2008/01 January

Fair Voting BC Newsletter, January 2008

If you know of anyone else interested in receiving this newsletter please have them send an e-mail to FairVotingBC at telus.net.

=========================================================

1) Volunteer Database - online sign-up NOW on our web site
2) Documentary - can you help with some video footage?

=========================================================

1) Volunteer Database - please sign-up NOW on our web site

We are building local teams across BC right now and need you to give us your contact information and level of interest whether as an organizer, to put up a lawn sign or a host of other things.

Please go to http://fairvotingbc.com/volunteercontact to enter your contact information and campaign interests directly into our database.

=========================================================

2) Documentary - can you help with some video footage?

Fair Voting BC is working with RPM Productions, who are currently filming a documentary on Electoral Reform in British Columbia, including the BC Citizens' Assembly process and the 2005 referendum. We are looking for any film footage of the 2005 BC-STV rally at the Vancouver Public Library or other key events in the history of electoral reform in BC, such as the public announcement of the CA, or even 1996 or 2001 election coverage showing the vast distortions caused by First-Past-the-Post. If anyone has any footage of the rally or any other events (personal Camcorder is fine), please contact Ryan Pilon at RPM Productions at 604.839.4977 or e-mail democracydoc at gmail.com

=========================================================

Prepared by Wendy Bergerud, January 2008

Donations are, of course, greatly appreciated. While Fair Voting BC is a non-profit society, we are unable to issue charitable tax receipts. This is because our mandate is considered political and so we don't qualify for charitable tax status. We now have an online donation system working - check our website at www.fairvotingbc.com. On the other hand, donations (to Fair Voting BC) can always be sent to me since I am also the treasurer! Please send to 1183 Wicklow Place, Victoria, V8X 4M8 for snail mail.

2008/02 February - Beer Night Notice

Fair Voting BC Notice of Beer/Dinner Night Feb 2, 2008 in Victoria

=========================================================

Meet the Directors: Please join us for a beer and/or dinner!

The Directors will be meeting in Victoria on Saturday, February 2, 2008 and we would like to meet with local supporters afterwards.

Accordingly, we have arranged with the Canoe Club in Victoria (http://www.canoebrewpub.com) to have an area set aside for us from 5:30 to 8:00 pm so that we can socialize over dinner and beer. We will be meeting in an area just to the right of the main door on the first level.

Please feel free to forward this note to anyone you think would be interested in joining us.

Please RSVP so that I can give the pub some idea of numbers and reserve the right amount of space.

Parking can be tight in this area but is easier if you are willing to walk a few blocks (see map and note about parking on their website).

PS: I have had to send this note out to everyone on my distribution list since I don't have physical locations for most people. We are planning to have directors meetings in other parts of the province and will organize pub nights accordingly.

=========================================================

RSVP to FairVotingBC at telus.net or phone 250-384-0666

=========================================================

Prepared by Wendy Bergerud, January 2008

Donations are, of course, greatly appreciated. While Fair Voting BC is a non-profit society, we are unable to issue charitable tax receipts. This is because our mandate is considered political and so we don't qualify for charitable tax status. We now have an online donation system working - check our website at www.fairvotingbc.com. On the other hand, donations (to Fair Voting BC) can always be sent to me since I am also the treasurer! Please send to 1183 Wicklow Place, Victoria, V8X 4M8 for snail mail.

2008/03 March

Fair Voting BC Newsletter, March 2008

If you know of anyone else interested in receiving this newsletter please have them send an e-mail to FairVotingBC@telus.net.

I apologize for the length of this newsletter, but . . . . The news has been coming fast and furious and I’m having a hard time keeping up!

=====================================================

GENERAL NEWS (more details below)

1) 12 Months to Fair Voting - Our second Electoral Reform Conference
2) Dinner with Andrew Coyne – May 10 at UVic
3) Electoral Boundaries Commission – final report is out!
4) Funding for both sides of the referendum (Bill 6)
5) Electoral Boundaries Commission’s “alternate” map approved by legislature (Motion 39)
6) Conference on Citizens’ Assemblies at UBC on May 1 & 2
7) Volunteers and Donations

=========================================================

1) 12 Months to Fair Voting: Yes Campaign Planning Conference – UVic on May 10 and 11

You are invited to an exciting weekend of information, workshops, and planning discussions for the Yes campaign for the May, 2009 referendum for BC-STV. Top experts from British Columbia, Canada, and the world will be present to offer advice, provide inspiration, and help us kick off the 12 months plan to obtain a 60% yes vote.

