UPDATE:Only weeks to win a breakthrough in PEI!
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
UPDATE: The PEI Coalition for PR volunteer team is meeting tomorrow - when we'll be able to tell them how far we have to go to raise the funds needed to hire a Campaign Organizer for the
referendum. Sources now tell us that the referendum could be held as soon as eight weeks from now!
In an encouraging sign today, even the leader of PEI's Progressive Conservatives, the Official Opposition - who will not take a formal position in this referendum - has come out publicly in favour of PEI leading the way on reform, stating,
"We are the cradle of Confederation. We could also be the cradle of change among the ten provinces for more effective government. Maybe it is time to rock the cradle."
Chip in now to help hire a Campaign Organizer and let's make history.
Sincerely,
Anita Nickerson
Acting ED, Fair Vote Canada
You can make a breakthrough possible: Help Hire a Campaign Organizer to Win the PEI Referendum!
Dear ,
We just received alarming news - from media reports and now confirmed by sources working in the legislature.
The PEI government is almost certain to call a snap election - and a snap referendum on proportional representation with it!
The PEI legislature resumes sitting on April 5 - and one of their first pieces of legislation could be setting the rules for a referendum on proportional representation - to be held with an election as early as May.
There are already fewer than 90 days until the rumoured referendum date. Game on!
If the governing PEI Liberals go through with this plan, their intentions will be clear - with near-zero time for public education and organizing, they are trying to sway the referendum vote - and backing the status quo.
The PEI team for PR needs your help now.
This is a critical year. What happens in PEI will resonate across the country.
In about six weeks, the BC government is set to officially launch a six month referendum campaign for proportional representation in BC. The stakes are high, and already the opponent campaign - consisting of the BC Liberals and a collection of professional lobbyists - have announced they're set to spend millions to defeat PR.
The result of the PEI referendum will either help the YES campaign in British Columbia - or help the opponents.
Will the headlines from PEI in the midst of the BC campaign claim that voters "rejected" PR again?
Or will the headlines say: "PEI Makes History - votes YES for Proportional Representation. Is BC Next?" Good news couldn't come at a more important time.
Voters and politicians in BC - and those federal leaders wondering how big an issue they should really make of PR in the 2019 federal election - will be watching.
Canadian citizens can show that coast to coast, we're ready for a fair and modern electoral system that makes every vote count!
The local Coalition for PR is gearing up for a good fight, and are planning for a full campaign, like their winning campaign in 2016.
But with an extremely short timeline to raise money for a Campaign Organizer, the local PEI campaign team needs your help, and they need it right now.
Can you chip in now to hire a Campaign Organizer to ensure we win the PEI referendum?
This PEI referendum on proportional representation is unique from every other referendum in Canada for this one important reason:
PEI is tiny. With the money to hire a Campaign Organizer, PR supporters can literally knock on every door in PEI.
We know that door to door canvassing - face to face conversations to persuade, identify supporters, and get out the vote - are one of the most powerful campaign tools.
PEI has only 59,472 households. It takes only about six hours to drive across all of PEI.
With the money to hire a single Campaign Organizer, the PR team in PEI can make sure every PEI voter knows why they should vote YES!
The PEI Organizer will work for the PEI Coalition for PR, recruiting, training and supporting volunteers to knock on doors and collecting YES vote pledges.
We've done it before. In 2016, the PEI government held a non-binding plebiscite on electoral reform. Thanks to your generous support and the tireless work of the volunteers and staff in the PEI Coalition for PR knocking on doors, proportional representation won the plebiscite vote by ten percentage points!
But the PEI Liberal government - elected to a majority government with 41% support - refused to honour the result. Instead, they promised to have another vote - a referendum in conjunction with the next election - with their new question, on their new terms. The next election in PEI wasn't scheduled until 2019.
Now the referendum could be in two short months - and the government appears to be stacking the deck against change.
All throughout March, they directed the boundaries commission to hold public meetings, showing PEI citizens new maps for ridings with Mixed Member Proportional that left the proportionally elected MLAs off the map. This left voters with the mistaken impression they'd lose representation with PR, rather than gain it.
Now they're set to call a snap referendum, giving voters almost zero education. This leaves the grassroots YES campaign to raise enough money now for a Campaign Organizer to pull together teams and implement a plan to reach island voters.
Not only did PEI vote for PR in 2016, MP Sean Casey was one of two federal Liberals who voted for PR in the House of Commons in May 2017 - because he said he recognized his own voters in Charlottetown supported it.
Here's what makes hiring a Campaign Organizer now so important: With the referendum coinciding with a provincial election, the pro-PR parties in PEI will be scrambling to reach voters to elect their own candidates. Many island voters could show up at the polls uninformed about proportional representation - leading to a vote for the status quo. We've seen that before in other provinces, and we can't let it happen again.
It's up to our grassroots YES campaign to urge the many voters who didn't participate in the 2016 plebsicite to vote YES. With your help, the PEI PR Coalition can do it!
We may only have a matter of weeks. Please donate now to help hire a Campaign Organizer so we can knock on every door in PEI and win this referendum together.
Sincerely,
Anita Nickerson
Acting ED, Fair Vote Canada
Fair Vote Canada / Représentation équitable au Canada
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