Guelph street performance aims to revive discussions around electoral reform

Zombies stagger up the sidewalks in downtown Guelph, turning heads with their moans and drawing attention to the signs hanging from their necks. It's street theatre, but with a political flair.

The actors, led by organizer Steve Dyck with Fair Vote Guelph, turned the front of MP Lloyd Longfield's office into a temporary stage to run through the short performance. The message of the show was simple: electoral reform isn't dead.

Nearly one year ago, the Trudeau government pulled away from its campaign promise of scrapping the first-past-the-post electoral system. Dyck said Saturday’s presentation was aimed at reminding people of this and pushing the issue back into the spotlight.

“I think our current system is really dangerous,” he said, adding this winner-take-all system allows for leaders to have 100 per cent of the power with less than 50 per cent of the vote.

Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner also played an active role in the performance.

Only a handful of people stopped to watch the presentation — the small crowd spilling onto Cork Street was mostly made up of members of the media and those involved in the performance. The skit was filmed by a volunteer from Democracy Guelph who said an edited version will end up on their Facebook site.

---

This story was originally published here.