How To Win Proportional Representation: Talk and Discussion

Are you sick of vote-splitting and strategic voting? Come to this talk and learn "How to Win Proportional Representation".

WHEN: Wednesday, October 28 2015, 7:00pm.

WHERE: St John's Kitchen, 97 Victoria Street North, Kitchener (at the corner of Victoria and Weber) Map

For pictures of the site and additional directions, visit http://kwlug.org/sjk . The site does have an elevator, so is moderately accessible (note however that there is a lot of background noise in the space).

WHO: Anyone who is frustrated by vote-splitting and strategic voting. Anyone who feels concerned about the first-past-the-post voting system we use. Anyone who is interested in proportional representation and how we might achieve it. Anybody who would like to understand how our current system works (and fails to work). Even those who are skeptical of whether change can happen, or skeptical about whether proportional representation is a good idea are welcome.

This talk will contain introductory material for people new to proportional representation, and information that may be unfamiliar even to PR veterans.

Interest in electoral reform spikes immediately following an election. Please help spread the word of this event in your social and real-life networks to your friends, coworkers, relatives, neighbours, and acquaintances.

Here is a Facebook event you can share: https://www.facebook.com/events/1512189192426905/

Here is a poster you can print and distribute: 2015-10-28-poster05.pdf

And here are some leaflets: 2015-10-28-leaflet05.pdf

Update: Kirk Zurell is going to (attempt to) stream the talk via a Google Hangout. To sign up, visit: https://plus.google.com/events/ct48lv37vqkgdgt1eec80ca8kt4 .

Abstract

On October 19, millions of Canadians will cast ballots without helping anybody get elected. There are certain to be distortions between the share of seats political parties receive and their share of the popular vote.

Several political parties have promised to reform our first-past-the-post voting system. Are these promises realistic? Where else have transitions from first-past-the-post to proportional representation systems been successful? What is the path from nice-sounding promises to actually reforming the electoral system?

This talk will explore some aspects of our current electoral system, identify factors that influence electoral system change, and examine case studies of places that have made the transition. Along the way we will attempt to pull lessons from these experiences, and look at the successes and failures of Canadian electoral reform movements.

BIO: Paul Nijjar has been interested in electoral reform since the 2006 Ontario Citizens' Assembly and subsequent 2007 Ontario referendum on mixed-member proportional representation. He has been involved with non-partisan voter engagement initiatives such as organizing and promoting all-candidates meetings during elections.