If you are interested in electoral reform, you will want to be at this conference to share your ideas, to meet BC’s key electoral reform activists, and to let British Columbians know that STV is the right choice for this province.

The meeting will start about 9 am at UVic, Elliott Building and run until dinner and then continue Sunday morning finishing at lunchtime.

More details to come as we firm up our plans. If you would like to help organize this conference please contact Bruce Hallsor (hallsor@creaseharman.com) or Wendy Bergerud (e-mail at end).

=====================================================

2) Dinner with Andrew Coyne

Come join us for dinner with Andrew Coyne at UVic, Village Green on May 10, 2008 starting at 6:30 pm. Andrew fought hard for electoral reform in Ontario during the last referendum campaign there. He is now the National Editor with MacLean’s.

This is a separate event from the Electoral Reform Conference. More details to come as we firm up plans.

=====================================================

3) Electoral Boundaries Commission – final report is out!

The Electoral Boundaries Commission has finished their work and published their reports online on Feb 14, 2008 (such sweethearts!). You can find them at www.bc-ebc.ca. Hardcopies are still not available but when they are, ordering information will be posted at their web site.

They added two more seats to their preliminary proposal for an 83 seat legislature. As they state in their press release:

Comparing the commission's final proposals to the Preliminary Report:

• the number of electoral districts in the Columbia-Kootenay region is increased from three to four;

• the number of electoral districts in the Vancouver Island and South Coast region is increased from 14 to 15;

• the number of electoral districts in the North region is unchanged at seven;

• the number of electoral districts the Cariboo-Thompson region is unchanged at four; and

• the proposals to add one electoral district in each of the Okanagan, Fraser Valley, Surrey, Burnaby/Tri-Cities, and Vancouver regions are unchanged.

This will result in a net increase of four electoral districts, for a total of 83 single member plurality electoral districts.

The number of proposed BC-STV electoral districts remains at 20, with the district magnitude of the Columbia-Kootenay electoral district increasing from three to four, and the district magnitude of the Capital Region electoral district increasing from six to seven.

Appendix P outlined how they would have set up the Northern and Caribou-Thompson ridings IF they had been required to by Bill 39. This appendix is the “alternate” map that the legislature might consider choosing.

=========================================================

4) Funding for both sides of the referendum

February 22: Andrew MacLeod reports (http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/02/22/STVFunding/) that the government has set aside $1.5 million in the Attorney General’s budget for 1) funding for an office to provide neutral information (another Referendum Information Office?). This office is to get $500,000. 2) Funding for the No and Yes campaigns – each side to get $500,000. No word yet on how this will work, when the money will be available or when the office in the AG’s Ministry will start.

March 6: Bill 6 (http://leg.bc.ca/38th4th/1st_read/gov06-1.htm) is introduced to the house. This Bill
• requires a referendum respecting a change to the system by which Members of the Legislative Assembly are chosen to be held in conjunction with the May 2009 general election,
• establishes special rules respecting such a referendum, and
• authorizes funding for groups who oppose or support the single transferable vote electoral system.

Our press release is available at http://www.stv.ca/?q=pressreleases/20080306.

=========================================================

5) March 13: the legislature chose the “alternate” map:

The government introduced Motion 39 which calls for the “Adoption of the proposals contained in the report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission as contained in its report entitled Amendment to the Preliminary Report (February 14, 2008), (“the Report”) with the following alterations:

a) The proposals for the North and Cariboo-Thompson Regions are not approved and the alternatives contained in Appendix P of the Report relating to these regions are approved in their place.”

(taken from http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/38th4th/H80313x.htm. Michael de Jong describes the history of this latest boundaries commission while introducing this motion. There is some interesting discussion by other members of the legislature.)

