sust-mar: CBCNEWS NOVASCOTIA - Group targets voting system

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From: nwonline@toronto.cbc.ca
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 19:07:03 -0400 (EDT)
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Paul Falvo was surfing novascotia.cbc.ca and sent you this CBC News story with the comment: 
"Something else to keep in mind this Election ..."
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GROUP TARGETS VOTING SYSTEM

SYDNEY, N.S. - 
While the candidates are campaigning for votes, some political activists are campaigning to change the way we vote.

Larry Gordon, executive director of Fair Vote Canada, says the current voting system isn't fair. His non-partisan group was formed four years ago and recently opened a chapter in Nova Scotia.

"Most Canadians believe that to form a majority government in Canada your party has to win a majority of votes. Not only is that not true, that's a rare occurence," Gordon says.

Canada Votes - Electoral reform

Canada is one of the few modern democracies that doesn't use some kind of proportional representation, he says. That's when parties are assigned seats based on the actual percentage of votes they get.

Currently the person who wins a seat is the one with the most votes in an electoral area. A majority vote is not required to win &#150 the candidate just needs to get more votes than his opponents. 

Gordon says our first past the post, winner take all system is turning voters off. "The way it operates it actually contradicts the democratic principles most Canadians hold."

He says the federal NDP, Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois have all come out in support of a national referendum on electoral reform. Gordon says Fair Vote Canada will continue to push the issue durning this election.

Canada Votes - Full election coverage from CBC 


 
 
Copyright © 2004 CBC All Rights Reserved
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This story, forwarded to you by falvo@yk.com,
appears on http://cbc.ca at the following URL:
http://novascotia.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ns_fairvote20040526
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