Prince George.
“As far as we know only two Conservatives out of about 100 are planning to hold any discussions with their citizens which really cuts out people who happen to live in ridings represented by Conservatives because this is happening,” he says.
“This conversation is going ahead in Canada, there is a mandate to change the way we vote and I don’t think it’s fair to deprive people living in Conservative ridings from being a part of that conversation.”
Cullen says his office is attempting to possibly schedule a townhall in Prince George but says “dates are tough” because he’ll be busy touring all the province’s and territories discussing this issue next month.
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“As far as we know only two Conservatives out of about 100 are planning to hold any discussions with their citizens which really cuts out people who happen to live in ridings represented by Conservatives because this is happening,” he says.
Con MPs holding discussions with citizen in their ridings on this matter? Nope that would be way too democratic!
Hey Galt, pray tell what a Town Hall will accomplish unless attended by a member of the committee?
The official committee meeting will be in Victoria on the 27th and Vancouver on the 28th of September. You can respond directly via Twitter #EERE #Q during the meeting. You can submit a brief of no more than 3,000 words by Oct 7th. Or you can send a Request to Appear.
Is Monsef going to ask you for your 10 bucks to attend?
Give it a break JGalt. In the first place my guess is, is that most Conservatives are happy with the present system.
Look at Cullen’s statement. Replacing the present system with one that reflects Canada’s diversity, its people, and its heritage. What a dumb statement.
Wouldn’t out heritage be the system that served us well for over 100 years?? What has diversity got to do with how people vote. What have **its people** got to do with anything.
Just phrases and words put together by a politician who is a member of a party that under the present system would never form a Government. A new system would (or could) get the NDP to the table of Government, and that’s the only reason they support it.
Problem is, now that the Liberals have a majority, they may not be in a big hurry to change the system. We will have to wait and see.
Or, perhaps you can blame the low population of “Old Stock” Canadians not being enough to vote the Cons back into a majority government. You forgot to mention the real reason why Conservatives do not want a change in the voting system, the current first-past-the-post system is the only system that allows a government (most often a majority government) to be formed with less than a majority of the popular votes.
Change that voting system and the Cons will never again form a government! I look forward to the change. :-)
I believe Palopu has it right. Most Conservatives don’t see any particular advantage to changing the present electoral system. It’s served us well, and there’s no evidence of which I’m aware that shows other countries that have replaced ‘first-past-the-post’ with other systems proposed for here have elected governments that their citizens are any more satisfied with than ones elected the previous way. In any case, the Conservative Party has not closed the door completely on changing to some other voting set-up, and has only asked that all the advantages and disadvantages be closely examined and debated, and the public be given the final choice of what’s wanted via a national referendum. Now what could be more democratic than that?
Something doesn’t make sense to me, if as you state; the Conservatives want the public to decide through a referendum vote, why aren’t the Conservative MPs holding town hall meetings with their citizen, so that these citizens can become more informed for a referendum vote?
Why are only two (2) Conservatives in all of Canada holding town hall meetings on electoral reform? Please don’t bother explaining, Conservative and logic go togeather like oil and water.
I wouldn’t purport to speak for the Conservative Party, JGalt, of which I’m not, nor ever have been a member. But my guess is that the Conservatives realise there is no sense in trying to ‘sell’ the public on retaining ‘first-past-the-post’, when the Liberals are determined to replace it. And have the votes in the House of Commons to do just that.
There is an all-Party Committee already studying the whole issue, and it’s a certain bet that whatever the Conservative members of that Committee’s feelings are on retaining what we have, the electoral system is going to change. The only way it might not would be if the general public decides the issue in a national referendum. And if that were to come about, there would be lots of time to present all the sides of the issue to the voters beforehand.
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