Time for Liberals to decide if they're serious about electoral reform: Aaron Wherry

On June 16, 2015, as he announced a broad agenda for politicalreform, JustinTrudeaudeclared that his Liberals were "committed to ensuring that the 2015 election will be the last federal election using first-past-the-post."

Standing behind him were a few dozen Liberal candidates who applauded in agreement, including Maryam Monsef, prominently positioned to Trudeau's right and smiling, no doubt blissfully unaware of what that commitment would mean for her.

A year and a half later, the four Liberal MPs assigned byTrudeauto participate in astudy of electoral reformdeclared it would be a bad idea to keep the prime minister's promise.

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The alternativeas proposed by the other members of the committee is to proceed forthwith to organize a potentially treacherous referendum.

In response to that,Monsefstood in the House of Commons on Thursday and denounced the committee as a failure notably choosing to mock the committee's decision to refer toamathematical formula, the Gallagher Index, for assessing the representative quality of electoral systems.

Electoral reform clash in the House of Commons

8 years ago

Duration 2:31

During question period in the House of Commons Thursday. Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef accuses the Opposition of not doing its job on the electoral reform committee.

And for that she was condemned by the Conservatives, New Democrats, the Bloc Qubcois and Green Leader Elizabeth May andpublicly challenged by a LiberalMP'shusbandwho didn't appreciate the suggestion his wife's time away from her family had been wasted.

Did Trudeau imagine a new electoral system would be easily adopted? Had he thought much at all about the how?

That is perhaps for the history books.

For now, ifone is stillwilling to hold out any hope for change during this prime minister'stime in office, the relevant question remains this: How much does JustinTrudeauwant to reform the electoral system?

Committee agreed and disagreed

The 348-page committee report is, in the words of NDP reform critic Nathan Cullen, "a historic document, the most comprehensive ... study of Canadian democracy in Canada's history."

And maybe someday someone might make some use of it.

There is at least a little something for everyone.

The majority report recommends thereferendum the Conservatives and Bloc Qubcois had demanded.

It also says any alternative electoral system should achieve the result of proportional representation, as the New Democrats and Greens prefer.

And if you aren't entirely convinced of either of those concepts, there is the supplemental report of the Liberal MPs, which quibbles generally with everything.

"We contendthat the recommendations posed in the majority reportregarding alternativeelectoral systems are rushed, and are too radical to impose at this time asCanadians must be more engaged," the Liberals write.

"Our position is that the timeline on electoral reform as proposed in the [majority report]isunnecessarily hasty and runs the risk of undermining the legitimacy of theprocess by racing toward a predetermined deadline."

If only those same Liberal MPs hadn't run on a platform that expressly specified apredetermineddeadline for reform.

The opposition parties have nearly cornered the government with a proposal to meet the prime minister's target. In response, Monsef complained that the committee hadn't landed on a specific alternative system. To which Cullen suggestedthe Liberal members could have joined the New Democrats and Greens in proposing alternatives.

The question of a referendum

The Liberal committee members concluded Canadians are not yet sufficiently engaged with the topic of electoral reform, which could perhaps be read as an indictment of the committee's own efforts, not to mention those of the prime minister and his government.

But it's plausible that Canadians will remain unengaged unless or until there is both a specific proposal for change and the imminent possibility of thatchange being implemented something, for instance, like a referendum.

Unfortunately, the Liberals aren't so sure about that option, either.

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There are many reasons to question the efficacy of a referendum for deciding major issues of public policy, but it's difficult to make those arguments without seeming to oppose democracy itself.

There are though real reasons to hesitate before plunging a large, regionally diverse federation into a national referendum.

When prohibition was put to a vote in 1898 and conscription in 1942, national majorities were in favour, but Quebec was opposed. Could Parliament implement electoral reform now if Quebec was an outlier again? What if Quebec was the only province that voted in favour? What if only Alberta was opposed? Or Alberta and Saskatchewan?

What would be the reaction elsewhere if a lone province (or two) scuttled reform?

The Liberals could still try to get something through Parliament without a referendum an option the New Democrats and Greens seemed to leave open with a supplemental report that suggesteda national vote wasn't necessarily necessary.

But doing so would invite Conservative fury and accusations of undemocratically imposing a new method of voting.

Cullen says Liberals may not be interested in keeping promise

8 years ago

Duration 1:40

NDP MP Nathan Cullen says the Electoral Reform Committee found ways to compromise to help the Liberals keep a promise they may now not be interested in keeping.

Will the Liberals walk away?

The Liberals could alsosimply walk away. And they might get away with it without suffering great harm. At least so long as they don't seem insultinglycynical or brutish in doing so.

But a prime minister who stood in front of a chalkboard decorated with algebraandproudly explained quantum computing to reportersmight want to question the sight ofhis minister in the House mocking the equation used by some academics to measure the results of electoral systems.

AndTrudeaumight want to worry that electoral reform could leave a promising minister with lasting political scars.

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For now, the government is at least committed to going through the motions: it will soon launch another round of public outreach, this time involving postcards mailed to millions of homes and an online survey.

Monsefhasdescribed first-past-the-postas "an antiquated system, designed to meet the realities of19thcentury Canada."

"We require an electoral system that provides a stronger link between the democratic will of Canadians and election results," she told the committee in July.

AndTrudeauhimself hassounded passionate about electoral reform in the past.

Does he believe enough in the cause to do whatever is necessary to get something done?

If he decides that he doesn't, there will be all the more reason to wonder why he made the promise.