Fair Vote to Put on an Alternative Voting Explainer

You may have noticed a lot of talk in the media about something called "electoral reform." That's sarcasm, of course, Guelph has been fired up about reform ever since some scalawag named after our local poutinerie made robocall a dirty word back in 2011. If the various systems being proposed to replace First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) have you scratching your head though there's good news! Fair Vote Guelph is holding an event at the end of the month that will hopefully make things clearer. 

"Vote for Canada," an event not dissimilar from one held in Kitchener-Waterloo back in March, will crack open the reform possibilities for locals on June 28 at 7 pm at Hope House. The event will pit Prof. Dennis Pilon from York University against Prof. Byron Weber Becker from the University of Waterloo (scholastically speaking, of course); Pilon will speak to the Mixed Member Proportional system (MMP) while Weber will speak to Single Transferable Vote System (STV), or ranked ballot. The debate will also be followed by a Q and A. 

"The intention is to concentrate on what is best for Canada," said the Fair Vote press release. "We want an electoral system that would lead to improved governance, to better long-term planning, and, most importantly, to improved civil discourse in the day-to-day business of the House of Commons."

For more information, go to the Fair Vote Canada website, or email guelph@fairvote.ca.