Several Kelowna residents gathered at Stephen Fuhr’s office in Kelowna Monday to make their voices heard on an upcoming issue federal MP’s will be voting on.
About 20 residents gathered for the protest, centred around electoral reform, urging Fuhr to vote yes on recommendations to bring in proportional representation, upholding the Liberal election promise.
Wayne Broughton, electoral reform advocate with Fair Vote Canada was one of the organizers of the event.
“A yes vote tells the government that it is not OK with the constituents of this riding that they broke their election promise. What we want is a real democracy where all voters, not just half of them, can be represented in parliament by someone they helped to elect and who represents their political views,” said Broughton.
MPs are expected to vote Wednesday on recommendations of the all-party committee on electoral reform (ERRE) which recommended proportional representation.
Organizers of the protest say it’s a free vote and Fuhr should hold up his election promise.
“Because it is a free vote, Mr. Fuhr will be able to vote for the motion even though many other Liberal members may be voting no,” Terry Robertson of the group Yes For Real Democracy said, adding the vote will need the support of approximately 20 Liberal MPs to pass, challenging Justin Trudeau’s February decision to break the Liberal key campaign promise.
Robertson concluded by saying that Mr Fuhr has espoused support for electoral reform in the past and declared himself to be an advocate for some form of proportional representation.
“We want to remind Mr. Fuhr that the time for talk is over…the time for courageous action is on May 31…It’s the time for you to vote Yes, to the ERRE Committee Report.”