Initiating Proportional representation

I think I'm going to get my feet wet with supporting proportional representation. I've contacted Fair Vote Canada about volunteering and such.

If anyone is interested, I will let you all know what I find out. My hope is that a group of people in Calgary can be organized and start a grassroots public campaign.

Things I would be willing to do:
-Handing out pamphlets
-Other public pushes
-Even Door to door & phone calls

...maybe a bus ad campaign could even be made.

I'm sure there may be more effective things too. This is something I care about and really want in Canada.

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I've finally gotten a response. I emailed the supposed head of the Calgary chapter and waited for almost a month for a reply. So, I just emailed the general contact: "office at fairvote.ca".

This is the response I got:

Unfortunately our Calgary chapter is dormant. I receive an email about once a month from Calgary members wanting to be active in a chapter in that city.

What we need is two or three people willing to organize a meeting and become the chapter executive, hold regular meetings, organize activities.

I find it frustrating because Calgary is a perfect place for a chapter to help promote both provincial and federal reform. If you're interested in helping get a chapter established, let me know. Also...please join FVC: just $10 for first-year membership: http://www.fairvote.ca/en/Join

This is a great opportunity to put inspiration into practice. As well, it's an opportunity for critical thinkers to get into politics.

For people who care about personal gain:
-Great for a resume/reputation
-Great for political career
-Great for leadership skills
-Good for networking
-Good for business
-Better for leverage of opinion

For me, though, it's an opportunity to actually make a difference. I could care less about personal gain. I just want to help create something I can believe in. I'm tired of feeling like there's nothing anyone can do. I'd like to test this assumption and see how much I can disprove it.

So, if anyone is interested, I'll be trying to recruit a small group of organizers. I will look for casual members too.

If this is going to be here in Calgary, sign me up. Just say when and where and I'll be there.

Cool!

I'll let you know when I find more people. Let me know any questions or thoughts you have. In the email I sent back, I asked for the charter and any rules for setting up a chapter. I will show you guys any material I receive.

Here's the second reply from FVC:

Glad to hear of your interest. If you and a few others are interested in helping get things rolling, we would first want to announce a meeting to FVC members, and other interested people, in the Calgary area. One issue - we do have a Calgary chapter formally established, with bylaws. The two people who offered to lead the chapter, however, have never convened any meetings in recent years.

Just to clarfiy - FVC is a democratically governed membership organization, so chapters are formed by FVC members and governed by their elected leaders, who are FVC members. When we have campaigns, we certainly encourage non-members to become involved, take action, etc. and many do become engaged in our campaigns. - but the chapters are formally constituted groups of FVC members.

To answer your questions -
You'll find FVC's Statement of Purpose and FVC Chapter Guidelines on the Resources page of our website
http://www.fairvote.ca/en/About_publications

After you read these, maybe you and I can talk on the phone.

So, what does this mean?

There are, in fact, members in Calgary who have signed up on the national level, but not with a Calgary chapter. So, in order for us to do anything as a Calgary chapter, the National level needs to let all it's Calgary members know there is activity starting (AKA: us wanting to jump-start the club out of dormancy).

But, the original guys who started the club also need to know what's up, because, technically, they're the executives.

So, here's what we have to do:

1. Sign up

Before the national level will even acknowledge us, we need to sign up as national-level members. The fee is a whopping 10 bucks. Cheque, money order, credit card, online; they take any form of payment.

2. Find two organizers.

We have to show that we're actually serious about activating the club. We need to let them know that there are three people willing to take on the responsibility. Why three? There are three positions that must be filled for the club.

They are:
a. President
b. Secretary
c. Treasurer

I am more than willing to take on one of these positions. We just need two more people.

So, when three of us come to National, they'll be able to relinquish the status of the previous executives and put us in charge (if it is agreeable to the other Calgary members).

Alternatively, National office might decide that we have to work underneath the current guys. Then, when the election date comes, we can run for the positions.

3. Familiarize yourself with the material

Much of the stuff you read won't make sense. But, read it anyways and make sure you at least know what the material states, even if you don't understand it. Then sleep on it. You will understand this type of stuff (AKA legal mumbo-jumbo) much better when you've read it, slept, then read it again.

Here's a list of the material needed and my advice on how to approach it:

A. Statement of purpose

Link: http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvot...ugust_2009.pdf
This is what's called the mission statement. It is a general overview of the club. It generally answers vague questions like "What's your organization about?" and "What are your goals?".

B. Chapter guidelines

Link:http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvot...ber%202008.pdf
This is the main Q&A or FAQ guide to creating and maintaining a chapter. Areas of particular importance are:
I: 3. How are FVC chapters initiated?
II: 7. How are chapters formed?
III: 9. What do chapters do?
IV: Appendix 2

C. Information on voting systems

I: The current voting system & why it sucks
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_past_the_post
Link: http://www.fairvote.ca/en/problem
Link: http://www.fairvote.ca/en/why-canada...-voting-system
Link: http://www.fairvote.ca/en/solution-fair-voting
Our voting system is called "first past the post", "simple plurality", or "winner-takes-all".

II: What proportional representation is
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proport...representation
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSUKMa1cYHk

III: The different kinds of proportional representation & how they work
Link: http://www.fairvote.ca/en/fair-voting-systems
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_m...representation
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party-l...representation
The, so called, best proportional representation system is the "Party-list" system.

Full overview:

Link: http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvot...jan%2005_0.pdf
This was a pretty bad overview, in my opinion. They assumed you knew certain things, and they called things by non-standard names. But, it has some good extra info on debating and stuff.

D. National chapter By-laws

Link: http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvot...202%202007.pdf
This is a rough read. If it doesn't make sense, then don't worry about it. Maybe just try a stab at it. This is a complete legal mandate for Fair Vote Canada. Every non-profit that wants it's status (for tax reasons and such) needs to create one of these. But don't worry. You only need to read and understand the chapter guidelines.

4. Confused?

This stuff is fairly easy to me, since I've been involved with organizations like this for over two years now. Feel free to private message me, or post questions. If you want to get into non-anonymous contact with me, just let me know. This stuff took me a while to learn too. I'd imagine a face to face meeting would help in leaps and bounds.

The rules that are being used are a casual version of Robert's rules of order. This is pretty much how any non-profit is run.

Alright I signed up for membership and over the next few days I'll pour over those links and get myself better informed. Feel free to e-mail me or PM me with any updates or if you have any more plans for setting this up.

Could I get a little more information on the three needed positions? Depending on the amount of time and money needed to be invested I may be willing to take up one.

Details of the three positions and their responsibilities are in the chapter guidelines in appendix 2 (Page 10). Feel free to pm me any questions about it.

I'll post any new information I get.

Update

I've found a few people who are able to take on minor roles, but no one yet that can take on an executive position.

I've also found a free meeting space, which is the Devry Institute. They allow free meeting space for non-profit organizations. They're located right by the Frainklin C-train station. There may even be a spot right downtown at a workshop facility, but it's not for sure. Even if they do say yes, I want to make sure they have no reservations or reluctance about it.

I've also called the executive in charge of developing chapters. He will contact the original Calgary chapter executives and see if they're interested in reviving the Calgary chapter or have any useful information for us.

...And that's the end of my update. Not much to say really. Our biggest hurtle will just be finding the two other people that can take an executive role. Everything from there seems to be downhill.

'Nother Update

We will be setting up a meeting on January 18. The meeting will take place regardless of if we find another person willing to take on an executive role. It'll be our first meeting and we'll discuss the re-forming of the Calgary chapter.