FORSETH – Fair Vote Canada needs to be both fair and right

THE OTHER DAY (Jan. 11) I received an email from Fair Vote Canada with the following in its subject line:

Sign up to vote in the Liberal Party’s leadership race to help elect a leader who supports proportional representation!

In part, the email stated that:

We realize that most Fair Vote Canada supporters are not partisan Liberals.

Registering to vote in the Liberal leadership race has nothing to do with who you plan to support in the next election!

We all have a stake in who is chosen as the next Liberal leader. Let’s seize this chanceto make an impact for proportional representation!

To vote in the Liberal leadership race you only need to register as a supporter by January 27.

Registration is open to anyone 14 or older who is a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or has status under the Indian Act, and who isn’t a member of another federal political party. (Rules Here).

We know this email is unusual. We wouldn’t be asking you to do this if it didn’t matter.

Opportunities to influence the choice of a party leader―someone who will hold an incredible amount of power in our system―are rare.

For an organization that infers support for election fairness, this whole process of taking out memberships, under the circumstances they are suggesting, seems odd.

Is it ‘fair’ for Fair Vote Canada to suggest people take out a one-and-done memberships (to simply vote in the leadership race) when party rules say that an individual must “support the purposes of the party”?

Still, it’s my personal opinion that the Liberal Party of Canada has only itself to blame for this situation, by allowing anyone to sign up – at NO COST – to become a member; including people as young as 14 years of age.

Based on these rules any group or organization, with a large enough membership, or support base, could theoretically overwhelm the existing (or more importantly active) membership of the party.

For example, week after week we have seen disruptive, and very much illegal protests, mounted by pro-Hamas supporters.  These protesters have disrupted the ability of companies, and in some cases entire shopping malls, to conduct business – WITH IMPUNITY.

They have vandalized businesses … burned Canadian flags … promoted rage and hate against Israel … and even the deaths of Israelis and the elimination of their country.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Hamas is a Palestinian militant group which has governed over Gaza since 2007 and has been listed as a terrorist entity by the Government of Canada for over two decades (City News), and yet polices forces and governments at various levels have allowed never-ending illegal activities to take place by Hamas and Palestinian organizations.

What if in the days ahead these same groups and organizations also encouraged their supporters to do the very same thing and take advantage of:

Opportunities to influence the choice of a party leader ― someone who will hold an incredible amount of power in our system.

I honestly don’t believe that Fair Vote Canada thought their idea through to its logical conclusion; that any group or organization could do the very same thing they are suggesting.

Is it ‘fair’, Fair Vote Canada?  Of course, it is … but is it right?

I don’t think so. Nor is it right for the Liberal Party of Canada to allow for something like this to take place. It’s dangerous to our democracy.

Anyway, that’s where I’m at.  The floor’s open to you now; what do you think?

Alan Forseth is a Kamloops resident. For 40 years he has been active, in a number of capacities, in local, provincial and federal politics, including running as a candidate for the BC Reform Party in the 1996 provincial election. He is a member of the BC Conservative Party and was the campaign manager for the party in the Kamloops-North Thompson riding in this year’s provincial election.