Our press release is at http://stv.ca/?q=pressreleases/20080313

=========================================================

6) Conference on Citizens’ Assemblies at UBC on May 1 & 2

When Citizens Decide: The Challenges of Large Scale Public Engagement

This conference will discuss the BC, Ontario and Dutch Citizens’ Assemblies on Electoral Reform to “explore how large-scale citizen engagement exercises connect with the general public, how they should be connected to the institutions of representative democracy and how they might be used in a range of different policy areas.”

It will be held at The Liu Institute for Global Issues, UBC, Vancouver, BC from May 1 to 2. More information is available at http://democracy.ubc.ca/index.php?id=9636. The cost includes lunch and snacks at the breaks.

=========================================================

VOLUNTEERS

1) If you haven’t already, please sign up to help at http://creator.zoho.com/fvbcdirector/contacting-supporters/form/10

2) Find your local organizer, or, become one! Go to www.stv.ca/connect.

3) Donations are another way to help! -- see the postscript below.

=========================================================

Prepared by Wendy Bergerud, March 2008

Donations are greatly appreciated. While Fair Voting BC is a non-profit society, we are unable to issue charitable tax receipts. This is because our mandate is considered political and so we don't qualify for charitable tax status. We now have an online donation system working - check our website at http://fairvotingbc.com/node/15. On the other hand, donations (to Fair Voting BC) can always be sent to me since I am also the treasurer! Please send to 1183 Wicklow Place, Victoria, V8X 4M8 for snail mail.

2008/04 April (Early)

Fair Voting BC Newsletter, April 2008

If you know of anyone else interested in receiving this newsletter please have them send me an e-mail at FairVotingBC@telus.net.

=========================================================

1) 12 Months to Fair Voting: Yes Campaign Planning Conference
2) Fund-Raiser: Dinner with Andrew Coyne - May 10 at UVic
3) Electoral Boundaries Commission - hard copies now available
4) Bill 19 - Electoral Districts Act
5) Publications of interest
6) Volunteers and Donations

=========================================================

1) 12 Months to Fair Voting: Yes Campaign Planning Conference - UVic on May 10 and 11

Please join us! Register directly at http://stvplanning.eventbrite.com/ or find the links at stv.ca or contact me directly (contact info at end of newsletter). Early Bird rate of $60 until April 21 and $80 after that. Student rate is $40. Dinner with Andrew Coyne is an additional $45 if you are also attending the conference.

The following is our tentative schedule.

12 Months to Fair Voting
Yes Campaign Planning Conference
May 10-11, 2008, UVic

Saturday, May 10

9:30 -- continental breakfast set up in back of conference room
10:00 -- Opening remarks. Piper Gordon. U Vic Fair Voting President.
10:10 -- Presentation of FVBC campaign structure. Bruce Hallsor and committee chairs.
10:30 -- A short history of STV and electoral reform -- Dr. Dennis Pilon, Univesity of Victoria
11:00 -- Working with the media -- Andrew Coyne
12:00 -- lunch
12:45 -- Electoral Reform in the UK and US -- STV making inroads -- Ken Ritchie and Amy Ngai
1:45 -- Small Group Workshops (participants pick groups with different topics)
A -- Fundraising -- how to find money at the local level
B -- Messaging -- words that work, using the media
C -- Networking -- how to meet people and get speaking opportunities
2:45 -- Coffee Break
3:00 -- Report and discussion from workshops
3:30 -- The Citizens Assembly and the Alumni Association -- Wendy Bergerud
4:00 -- The importance of the STV referendum for Canada -- Stephen Broscoe, Fair Vote Canada
4:30 -- Closing remarks for day -- Piper Gordon.

6:00 -- Dinner with Andrew Coyne (Village Greens, Cadboro Commons, U Vic)

Sunday, May 11

9:30 -- continental breakfast
9:50 -- Introduction for the day -- Piper Gordon.
10:00 -- Dealing with MLAs and opinion leaders -- Nick Loenen
10:30 -- Small Group Discussion (participants divided by geographical location):
A -- Interior and North Island -- Arjun Sing
B -- Suburban areas -- Ryan Warawa
C -- Vancouver and Victoria -- Dan Grice
11:30 -- Report and discussion from workshops
12:00 -- Closing remarks -- Bruce Hallsor

12:30 -- FVBC Board meeting. Observers are welcome.

