A special committee struck to study electoral reform in Canada has recommended a referendum on the issue.
The Special Committee on Electoral Reform announced last week that they recommend pitting the current system of first past the post (FPTP) against some type of proportional representation system in a country-wide vote.
The Liberal party members on the committee urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to break his promise that 2015 would be the last election under the FPTP system and delay the changes to Canada’s voting system. Members of the opposition were urging the government to keep their promise.
The Conservative party has called for a referendum on the issue, while the Green party and NDP committee members issued a joint supplementary report that questioned the need for a referendum.
“The Conservative party believes that before the rules of democracy can be changed, it’s important that Canadians have a say,” St. Albert MP Michael Cooper said.
Earlier in the year Cooper sent out a call for information on the issue to his constituents. He received more than 1000 responses and says 91 per cent of his constituents wanted to see the issue go to a referendum.
In the past, Trudeau has expressed his preference for a ranked ballot system.
The Liberals issued their own supplementary report, which called for the process to slow down because they don’t think Canadians are engaged enough on the issue. Rather, they recommended that the government have “a period of comprehensive and effective citizen engagement” before proposing any specific voting system. The report stated this could not be achieved before 2019.
Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef has repeatedly said she has detected no consensus across the country for an alternative to FPTP and stated that the government will not move forward with a new system without broad support from Canadians.
Monsef criticized the report suggesting that the committee did not suggest a specific alternative to First Past The Post and only proposed the new system score well on the Gallagher Index, an index used to measure the disproportionality of an electoral outcome.
Since the report was released, the government has launched a postcard campaign that will ask Canadians to take an online survey on electoral reform. The government is mailing postcards to 15 million homes across Canada to encourage them to participate in the survey.
The online survey asks participants questions about their values, preferences and priorities for a political system. The results group the respondents into five categories: co-operators, guardians, challengers, innovators or pragmatists.
The website has been criticized by opposition members and Conservative MP Scott Reid said in the House of Commons on Monday that it “feels like being on a dating website designed by Fidel Castro.”
The online survey is the fourth time the government has reached out to Canadians over the issue. So far, MPs across the country have held town hall meetings, the special committee held hearings across the country and had an online survey and Monsef has toured the country to hear from citizens.
The committee also rejected proposals for mandatory voting and online voting. The report called for MPs to not be selected from a list, but rather maintain their connection to their constituents.
To take the online survey visit www.mydemocracy.ca.
