Liberals rewrite the electoral reform script... with help from the opposition

Canadians will get what they want when it comes to electoral reform, even if it's the current first-past-the-post system the Liberals campaigned against.

"Look, if an overwhelming majority of Canadians tell us that they want system X, we will deliver on that need and listen to what they've said," Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef told Chris Hall onCBC Radio'sThe House.

But she doesn't think that's what people want.

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"We know that we made this commitment based on evidence and what we heard from Canadians. So, we will continue to work towardsthat commitment of 2015 being the last first-past-the-post federal election," Monsef said.

It wasn't the only climb down of the week. After widespread criticism from the opposition, the Liberals agreed to support an NDP proposal that gives no one party a majority of seats on the committee that will study electoral reform.

"Ultimately our decision was guided by the need to move the conversation about electoral reform away from a hyper-partisan debate on process and towards actually getting the committee to begin it's work of hearing from Canadians," said Monsef .

The House9:58Interview - Maryam Monsef

The Minister of Democratic Institution, Maryam Monsef, explains why the government backtracked on its electoral reform plan.

"For us it was an opportunity to demonstrate that, you know, we're going to give the opposition the majority on this...You know that promise we made to do politics differently during the campaign? We're going to honour that."

Kathleen Wynne: cap-and-trade revenue could change

Wynne says government is making difficult choices

8 years ago

Duration 0:30

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne admits that some hard choices being made by the government are having an effect on voter support.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynneconcedes thather Liberal government might have to lower its expectations of how much money its cap-and-trade plan will bring in.

The province originally expected to raise about $1.9 billion from the plan. Quebec and California,already members of the regime Ontario will join next year, only sold about 11 per cent of their emission permits last month. It was widely viewed as a disappointing showing.

"It's a market. We know that there will highs and lows in the market," Wynne told Chris Hall on CBC Radio'sThe House.

"It was this round that it was not as good. We just don't know what the market will be. That's our projection.If we have to revise the projection then we will."

The government promised that revenue, no matter how much it is,will be spent on initiatives to cut greenhouse gases,including investments in public transit, clean technology and retrofitting homes and businesses to be more energy efficient.

The House9:58Interview - Kathleen Wynne

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne joins us to discuss the difficult choices ahead on the climate change front.

The province's largerclimate change action planwill be released"very soon," said Wynne.

A published report based on a leaked draft copy said the province would phase out fossil fuels for home heating, something the premierdenies.

"We're not banning natural gas, in fact we're expanding natural gas into rural and northern communities. There's $230 million in our last budget that is going to make that expansion.But we're going to be tackling challenges in the building sector and transportation because that's where the greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced," she said.

Maxime Bernier's targets:supply management and corporate welfare

Bernier wants to eliminate omnibus bills

8 years ago

Duration 0:37

Conservative leadership candidate Maxime Bernier says he would eliminate omnibus bills in order to allow fuller debate on policy.

Maxime Bernierdidn't enter the Conservative leadership race quietly.

His first target was Canada'ssupply management system.

Something his party supports.

"It's a socialist system. It is not the free market," Berniertold The House.

That's not the only Conservative position Bernier has chosen to go against.

While the Beauce MP doesn't want the current government to give money to Bombardier, he also confessedthat he was against his government's decision to give money to GM and Chrysler during the financial crisis.

"I'm againstcorporate welfare," he said.

The House13:21Interview - Maxime Bernier

The Beauce MP and Conservative leadership candidate talks about ending supply management, his objection to corporate handouts and how his party needs to change.

"It is not fair to force a small business entrepreneur here in Ottawa to pay taxes to give that to big corporations like GM or Bombardier."

Bernier also acknowledgedthat his party needs to change the way it was during its decade in power.

"Maybe what we didn't do in the past... we did a lot of reform that was good reform but we always presented that in a big omnibus bill at every budget. And we didn't have time to explain in detail our proposals."

In House: The End of the Liberals' Bad Month

House Watch

8 years ago

Duration 1:22

A look at the Liberals' bad month.

This week, In House panelists John Geddes, Ottawa Bureau chief for Maclean'sand Laura Stone, parliamentary reporter for The Globe and Mail, discussed what has been a difficult month for the government.

While Geddes says there is little evidence that the fallout from the government's failure to pass the assisted-dying bill by the June 6deadline, capitulation on electoral reform and the mysterious resignation of Hunter Tootoo havebeen felt beyond Parliament Hill.

Stone argued the signs are clear that the government's honeymoon period is officially over.

"We saw this month that you can criticize them, and you can get them to change their minds," Stone said on The House.

The panel also discussed Nathan Cullen's announcement that he will not be running for the leadership of the NDP.

The House10:01In House - The Liberals' bad month

In House panelists John Geddes and Laura Stone discuss the Liberals' struggles during the month of May.

"Who is going to want to take the helm of this party that just stabbed its leader in the back and is losing money and doesn't really seem to have a direction or vision for the party?"Stone asked.

Lastly, the panelists addressed controversial remarks made by the Chinese foreign minister towards a Canadian reporter earlier this week.

"We have a free press, not a state media. We don't need politicians to defend us," Geddes said.

"If a Chinese politician wants to go off in a Trump-like manner, what we do the next day is ridicule the guy in the printed press and on the airways, which is what we did."