Team

Partner Organizations

The Charter Challenge project was initiated by Fair Voting BC in early 2017. Fair Voting BC is a non-partisan non-profit society that works for fair voting systems for all elections held in British Columbia - including federal, provincial, and municipal elections. In the 2009 referendum on electoral reform in BC, Fair Voting BC (FVBC) served as the official proponent of the BC’s Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform’s recommendation that BC adopt the Single Transferable Vote (BC-STV) electoral system. The project-lead from FVBC is Dr. Antony Hodgson, president of the FVBC board. 

In May of 2017, Springtide accepted an invitation from Fair Voting BC to partner on this project, to provide operational leadership, oversight and support for the Challenge. Springtide is a Nova Scotia-based charity dedicated to non-partisan research, teaching and public engagement about democracy and politics in Canada. Springtide has published two papers on electoral reform - modelling four alternative electoral systems for Canada and Nova Scotia - and conducted public engagement and education workshops on electoral reform throughout Nova Scotia. The project-leads from Springtide are Jesse Hitchcock and Matt Risser. 

Advisory Board

The following individuals served on the advisory board for the Charter Challenge during initial stages of the project. 

  • Dr. J. Patrick Boyer, QC - Lawyer, professor, writer, former Progressive Conservative MP, expert on Electoral Law in Canada, ON
  • Annette Demers - Associate Dean, Law Library and Legal Research Services, University of Windsor, ON
  • Caitlin Urquhart - Associate Lawyer at Smyth Woodland Del Rizzo & Barrett, St. John's, NL
  • Dr. Fred Cutler - Political Scientist, University of British Columbia, BC
  • Réal Lavergne - Former President, Fair Vote Canada, ON
  • Matt Risser - Co-author of Springtide's discussion papers Better Choices: Voting System Alternative for Nova Scotia and Canada, NS

 


Like and Follow

- - -

Key Events in the Case:

  • We're currently awaiting the appeal decision (expected in spring 2025)
  • We submitted a response in March 2025 re: the relevance of the SCC Working Families case
  • We presented our appeal in the Court of Appeal for Ontario in November 2024
  • We submitted our appeal factum in April 2024
  • We filed our Notice of Appeal in December 2023
  • Justice Ed Morgan issued his ruling in November 2023 and unfortunately dismissed our application
  • The case was heard in September 2023 in the Ontario Superior Court
  • We received the government's affidavits in fall 2022
  • We served the government with our affidavit and evidence package in May 2021
  • We filed the case with the Ontario Superior Court in October 2019

How you can help

The main way you can help is to support the case financially. We are now asking for pledges totalling $60,000 to support us appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada, if they grant us leave to appeal in mid-2025.

What to expect

At each step, we set new pledge or donation goals based on our estimate of the costs for the next stage of the process, and invite our supporters to contribute towards that goal to ensure the case can continue to move forward. We don't ask for or collect funds until we're sure we're going to take the associated step.