The conference will be held in the Elliott Building and dinner at the Village Greens Restaurant which is located in the Commons Building. Both are shown in the map at: http://www.uvic.ca/buildings/com.html

ACCOMODATION: Student Residences are available (info at http://www.housing.uvic.ca/visitor/visitoraccom.php). Most hotels and motels are some distance away although bus travel from downtown is straightforward.

BILLETING: Diane Perry will help people connect. Please contact her directly: diane.perry at telus.net or phone 250-479-6125, if you have accommodation to offer or would like to be billeted.

=========================================================

2) Fund-raiser: Dinner with Andrew Coyne on May 10 at 6:00 p.m.

Andrew is the editor of McLean's Magazine, and appears weekly on the At Issue Panel on the CBC National News. He is one of Canada's foremost public intellectuals, and is a very engaging speaker with lots of searing observations and bold prescriptions for our country. Andrew was also a founding contributor and editor of the National Post.

One of Andrew's bold prescriptions is electoral reform, and this event is a fundraiser for the yes campaign in British Columbia's next referendum on STV, which is just one year away. If you support STV, please come. If you don't, come and learn about it from an excellent speaker, who will cover a variety of topics.

The dinner is at the Village Greens Restaurant at UVic (location on campus shown at http://www.uvic.ca/buildings/com.html). Tickets are $60.00.

You can sign up on-line at http://stvdinner.eventbrite.com/ or you can follow the links from www.stv.ca. If you are not web-savvy, you can call Bruce Hallsor at 388-5421 to arrange for a ticket(s).

We really hope we will see you there. Please feel free to bring a guest, and inform anyone you feel will be interested!

PS You may also contact Wendy Bergerud for tickets.

=========================================================

3) Electoral Boundaries Commission - hard copies now available.

The Electoral Boundaries Commission finished their work and the office closed as of February 29th, 2008. The website (www.bc-ebc.ca) will be maintained and be accessible until June 29, 2009.

If you are interested in receiving copies of the following materials:

* Preliminary Report - August 15, 2007 (printed copies or DVD)
* Summary of the Preliminary Report
* Amendments to the Preliminary Report - February 14, 2008 (printed copies or DVD)
* Consultation Session DVD - Mystery Solved
* Public Hearings DVD - Preparing the Preliminary Report

please contact:

Distribution Centre Victoria
PO Box 9455 STN PROV GOVT
Victoria, BC V8W 9V7
Fax: 250 952 4431
Email: DCVCustomerSer@gov.bc.ca
URL: http://www.bcsolutions.gov.bc.ca/opc/

For general inquiries, please call ENQUIRY BC
Hours of operation are 7:30 AM to 5 PM PST - Monday through Friday
In Victoria call: 387 5121
In Vancouver call: 604 660 2421
Elsewhere in B.C. call: 1 800 663 7867
Outside British Columbia: 604 660 2421
Email address: EnquiryBC@gov.bc.ca
Telephone Device for the Deaf (TDD)
In Vancouver call: 604 775 0303
Elsewhere in B.C. call: 1 800 661 8773

(Text largely lifted from the EBC's website: www.bc-ebc.ca)

=========================================================

4) Bill 19 - Electoral Districts Act

The government has now introduced legislation to establish the new single member riding boundaries for the 2009 election. It is online at http://www.leg.bc.ca/38th4th/1st_read/gov19-1.htm

=========================================================

5) Publications of interest

Alan Chattaway has noted an article in New Scientist April 12, 2008 titled Why first-past-the-post voting is fundamentally flawed.

A book on BC's Assembly has been published: Designing Deliberative Democracy: The British Columbia Citizens' Assembly. Information online at http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521885078

=========================================================

VOLUNTEERS

1) If you haven't already, please sign up to help at http://creator.zoho.com/fvbcdirector/contacting-supporters/form/10

2) Find your local organizer, or, become one! Go to www.stv.ca/connect.

3) Donations are another way to help! -- see the postscript below.

