Fair Vote Canada is undertaking to have its members and supporters visit their local MPs between January 2nd and January 24th 2016, when the MPs are most likely to be in their home ridings, in order to educate MPs about Proportional Representation, and hopefully motivate them to champion this issue going forward.
Now is the time to act: The cohort of Liberal MPs was only 34 in December 2014, whereas now, just 13 months later, there are 184! Most of them know little about PR–an issue that they will be voting on just 15 months. Canadians who understand PR need to educate their MPs now! (NOTE: NDP and Green MPs are already on board, so no need to visit them, and Conservatives are decidedly anti-PR, so they fall in the “lost cause” bin.)
Here is what you can do, if you want to participate:
- Send a quick email to Anita Nickerson, FVC’s Action Coordinator, providing the name of your MP and your riding, and asking her to add you to the list of volunteers. (To find your MP and riding, click here.)
NOTE: In Québec, the Meet Your MP campaign is being carried out in partnership with Mouvement Démocratie Nouvelle. The contact person for Quebecers is Maxime Coulombe.
- Email your MP an invitation to meet! Keep your letter short and simple: a) Mention that you are a constituent; b) that you care about Proportional Representation; c) that Canada’s new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has said that what he wants to consult Canadians on our values. Mention the values that you support (for example, fairness and equality, as expressed by votes that count and proportional results; voter choice, diversity, collaboration, and effective local representation… d) Ask for a meeting to better understand what your MP thinks about PR, and what it would mean for Canada and for your riding.
- Follow up with a phone call to your MP in about three days.
- Once you have a meeting date, prepare by reading and printing these documents:
- Backgrounder on the Liberal party.
- Proportional Representation FAQ.
- The FVC petition for PR with at least 25 signatures. If you don’t already have signatures, Anita might be able to put you in touch with someone in your riding who does.
- Meet your MP! Don’t forget to take a photo of the momentous event! Give him or her the scoop on PR, and let us at CUSJ, and of course FVC, know how it went.