Shielded from Accountability: Fullerton & First Past the Post

The Ontario government was rocked last week by the auditor general’s scathing investigation into the province’s long-term care (LTC) disaster, with her report citing several major failings in how the system operates and concluding that the government was woefully underprepared for the major health crisis that ripped through the sector.

After the report came out all eyes were on Ontario LTC Minister Merrilee Fullerton and how she would respond to the accusations. Would she resign? Would she be sacked?

And well, the response was infuriating, to say the least.

Not only did Minister Fullerton refuse to apologize or answer any questions, but actively went out of her way to try blaming both the previous Liberal government for leaving the industry in the state it was and the NDP for not speaking up enough about LTC reform—even though they haven’t been in power for 25 years.

This all came to a head at Queen’s Park when in response to legitimate questions about her performance, Fullerton responded she “would not be spoken to that way” as if she was the real victim in all of this and not the thousands of LTC residents suffering at the hands of covid.

There is of course some truth to her claims. After all, the system the PCs inherited was largely what was left behind by the previous Liberal government.

However, to say no blame is at the foot of the current government is just plain wrong. After all, the PCs slashed inspections in LTC and were painfully slow to act when it became obvious covid was ripping through these facilities like wildfire.

But it’s important to remember these problems are far wider than just one minister or party; ultimately this is once again a showcase of how outdated our First Past the Post system is.

Under a system of proportional representation, parties would have to form agreements to govern together. This means if a party in the governing coalition doesn’t like the performance of a Minister, they could use their influence to force them to resign.

Instead, Fullerton is shielded by the PC’s current false majority with her job being safe as long as she has the support of her party.

This kind of behaviour is endemic to all parties and simply claiming things would be different if the Liberals or NDP were in charge ignores the structural problems that led us to the situation we’re in now.

Ultimately, if the people of Ontario want to see real action on LTC reform and hold ministers accountable for their blunders,then we need to end First Past the Post once and for all and finally implement proportional representation.


A vote on electoral reform will be happening soon in Parliament!

Tell Trudeau and the MPs on the PROC Committee to support a National Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform - action from fair vote canada

NDP’s Daniel Blaikie will be presenting a motion to ask for a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform at the PROC (Procedures and House Affairs) committee.

To win this vote, we need six MPs to say YES to a courageous next step in strengthening Canada’s democracy.

Over 12,000 letters have already been sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the MPs on the committee urging them to support this motion on Electoral Reform.


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fair vote toronto proportional representation electoral reform canada volunteer rendezvous

When the Reform Act was passed in 2014, the intention was to incrementally shift certain powers from the party leader back to members of parliament (MPs). The act requires that parties hold a series of votes at their first meeting to determine what powers – such as launching a leadership review or ousting an MP from their caucus – belong to MPs and which stay with the leader.

It wasn’t until 2019 when all four parties obeyed the law by holding these votes, yet MPs did not vote in favour of seizing these democratizing powers. Neither of the four parties adopted the authority of MPs to force a leadership review and only one party voted to allow MPs to choose an interim leader. Mysteriously, some of the parties even sought to keep information on these votes confidential.

Despite broad support for the Reform Act by candidates across the political spectrum, MPs have hesitated to vote in favour of shifting power from party leaders to themselves after being elected.