PR Petition
My opinion of electoral reform in Canada remains the same: it's over. We have no political leverage to use against the Liberals, and without political leverage they have no reason to advocate for electoral reform.
Now we are in a battle over talking points. To that end, I am asking you to sign the following petition: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-616 . If you support electoral reform then please sign. If you feel betrayed by the Liberal waste of our time and taxpayer dollars and energy last year, please sign. Also, please be shameless in letting your friends, relatives, and acquaintances know about this petition. The petition closes on March 2, so there is not much time left.
I am not pretending that signing a petition will make a large difference. Because the petition bypassed the 100k signature mark, it will be debated in the House of Commons. That is something.
Even more impressive is that (as of this writing) the petition has gathered nearly 120k signatures, nearly double that of any other petition of the website. Getting past 140k signatures would send a clear message that Canadians are interested in this issue, which would defuse the Liberal talking point that Canadians do not care about electoral reform.
In my view, the magic number of signatures would be around 360k. The government claimed that 360k Canadians participated in the mydemocracy.ca survey, and that there was no clear consensus on electoral reform. Surpassing the number of participants on the mydemocracy.ca survey would defuse the mydemocracy.ca talking point by demonstrating that there is a strong cohesive push for electoral reform.
Without a big media push I do not think we can reach 360 thousand signatures. There are only two weeks left to sign the petition, after all. But surpassing 140k signatures is within reach, and with a solid push we could hit 200k. That would mean something.
Here is one more piece of good news. As far as I know, petition creator (and Kitchener resident) Jonathan Cassels was not associated with Fair Vote Canada or LeadNow when he started his campaign. He was an ordinary, unaffiliated citizen who was upset at the lack of progress on this issue. That is an encouraging sign. It means that Fair Vote Canada is not a cult, and that there really is widespread interest for this cause even among people who have never heard of Fair Vote Canada. Mind you, Cassels spoke articulately at the PR rally on Saturday, so I guess he is tainted now. But my point still stands. So-called "regular Canadians" care about this and are willing to take action. You can be one of those people. So if you care about this issue please do what you can to build up the talking points and put us in a stronger position for the next time this issue gains political traction. Signing the petition and getting other people to sign is one way to help.