Fair Vote Canada

Fair Vote Canada (FVC) is a nonprofit, multi-partisan advocacy group for electoral reform in Canada. It is active both federally and in those provinces where there are efforts to reform the first-past-the-post electoral system that is used in Canada. 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." One of its major campaigns is a petition demanding the following basic democratic rights:

  • to cast an equal and effective vote and to be represented fairly in Parliament, regardless of political belief or place of residence.
  • to be governed by a fairly elected Parliament where the share of seats held by each political party closely reflects the popular vote.
  • to live under legitimate laws approved by a majority of elected Parliamentarians representing a majority of voters;

and demanding that the House of Commons immediately undertake a public consultation to amend the Canada Elections Act to incorporate these vital democratic rights. The House, after this consultation, should quickly implement a suitable form of proportional representation.

While it steers away from advocacy of any particular voting system, Fair Vote Canada has spoken out on several of the initiatives that have come out of the Canadian provinces. The group evaluates each initiative based on its statement of principles, which states that any electoral reform should achieve the five objectives of proportional representation, fair representation for women, minorities, and Aboriginals, accountable government, geographic representation, and real voter choice.

In March 2005, FVC issued assessments of the four provincial proposals. On the British Columbia electoral reform referendum, 2005 it recommended that British Columbians vote "Yes," that they consider this the first step in a continuing reform process, and that they press for further improvements to increase proportionality and enhance diversity. For Quebec, FVC said the MMP framework provided a very good foundation on which to build a fair voting system, but the current proposal must be greatly improved, and it urged a citizen-driven process to improve the proposal. It was very supportive of the Citizens' Assembly process for the Ontario electoral reform referendum, 2007, while recommending some improvements to the process.

Fair Vote Canada also maintains provincial campaigns in Ontario (since 2002) and Alberta (since 2006) to campaign for electoral reform in those respective provinces. This is in contrast to independent groups in both British Columbia and Quebec who have similar goals, but are not a part of Fair Vote Canada.

Fair Vote Canada strives to maintain a nation-wide, multi-partisan support base, with members from all points on the political spectrum, all regions and all walks of life. Its National Advisory Board includes prominent Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats, and Greens, as do many chapter executives. Rick Anderson, 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.

Read more about Fair Vote Canada:  Democracy Day

Famous quotes containing the words fair, vote and/or canada:

    We must pronounce him fortunate who has ended his life in fair prosperity.
    Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.)

    The Republican Party does not perceive how many his failure will make to vote more correctly than they would have them. They have counted the votes of Pennsylvania & Co., but they have not correctly counted Captain Brown’s vote. He has taken the wind out of their sails,—the little wind they had,—and they may as well lie to and repair.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I fear that I have not got much to say about Canada, not having seen much; what I got by going to Canada was a cold.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)