Re Electoral Reform

Martina Field | Feb 08, 2017

I’m feeling disheartened and angry about the Liberal decision to abandon their promise of electoral reform. Having rejected the recommendations of an all party task force, the government put out a nonsensical survey to the Canadian public last Fall. Now, while our attention was on the Quebec City massacre and the immigration ban in the U.S., it was revealed last week that there will be no electoral reform under their government. The timing of this announcement, along with the ineptitude of the survey, is suspect. I believe Trudeau never intended to bring about electoral reform, even though he campaigned hard on it this past election. Our electoral system is flawed and needs fixing so that all votes count, and so that many of us voting with our conscience do not end up disenfranchised. This fix is now even more imperative given the recent developments resulting from a flawed system in the United States. The Trudeau government has an opportunity to go down in history as the one that made our electoral system more democratic, but we need to apply pressure in order to hold them to their promise. There are some online petitions going around, including this one began by NDP MP Nathan Cullen in October. It is continuing until March 2. Here is the web address for it: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-616

Please help by adding your voice in protest of this recent decision, by sending letters to your M.P., and directly to Justin Trudeau, urging them to keep the Liberals to their word; to design a better electoral system for this country. He can be reached by mail at Office of the Prime Minister 80 Wellington Street Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2, by fax at 613-941-6900 or send a message electronically through https://pm.gc.ca/eng/connect

Martina Field