The Most Important Two Minutes of My Life

 

Meeting No. 24 Special Committee on Electoral Reform
Evening Addition http://tinyurl.com/erreRegina 20:36:30

Dear Electoral Reform Committee,

Your mandate and my vision need proportional representation which makes this the most important two minutes in my life.

I've had fierce conversations about why civilizations rise and fall.  Author Chris Harman says civilizations rise when citizens "remold society around the values of solidarity, mutual support, egalitarianism, collective cooperation and democratically planned use of resources." 



Civilizations fall when citizens fail to maintain these values.

Let's focus on the value of "democratically planned use of resources."  As an environmentalist, I was frustrated when a wage slave would step between me and the tree I wanted to hug.  Then I realized that the tree wouldn't need hugging if the wage slave’s owners did not undemocratically use resources in ways that externalize costs on the poor and the environment and then use the profits to amplify their voices.

As citizens, we can best maintain our values if our voices have proportional representation in our House of Commons.  This gives a foundation of consensus rather than majority rule.  Countries using proportional representation have risen to the top for voter turnout, women and visible minorities in government, income equality and strong economies, and, my priority, environmental protection.

Give Canadians the opportunity to remold our society around our values.  On December 1, identify proportional representation as the electoral reform that offers effectiveness and legitimacy, engagement, accessibility and inclusiveness, integrity, and can offer Canadian-made local representation. 

Thank you.

Nancy Carswell
Senior Researcher into Happiness