Trudeau abandons pledge on electoral reform

[Saviolo]

Source: Globe and Mail

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is abandoning his long-held promise to change the way Canadians vote in federal elections.

In a mandate letter for newly appointed Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould, Trudeau makes it clear that electoral reform – once top of mind for the Liberal government – is no longer on the agenda.

“Changing the electoral system will not be in your mandate,” the prime minister writes in the letter, released Wednesday.

Trudeau repeatedly promised – both as a campaigning Liberal leader and as prime minister in a speech from the throne – to get rid of the current first-past-the-post voting system in time for the 2019 federal election.

The Liberals have since given themselves some wiggle room, saying they would not go ahead without the widespread support of Canadians.

Canadians made their views known through the House of Commons special committee on electoral reform, town halls held by MPs from all parties, the travels of former minister Maryam Monsef and a much-maligned online survey called MyDemocracy.ca.

The mandate letter shows that Trudeau and do not believe those consultations have produced their desired – albeit undefined – level of support for electoral reform, let alone any clarity on a preferred replacement.


Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/trudeau-abandons-pledge-to-change-voting-system-before-2019-election/article33855925/

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I've already called my MP about this. Her parliamentary mailbox was full, but I was able to leave a message at the constituency office.

This is so disappointing and incredibly frustrating, when this was one of the Liberals' major planks, and to see Trudeau just toss it away is ridiculous. This needs to be brought back on the table right away.

If you need to find your MP's contact information, look here: http://www.lop.parl.gc.ca/ParlInfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

(x-posted to Canada forum)

[LisaM]

1. I'm (sorry) not familiar with what the reform entails.

I think Trudeau is doing some good things. Is he going to be derailed over a promise it seems he wouldn't be able to fulfill at the moment.

[Saviolo]

2. It was one of his central planks in his election campaign

The Liberal Party of Canada's website still lists this promise for electoral reform:

https://www.liberal.ca/realchange/electoral-reform/

And now he has completely backed away, informing the relevant minister that it will not be a part of her mandate. The government ran some (fairly unscientific, I think) polls about it, and more than half of the respondents indicated a desire for electoral reform, and about 30% said they wanted no reform, with the remainder having no strong opinion on the matter.

The First Past The Post (FPTP) system has got to end.

That said, I like Trudeau. I didn't vote for him (voted NDP, the further left party), but he was a good choice to run the government. He's doing some good work, despite being beaten up by the right wing media, and I root for him. But when he abandons some of the best progressive policies that he ran on and was elected on, that's a big problem for me.

[LisaM]

3. I get it - but sometimes pragmatism matters too.

I feel as if we're all in knee-jerk territory these days.

I've been afraid of the news since November, but I do get CBC. Maybe I'll start watching the National a little more.

[Saviolo]

6. I have to admit

Despite some bumps, Canadian news is vastly more relaxing the watching the news from the USA right now!

As Justin Trudeau's father, Pierre Trudeau, former Prime Minister of Canada said in 1969:

Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.

[LisaM]

8. Oh, and I remember Ann Coulter on some news show around 2003

arguing with one of the anchors about whether or not Canada had been in the Vietnam war!!! She thought Canada had and the anchor kept telling her no (some show called, I think, "The Fifth Estate&quot and she got real snippy and said, "well, then, Indochina?" and he shook his head and laughed at her and said now, and she, visibly upset, said she'd research it and get back to him to prove he was wrong (I'm paraphrasing here), which of course she never could. Fantastic to watch.

[Saviolo]

9. A beautiful moment

Loved seeing Peter Mansbridge school Coulter on that.

Also, a piece of trivia: Peter Mansbridge, a fixture on the Canadian news for decades, provides the voice for Peter Moosebridge, the moose news anchor in Zootopia.

[LisaM]

10. That WAS Peter Mansbridge? I was trying to remember.

I also like a news anchor who can score a goal during the "Hockey Day in Canada" event.

[Saviolo]

11. It was all over Canadian media

We love seeing our own on the big screen

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/mansbridge-moosebridge-cameo-zootopia-1.3317394

[George II]

4. That's an unfair characterization, he hasn't "abandoned" it, he used his judgement to not press it..

...just now. I'm sure he'll still be working toward it, but he has a better idea of what might be accepted at this time, and what might be accepted at a later date.

If he never brings this up and again before he leaves office, then it can be considered "abandoned".

[Saviolo]

5. Hard to say,

But after Monsef's tour tour of duty bashing the idea, it's hard for me to look at him telling the Minister of Democratic Institutions that "changing the electoral system will not be in your mandate" as anything other than backing away from electoral reform.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

7. I'm fine with this

Constitutional issues in Canada are a Pandora's Box that is best left closed, under six or more feet of concrete or preferably depleted uranium.