Hi. My name is Joe. I'm a community organizer with Leadnow's “vote better” campaign here in Winnipeg. I just want to touch on a theme that's been common here tonight and that Paul Thomas took an extensive amount of time to explain, this idea that changing our voting system is somehow a false promise or a silver bullet. Now I agree that we need to change other aspects of our democracy, we need to decentralize power, and we need to improve accountability mechanisms, but I must challenge Mr. Thomas's central point that changing our voting system is the one thing that can truly shake up our political culture and improve our democracy. Now, myself and 25,000 other Canadians from across the country who have signed the “vote together” pledge believe that proportional representation is the right way forward. Introducing PR can be the catalyst for improving other elements of our democracy, mainly addressing poor political literacy and voter apathy. Let's shake things up. Let's transform our curriculum and launch massive public education campaigns.
I'll just end by pointing out that this cautionary and hesitant mindset is the same mindset that's now leading us towards 3° warming and threatening to destroy our climate for future generations. This is our moment to adopt PR and bring Canada into the 21st century alongside nearly 100 other countries. I urge you to push for real change and to put forward a plan for PR. Take comfort in the examples of successful PR systems from around the world and in the fact that Canadians, and especially young Canadians like myself, will support you all the way.
Thank you very much.