TRUDEAU GOVERNMENT BREAKS PROMISE ON ELECTORAL REFORM
Feb 01, 2017
By Bob Komsic
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The federal government’s not going to follow through on its promise to reform Canada’s electoral system.
The prime minister’s given the new Minister of Democratic Institutions a mandate letter stating, ”changing the electoral system will not be in your mandate.”
The Trudeau Liberals first committed to replacing the current system in June 2015, just before the election campaign.
Then in its first throne speech, the Liberals said they would ”take action to ensure that 2015 will be the last federal election conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system.”
A special Commons committee was formed last June and in its final report in December most members recommended calling a referendum on some form of proportional representation.
Democratic Institutions Minister and Burlington MP Karina Gould says the government’s taken the time, consulted and listened.
”It is a difficult conversation to talk about how we govern ourselves. But we have listened to Canadians and this will not be part of my mandate.”