THUNDER BAY — A city woman believes that unless ordinary citizens get involved, nothing will be done to address perceived flaws in Canada's federal electoral process.
It's why Cindy Long has joined Fair Vote Canada's lobbying effort in support of M-86, a motion in the House of Commons that would create a National Citizens' Assembly to recommend an alternative to the current first-past-the post system.
"It's a voting system that hasn't been working well for Canadians for some time, because it results in false majority governments as soon as you have more than two parties running, which we always do in this country now," Long stated in an interview.
"I'm not sure which election started it for me, but at one point I realized it is just so incredibly unfair that somebody can achieve a majority government with about 39 per cent of the vote . . . It's not very democratic."
Long and some other local residents have been circulating a petition and postcards as part of a national campaign to get MPs to vote for M-86, a private member's motion put forward last year by an NDP MP from British Columbia, Lisa Marie Barron.
The motion states that a Léger poll conducted in September 2020 showed that 80 per cent of Canadians support the idea of striking a non-partisan, independent citizens’ assembly on electoral reform.
Fair Vote Canada supports the concept of proportional representation, under which the percentage of seats a party has in the legislature reflects the percentage of people who voted for that party.
Long, though, said the proposed citizens' assembly would study various options for electoral reform.
"They would look at our voting system in great detail. They would examine other voting systems that are used around the world. They would seek expert opinion, they would seek input from Canadians, and in the end they would make a recommendation to Parliament. There's no specific predetermined outcome."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised the prospect of electoral reform in 2015 when he promised that year's federal election would be the last to use the first-past-the-post method, but that proved not to be the case.
In 2016, a committee of MPs that studied the issue proposed that Canadians be asked in a referendum to choose between the current system and a system of proportional representation, but the committee didn't specify what form the latter should take, and there was no consensus among the political parties on the appropriateness of holding a referendum.
Since then, there have been two more elections, and a third will take place under the first-past-the-post system no later than October 2025.
Trudeau "promised to bring in electoral reform . . . so we really are trying to hold the Liberals to account on that promise," Long said. "This motion was put forward by an NDP MP . . . and it was seconded by members from all four political parties."
Local MPs listen but can't commit to supporting NDP private member's motion
Patty Hajdu, a cabinet minister and MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North, told TBnewswatch it was a lack of consensus on how to proceed that persuaded the prime minister it wasn't appropriate to move forward at the time.
But she said she supports processes that allow for Canadians to reflect on whether or not the system is working for them.
"Because at the end of the day if people don't have confidence that their vote matters, that their voice is heard, then they will simply stay home or turn to other methods to have input that may not result in the kinds of strong democracies that we want."
Hajdu said she's met with some constituents a number of times on the issue of electoral reform, including just before Christmas.
"As a minister, I can't present petitions, but I listened to their thoughts. As a cabinet minister, of course, I vote with the government, but I would have made sure that I bring back the perspectives of my constituents to the Minister of Democratic Institutions [Dominic LeBlanc] and the cabinet table as a whole."
In regards to M-86, Hajdu said "it'll be interesting to see that discussion happen among my cabinet colleagues."
Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski said he's listening to constituents concerned about the fairness of first-past-the-post, but he has "a lot of really serious reservations" about electoral reform.
Proportional representation, he said, could result in a fascist party getting seats in the House of Commons despite receiving a tiny percentage of the vote, and being able to promote fascism while having "absolutely no motivation to compromise on any issue."
Powlowski is also concerned that if a hybrid first-past-the-post/proportional representation system were adopted, it would make it harder for local interests to be heard at the national level.
Finally, he worries that members of the proposed citizens' assembly would approach the task with an agenda.
"I don't think anybody who's interested in the process is gonna be someone who likes the status quo . . . I don't think it would be impartial, but if they were to come up with recommendations then I think it would push us farther down the road to doing things differently, and I don't think we should screw around with democracy."
Nonetheless, Powlowski intends to tell his colleagues in Ottawa what he's heard from his constituents who are seeking change.
He said although he sees no major problems "with the rules as they are" he'll talk to those MPs who support M-86 "to see whether they can change my mind on this, but I'm just skeptical at the moment."
Long hopes area residents who agree the system could be improved will reach out to their MP soon.
She said M-86 is coming up for debate in Parliament next month, and will likely be voted on sometime shortly after that.
"People have been turned off voting. People have decided they're just not going to bother because they don't see what difference it makes if they think that their candidate doesn't have a really good chance of getting in. So I think we need to see some change in this country."
NOTE: A previous version of this story contained a typographical error. The word "partial" in a quote attributed to Mr. Powlowski has been corrected to "impartial"