=========================================================

Prepared by Wendy Bergerud, April 2008

Donations are greatly appreciated. While Fair Voting BC is a non-profit society, we are unable to issue charitable tax receipts. This is because our mandate is considered political and so we don't qualify for charitable tax status. We have an online donation system - check our website at http://fairvotingbc.com/node/15. On the other hand, donations (to Fair Voting BC) can always be sent to me since I am also the treasurer! Please send to 1183 Wicklow Place, Victoria, V8X 4M8 for snail mail.

2008/05 May

Fair Voting BC Newsletter, May 2008

If you know of anyone else interested in receiving this newsletter please have them send me an e-mail at FairVotingBC@telus.net.

=========================================================

1) Volunteers and Opportunities!
2) BC-STV Group formed in Richmond-Delta
3) Referendum Question
4) Thresholds remain the same; Funding available for both sides of debate
5) 12 Months to Fair Voting: Yes Campaign Planning Conference
6) Citizens’ Assembly web site has been down!
7) Volunteers and Donations

=========================================================

1) Volunteers and Opportunities!

 Call for Volunteers: We are looking for volunteers to recruit more volunteers. We have a list of 1500 potential supporters and we need to call them. That's a lot of people and so we need a lot of help. You will be provided with a list of potential volunteers to call, a complete set of instructions, and a script to use on the phone. This is a very important task and we need your help. If you are interested, please contact Eric at ericlanoix@yahoo.com.

 Graphic Designer: if you’re interested please contact Shoni at 604-720-0541 or at shoni@telus.net

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unique Opportunity to Participate in an STV Election.

Are you available on Sunday, June 15th to participate in an exciting political event?

Fair Voting BC has accepted an invitation from Vision Vancouver to offer independent oversight of their upcoming nomination meeting on June 15th, in part because they'll be using a preferential ballot!

This is a great opportunity to see civic politics in action and each volunteer we provide will help raise funds toward next year’s referendum on electoral reform.

We need:

Deputy Returning Officers (full day)
Poll Clerks / Vote Counters (4.5 hr shifts)

Voting goes from 8- 5pm, with counting following and expected to last about 3 hours.

Please contact: Dan Grice. 604-725-8913 dan@vanalive.ca

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Local Organizing - Burnaby, New Westminster and Tri-Cities

Do you live in Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Port Moody or Port Coquitlam? Interested in helping win the 2009 BC-STV Referendum? Please mark July 17th on your calendar and plan to join us at our regional organizational meeting. For more information, please contact Stephen Broscoe at 604.817.5400 or e-mail stephen.broscoe@fairvote.ca.

=========================================================

2) BC-STV Group formed in Richmond-Delta

A grassroots group dedicated to informing citizens about the features of BC’s proposed new electoral system has been formed in Richmond-Delta.

The Richmond-Delta BC-STV Group will educate voters on BC-STV. To that end, the new group sent out a news release to newspapers and community groups in Richmond, Delta, plus many other lower mainland media outlets, generating some coverage in two local weeklies.

Spokesman Nick Loenen said the group includes eighteen concerned Richmond-Delta citizens who have a strong desire to see greater democracy brought to our province … a democracy where the outcome fairly reflects the voters' wishes.

“We are privileged to have two members of the Citizens’ Assembly in our group. They know best what this next referendum means to British Columbia”, said Loenen.

An advisory board also includes Richmond Councillor Harold Steves and former premier Bill VanderZalm.

“One year from now, May 12, 2009, is the most important Election Day in our province’s history, and we want to make sure every Richmond-Delta voter knows why. Public education is our primary goal.”

For more information on the group, contact:

Nick Loenen 604-274-3868 nloenen@smartt.com
Brooke Bannister (By email only) brookeb@shaw.ca

=========================================================

3) Referendum Question

On May 8, 2008, Michael de Jong introduced a motion on the referendum question this time around. The words are:

“Which electoral system should British Columbia use to elect members to the provincial Legislative Assembly?”
• The existing electoral system (First-Past-the-Post)
• The single transferable vote electoral system (BC-STV) proposed by the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform

Note that this is very similar to the question used by Ontario for their referendum, except, of course, that the alternate system listed was different.

This was Motion 57 and it has now been passed (http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/38th4th/H80523a.htm – just after 11:30 am ).

