MP Bossio on Electoral Reform

Jeff Green | Feb 08, 2017

There are a lot of things that could, and have, been written about last week’s revelation that the Trudeau Liberals will not reform the electoral system even though Mr. Trudeau himself repeatedly promised they would before and after his party took power.

But let’s look at what a Liberal MP said.

Mike Bossio was narrowly elected in the new riding of Hastings-Lennox and Addington almost 16 months ago. I don’t know him but from what I’ve and read he is hard working, enthusiastic, and full of zeal to bring about positive change for his constituents. 

Late last week, he published an open letter on the government decision.

He argued that the government should not act on its own to re-write the rules of elections, seeming to favour a more democratic solution, a referendum perhaps, to make that decision.

“There is no consensus on which different electoral system to adopt. For a change of this magnitude, there needs to be much clearer support. If the Liberals, as the majority government, tried to ram through a change of this magnitude with so many competing voices, there would be as much and probably more concern from Canadians.”

Then he argued that allowing the voters to evaluate a proposed system and make the decision through a referendum, would be divisive.

“However, the last thing that Canada needs at this time of international and economic uncertainty is a divisive referendum campaign in Canada pitting us against each other and distracting all of us from what needs to be our top priority – good jobs for Canadians, and growth for the middle class and those working hard to join it.” (Nice pivot to the economy, eh)

If, and this turned out to be too big an if, the higher reaches of the Liberal party has actually been willing to actually work towards seeking a real consensus on a fair system by which members of Parliament are elected, they might have found one. But they did not do so and that is where the lack of political consensus on the matter came from.

Once again we know what we always knew. Neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives want any part of proportional representation, a system where every vote makes a difference in the outcome. The Liberal and Conservative Parties have traded power in this country for 150 years. They intend to do so for another 150.

Mike Bossio ends his letter by saying, “However, while our electoral system will not be changing in this mandate, this does not mean that there will be no electoral reform” and then goes on to talk about parliamentary reforms, which he knows very well is not electoral reform at all.  And the decision to abandon the project extends beyond “this mandate”. Whether this government lasts 4, 8, or 12 years, it will not reform the electoral system.

I suspect that Mike Bossio, in his more reflective moments, is uncomfortable with the letter he wrote last week.

He should be.