Oct 012018
 

With thanks to Karen:

Greetings.   Looks like you are in the final days of campaigning for one of the most important issues of our time and country. This email just in from Fair Vote Canada, wasn’t sure if you get info from them so I thought I would share it.

Is there anyone you know who needs to know how close things are on this issue and how much money is being spent to once again defeat proportional representation?

Informing people one to one, person to person can do wonders, we don’t have deep pockets but we have many hands and the ability to communicate.

 

Let’s spread the word. Why should people take power when the majority don’t want them?  Think Trump and many other politicians who have been elected in the past years when the majority don’t want them and even the majority of those voting did not select them.

 

Probably the most important thing is to encourage people to vote, too many still stay home and don’t vote. They squander the right that other countries only wish they had.

A couple of websites with some useful info https://prorepfactcheck.ca/  and https://www.fairvote.ca/proportional-representation/

A win in BC in November 2018’s referendum could have a huge impact on the prospects for proportional representation federally and in other provinces. This may be the last chance at electoral reform in BC for a generation.  It is imperative we win this referendum and set a precedent that it can be done! 

 

Be well, be active & enjoy!

Karen

We must FIGHT BACK AGAINST THEIR ATTACKS ON PR NOW! Will you help? 

Please read this email – it’s never been more important

One of the first rules of campaigning is never to showcase your opponent’s talking points. Today, I’m breaking that rule so you know what we’re up against.

Scroll down to the bottom of this email to see just three of the ads the NO campaign is swamping social media with in BC. In communities from Victoria to rural and interior BC, we’re hearing these messages at the door.

The claims in these ads are COMPLETE FABRICATIONS. There’s no gray zone here.

Let me rephrase that. These ads are outright lies.

Elections BC doesn’t investigate lies. Political speech is exempt from Advertising Standards. So opponents can say whatever they want to scare voters and ensure they keep first-past-the-post.

In the past week:

1) Our Fact Check website – an expert-backed site refuting the claims of the NO side with actual evidence – has been hacked and shut down twice by someone using a sophisticated “bot” system.

2) An Angus Reid Poll came out today showing BC voters are split. If they voted today, 31% would vote for first-past-the-post, 33% would vote for proportional representation, and 33% are undecided! Asked to choose between first-past-the-post and proportional representation, it’s 52% for PR and 48% for first-past-the-post. It’s that close.

We’ve never been in a referendum this vicious before.

This time, it’s different. This time, thanks to you, they’re really worried. 

Nothing matters more to opponents than holding onto the power that first-past-the-post gives them.  BC Liberal opponent Andrew Wilkinson said several months ago that this is “the fight of our lives.

It all comes down to what we can do in these next few weeks.

We must FIGHT BACK AGAINST THEIR ATTACKS ON PR NOW! Will you help?

We are a citizens group facing off against the most powerful and wealthy interests in BC and – with your supportwe could really win this. 

Here’s why:

  • We’re bigger than ever. 25 local teams who have had more than 130,000 face to face conversations – they’re working tirelessly in BC communities every day!! We are the only group with teams on the ground across BC knocking on doors!
  • We’re running our own hard-hitting social media ads to reach those voters – but to compete with deep-pocketed opponents we need the resources to ramp that up in a huge way!
  • Multiple organizations are actively on the side of proportional representation this time – environmental groups, unions, the United Church, and most importantly, the governing party (the NDP) and Greens are showing political leadership.

The opponents have no ground game. The picture of their volunteers on their website is a STOCK PHOTO IMAGE.

We’re real. 

It’s real citizens in BC asking for your help.

With your support, we will make a professional, hard hitting campaign video calling out the opponent lies, letting BC voters know they can’t be trusted – and get that in front of hundreds of thousands of BC voters.

We’ll give our teams the support and resources they need in these last few weeks to talk to as many BC voters as possible. We can’t afford to pinch pennies when it comes to reaching voters and we’re only funded by you! 

In the first disclosure report to Elections BC from the NO campaign of donors over $250, the average donation was a whopping $959. It’s the 1% who are driving their campaign.

If we approach these final weeks with relentless determination, targeted marketing, and a bigger-than-ever Get Out the Vote effort, we can win this for all of Canada!

Please, chip in now – and let’s show the party elites, the wealthy, and citizens all across Canada that WE CAN DO THIS!

Sincerely,

 

Anita Nickerson
Acting ED, Fair Vote Canada

P.S. Today the Globe and Mail came out with an editorial in favour of scrapping first-past-the-post. The tide is finally turning and all of Canada is watching to see if we can do this in BC! Please donate now for this final push!

Fair Vote Canada / Représentation équitable au Canada

283 Danforth Avenue #408
Toronto, ON M4K 1N2
Canada

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