Letter to MPs re Environics Poll on PR and Cooperation

Dear Members of Parliament,

On April 4, 2013 we received an Environics poll commissioned by Leadnow.ca. It showed that a healthy majority of supporters of all political parties support moving towards a system of proportional representation in Canadian elections : Conservatives 62%, Liberals 77%, NDP 82% and Greens 93%. http://cooperate4.ca/national-poll/

On the same date the Canadian Electoral Alliance held a Town Hall conference on voting systems that was attended by 150 people. It featured speakers Carolyn Bennett (LPC), Peggy Nash (NDP) and Jim Harris (former Green party leader). The Conservative Party declined our invitation to send a representative to speak.

Since the Conservative party did not appear to support a movement to proportional representation we asked the speakers what they thought about the Liberal, NDP and Green parties jointly fielding one candidate in selected ridings in order to defeat the Conservatives in the next general election for the purpose of successfully introducing a form of
proportional representation following the election. All speakers expressed strong reservations about this approach. However, the Environics poll found that, notwithstanding the negative aspects of single candidates, 70% of Liberal supporters, 72% of NDP supporters and 64% of Green party supporters would vote for only one candidate in their
riding in order to defeat the Conservatives.

The Environics Poll also found that 56% of supporters of the three opposition parties think that Canada's current democratic system does not adequately represent the interests and values of most Canadians and that our political system is broken and needs to be fixed. Some 21% of Conservative supporters agree.

The Canadian Electoral Alliance electoralalliance.ca was formed in October 2011 to encourage cross-party cooperation for the 2015 general election and enactment of a form of proportional representation at the earliest possible time after that. You can find a summary of the Town Hall Proceedings on the site at http://electoralalliance.ca/april-4-town-hall-summary-proceedings

There is also a link to a shorter summary at http://electoralalliance.ca/april-4-town-hall-summary

If you have concerns or questions please contact John Bessai.

Yours sincerely

John Bessai, Peter Venton, Wing Ki Wo
For the Canadian Electoral Alliance