Submission TEBBITT-0797 (Online)
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Submission By | Ms Jillian Tebbitt |
Address | Saturna Island, BC, Canada |
Organization | |
Date | 20040708 |
Category | Citizens' Assembly process, Electoral system change |
Abstract
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My concern about the Citizens' Assembly is that it may be an
expensive piece of window dressing, a carefully guided
sham consultation with the great unwashed public to simply avoid
the charge that the public hasn't been consulted. [1 page]
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Submission Content
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I never again want to see the current disproportional
misrepresentation which exists in the BC Legislature, resulting in
the passage of irrevocable and fundamental changes to the social
and economic structure of this province, made by a group of people
as near to dictatorship as possible in a democracy. I came to
Canada from a fascist police-state and am appalled to find that the
checks and balances of parliamentary debate, which are the basis
for sustaining democracy and human rights, are virtually
non-existent in this province and that all aspects of BC society
are being subordinated to our government's economic ideology
seemingly without conscience.
My concern about the Citizens' Assembly is that it may be an
expensive piece of window dressing, yet another one of those
carefully guided sham consultations with the great unwashed public
to simply avoid the charge that the public haven't been consulted.
I do not want to hear you say subsequent to the Assembly process
that the complexities of changing the existing system are so
onerous as to make change more problematic than leaving things as
they are. Nor do I want to hear the "the economy" would suffer were
change to be made. "The Act to Confer the Electoral Franchise Upon
Women" 1918, was a very difficult change to put into effect.
Justice is always difficult for people who feel entitled to deny
entitlement to others.
I know the work you are doing is very demanding, and I am extremely
grateful for your attention to this task. For those of us who have
lived in systems where many voices are silenced, your work has a
profound resonance.
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