On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sat down with Toronto Star Reporter Martin Regg Cohn as part of Ryerson University’s ongoing Democracy Forum series. The one-on-one interview was wide-ranging and quite insightful, allowing the Prime Minister to talk at length on various topics, a breath of fresh air from the short soundbites we’re used to.
However, missing from the hour-long discussion was any mention of Trudeau’s broken promise to end First Past the Post. While it would be excessive for us to expect him to be challenged on this at every event he attends, you would think a “Democracy Forum” would be the ideal place to do so.
One moment where his broken promise could have been brought up was when Trudeau was asked about how well he’s worked with other parties in this minority government. While initially highlighting how he managed to find common ground with other parties, the prime minister then took a bizarre turn by trying to defend partisan politics, “people say the partisanship in the House is a terrible thing. Actually, it’s the way democracy is designed.”
No, that’s the way First Past the Post is designed. There are numerous policies Trudeau’s Liberals could work with the Greens or NDP on such as pharmacare or truth and reconciliation, yet these parties tend to spend just as much time fighting each other as they do fighting the Conservatives.
Of course, we all know minority governments under First Past the Post don’t tend to last more than two years. This means an early election will probably be called later this fall, an outcome even more likely considering the Liberals are hovering once again around majority territory in the polls. Ultimately, the Liberals don’t want to give anyone else a policy “win” because even a small bounce in the polls for other parties could translate to a disproportionate drop in seats for the Liberals or even an overall Conservative victory due to vote splitting on the political left.
Near the end of the Forum, Trudeau was asked about how to increase voter turnout and avoid cynicism and apathy in youth voters, many of whom turned out to make him PM in 2015. He surprised viewers with an impassioned response about how voting wasn’t ‘cool’.
“This idea that voting should be cool is something that people have tried to do and failed at so many times, for a very simple reason: Voting isn’t cool … Cool is detached, whereas voting is a deeply earnest, engaged step forward to say, I’m going to put a little X in this box, and I’m going to try … to make a difference in the world.”
This would have been a perfect time to point out to the Prime Minister that overseas examples show proportional representation increases voter turnout not just among the youth, but with everyone. After all, if you live in a safe opposition riding, putting an X in a box isn’t going to change the outcome of the election. If only there was a system where that didn’t have to be the case…
Alas, we cannot change the past. Trudeau remained unchallenged on his broken promise and many of the articles written about the event painted the Prime Minister in a rather good light. This just goes to show we can’t let up the campaign to fix our broken electoral system and we must take every chance we can to remind journalists and politicians that the movement for proportional representation isn’t going away anytime soon.
Sign up to visit your MP!
Meeting with your MP is a great way to show them their constituents want action on electoral reform!
To help encourage more visits, we’d like to share a story from Stefan Powell, one of the 18 constituents who visited Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Beaches-East York.
“The meeting with Nate went really well. He’s a strong supporter of electoral reform and a huge advocate of citizens’ assemblies in general. There was a big turnout for the call and it was very constructive. He provided some really great feedback on how to approach other politicians regarding electoral reform including messaging and what we ask of them.”
You also don’t need to be an expert on electoral reform or citizens’ assemblies to visit your MP as we’ll support you along the way!
When you sign up to visit your MP:
- We’ll send you some basic materials to present at the visit and some meeting tips.
- We’ll connect you with other people in your riding who signed up (depending on where you live, there may be a group of people or it may just be you).
- Once an appointment time is booked, we’ll send out an invitation to other Fair Vote Canada supporters in your riding, to get as many constituents as possible to join you.
Interested in a visit? Click here to sign up!
Anna Keenan: The Power of Your Story
Interested in the role storytelling can play when campaigning for PR? Watch the recording of the workshop with Anna Keenan, Democracy Organizer, at this year’s Fair Vote Canada conference.
Click here to watch on YouTube.
The per-vote subsidy gives political parties a fixed amount of taxpayer money for every vote they receive in an election. Introduced by Prime Minister Chretien in 2004, but eliminated by Prime Minister Harper in 2015, it levelled the political playing field by ensuring parties weren’t just financed by wealthier Canadians – who can afford to donate more dollars, more often.
Premier Kathleen Wynne brought per-vote subsidies provincially to Ontario in 2016, tightening rules on corporate and union political donations and lowering the individual donation cap from $9,975 to $1,200 a year.
However, in yet another example of “Policy Lurch”, Premier Doug Ford is now proposing to reverse Wynne’s policies by doubling the individual donation limit to $3,300 and extending spending limits on third party groups from six months to a year. The move could disproportionately benefit the Progressive Conservatives, whose donors tend to be wealthier compared to their rivals’.