A petition: Stop US-style voter suppression from becoming Canadian law

[Guest]

Stop US-style voter suppression from becoming Canadian law



To: Our Members of Parliament

45,580 of 50,000 signatures

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Campaign created by Jamie Biggar ....<-- Click here to see the actual petition

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Remove the parts of the new elections law that would suppress voting by young people, Aboriginal people and low-income people. Replace those parts by giving election fraud investigators the power they need to compel testimony from political operatives.

Why is this important?
The Harper Conservatives are trying to rush their 242-page election law through Parliament with minimal debate and no expert testimony, despite major flaws that would have lasting consequences for our democracy.[1]

It boils down to this: instead of giving the people who investigate election fraud the power to compel testimony - the key power Elections Canada has needed to get to the bottom of the robocall scandal - this new election law would make it harder for young people, Aboriginal people and low-income people to vote.[2]

Incredibly, the misleadingly named “Fair Election Law” would even make it illegal for Elections Canada to promote voting.[3]

The law contains some good measures to curb fraudulent robocalls. However, it imposes unnecessary new voter ID laws that would make it illegal for people to vote by using a voter identification card or by having someone “vouch” for their identity with a legal statement. Independent reports have confirmed that fraud by individual voters is so rare that it basically doesn’t happen. In turn, 120,000 Canadians voted by being vouched for in the last election, and this change would hurt young people, Aboriginal people and low-income people the most.[5]

We’ve seen a similar strategy used by US Republicans to disenfranchise people who they know are less likely to vote for them. 37 state legislature have enacted voter ID laws that mostly hurt the poor, people of colour, and women.[6]

Please sign this urgent petition to stop US-style voter suppression tactics from becoming the law of the land in Canada, and call for our elections watchdog to have the power it needs to compel political operatives to testify. If 25,000 people sign this petition we will organize a major petition delivery at the committee meeting. Update: You did it! If 50,000 people sign we'll organize a creative petition delivery targeting Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Minister responsible for this act.


Sources:

Direct link to the act:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublicati...&DocId=6404810

New source:
Harper wants to make it harder for you to vote
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/pol...-you-vote-2015

[1]Tories move to cut short debate on new election act
http://o.canada.com/news/tories-move-to-cut-short-debate-on-new-elections-act/#.UvLGlMXNU8s.twitter

[2]Conservatives' Fair Elections Act eliminates the referee, Marc Mayrand says
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Co...383/story.html

[3] Election bill reveals Conservatives’ view on voter turnout: H?bert
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2...ut_hbert.html#

[4] Conservatives to table bill that will reorganize Elections Canada
http://www.canada.com/Conservatives+...221/story.html

[5] COMPLIANCE REVIEW: FINAL REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS - A Review of Compliance with Election Day Registration and Voting Process Rules [6] Voter IDs Are Not the Problem: A Survey of Three State, American University Center for Democracy and Election Management [7] Election Fraud in America, News 21 http://votingrights.news21.com/interactive/election-fraud-database/



How it will be delivered
If 25,000 people sign this petition we will organize a major petition delivery at the committee meeting. Update: You did it! If 50,000 people sign we'll organize a creative petition delivery targeting Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Minister responsible for this act.


Flag this petition for review <-- Click here to see the actual petition.

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[Ray]

I'm an American and I am appalled by what the fuckin Republicans are doing to keep Americans from voting. They know that the majority of younger voters vote for Democrats so they are making it more difficult for them to register and vote. Same with African Americans and Latinos. It's really a shame.

[Guest]

Hi Ray,

The governments are trying to achieve this New World Order.

People are too dumbed down to care, it seems, with all the TV shows to keep everyone too busy to care.

Only when people discover, one day after looking up from the TV set, that they have no rights, is when they'll get angry - and by then, it'll be too late.
Once a law is passed, it's impossible to change it.

And Harper likes to rush these things while the public is busy doing other things. They tried the same thing with Bill C-51 a few years ago. And i think they won that one by changing the name of the bill right under the public's noses, and then passed it before any one knew what was happening.

People are far too busy with their facebook and twitter and TV shows and bosses contacting them on the cell phones during off hours - it's all become more important than worrying about what the government will try to do. People trust the government way too much.

There is no more democracy, it's all trickery and smoke and mirrors, now, and NO ONE cares - until it's too late.

Babe,
xoxo

[Ray]

Well said, Babe.

[toban]

I?m fully with you on this effort Babe > > >

and with Jamie Biggar's request but unfortunately I don‘t believe a simple petition is going to make a bit of difference to the "weasels" in Ottawa!

Until recently the country we have known as Canada used to be a DEMOCRACY!

Slowly, many things have been changed here in Canada and at the moment it seems we are slowly being morphed into a full fledged OLIGARCHY with power vested basically in one man, Stephen Harper. Our elected Parliament has ceased to take notice of what we Canadians want and need, so what HE wants is what we are surely going to get and be certain that this will be done by either hook or by crook!

Backbenchers who make up the majority of Members of Parliament, are unable now to speak their minds or to fully support their constituents. Instead they are obligated to only read those always visible “talking points” (those papers you see fluttering in their hands), papers which have been prepared by the PMO and handed to them to read aloud - oh no they are not permitted to speak spontaneously to voice the concerns of their constituents. They must say only what they see on that paper in their hands, not what their constituents want!. Hey, that’s you and me that just lost our voices!

No longer is there meaningful debate in our house of parliament either! Debate on controversial matters, if it is allowed at all, is cut way too short by use of “time allocation” to hours instead of days and is shut down before any conclusion can be reached, so that debate is no longer is of any effect!

Our Prime Minister has also demonstrated through the manner in which he has legislation introduced and passed in Parliament, that he is a SNEAK. Not even our elected members of parliament are able to find out what details may actually be hidden in those huge 4-500 page OMNIBUS BILLS before a vote is called on them and rushed through with little debate permitted. It is through devices such as this that HE is sneaking devious legislation through the House, legislation that would never pass if properly debated in the House e.g. currently Harper, via Pierre Poilievre, is sneaking legislation with respect to the Elections Act past the House and right past you and I as well.

Through that piece of legislation the current Elections Commissioner will have just been emasculated and unable to act as he should, all because he dared to expose the governing party’s use of trickery during the last election. With that passed, they will be able to do even more dastardly things to subvert the opposition and to screw you and I in the 2015 elections.

Geez, I hope more people will wake up and see what is happening to our country! It is being destroyed from within!