=========================================================

4) Thresholds remain the same; Funding available for both sides of debate

The legislature has passed bill 6, Electoral Reform Referendum 2009 Act, (http://www.leg.bc.ca/38th4th/3rd_read/gov06-3.htm). This bill provides for funding for the proponent group (supporting BC-STV) and an opponent group (who oppose BC-STV). The Chief Electoral Officer will make payments to the financial agents acting on behalf of the proponent and opponent groups.

There are still many missing details! But it appears that $500,000 will be made available at some unspecified time to each side of the debate. Also, there will be an information office that will also receive $500,000. This is less than what they had last time and so, they will have an even more limited ability to inform voters of this upcoming referendum. This means that, again, they will not have enough money for TV and radio ads.

This act also establishes the same thresholds as last time, namely, that if the popular vote is 60% or greater and more than 60% of the ridings vote for BC-STV at the 50% level, then the government is REQUIRED to implement BC-STV in time for the 2013 election. Note, that, again, it is unclear what they will choose to do if the popular vote for BC-STV is between 50% and 60%. Presumably, the legislature will retain the power to implement BC-STV should it so choose, a power it has had all along.

=========================================================

5) 12 Months to Fair Voting: Yes Campaign Planning Conference – UVic on May 10 and 11

Our STV Campaign Planning Conference was held at UVic on May 10 & 11. It laid the groundwork for organizing grassroots groups throughout the province. It was a great success with sixty people from around the province and, indeed, around the world attending. Provincial participants came from Victoria, up island, the lower mainland, Kamloops, Nelson and Fort St John.

Julian West (NDP candidate for Saanich Gulf Islands) arranged for several international speakers to attend. Ken Ritchie from the UK’s Electoral Reform Society (www.electoral-reform.org.uk) talked about the successful implementation of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral system for local elections in Scotland and how proportional the results were. Krist Novoselic, president of Fair Vote and Amy Ngai from Fair Vote (www.fairvote.org) talked about the push for electoral reform in the States where STV is known as choice voting.

Andrew Coyne, the national editor for Maclean’s, Shoni Field, former CA member, and Bruce Hallsor talked about working with the media. Andrew was also our guest speaker for the fund-raising dinner. He gave us an impassioned and articulate speech about why voting reform is necessary and how the current voting system is tearing our country apart. Dennis Pilon, UVic professor, described how electoral reform has fared in other countries and what it takes to succeed. Wendy Bergerud, former CA member, gave a brief presentation on the Citizen’s Assembly, while Stephen Broscoe, president of Fair Vote Canada discussed why this referendum is important for the electoral reform movement throughout Canada.

Piper Gordon, president of the UVic Fair Vote Club and Bruce Hallsor, president of Fair Voting BC provided introductory and summary comments.

Workshops were conducted on fund-raising, networking, and messaging. As well, participants were grouped by location and discussed organizational issues for their areas. Several members of BC’s Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform attended.

One outcome of this workshop was the realization of just how important the upcoming referendum is for electoral reformers everywhere. Success here in BC would boost the reform efforts not only in the rest of Canada, both provincially and nationally, but also provide a real boost for reformers in the US and UK.

=========================================================

6) Citizens’ Assembly web site has been down!

Many people have informed me that the citizens’ assembly web site (www.citizensassembly.bc.ca) is down. In fact, it has been down so long that google no longer lists it in relevant searches!

Apparently the site was supposed to have been moved to a different host last fall.

It is now up – let’s all use it so that it will become prominent again during google searches.

=========================================================

We always need Volunteers!

1) If you haven’t already, please sign up to help at http://creator.zoho.com/fvbcdirector/contacting-supporters/form/10

2) Find your local organizer, or, become one! Go to www.stv.ca/connect.

3) Donations are another way to help! -- see the postscript below.

=========================================================

Prepared by Wendy Bergerud, May 2008

Donations are greatly appreciated. While Fair Voting BC is a non-profit society, we are unable to issue charitable tax receipts. This is because our mandate is considered political and so we don't qualify for charitable tax status. We have an online donation system - check our website at http://fairvotingbc.com/node/15. On the other hand, donations (to Fair Voting BC) can always be sent to me since I am also the treasurer! Please send to 1183 Wicklow Place, Victoria, V8X 4M8 for snail mail.