Want Electoral Reform? Get Trudeau On Board

[Oscar]

Want Electoral Reform? Get Trudeau On Board

[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/01/16/Ju ... ign=160115 ]

His lack of support is curious, since it's our best shot of ousting Harper and his politics.

By Linda McQuaig, January 16, 2015 iPolitics

EXCERPT:

Even before winning its majority, Harper's Republican-style Conservative party -- well to the right of Canada's traditional Progressive Conservative Party -- managed to win minority governments with less than 40 per cent of the popular vote.

Now, in the heat of an election year, the current dynamic in Ottawa and the intensity of the popular desire across the country to break Harper's hold on power may finally create sufficient political momentum to put in place a more democratic electoral system based on proportional representation (PR).

There are many variations of PR, but it boils down to the notion that the number of seats a party holds in the national legislature is determined by its share of the popular vote. If a party gets 25 per cent of the popular vote, it gets 25 per cent of the seats in the legislature.

The most widely-supported version of PR for Canada -- called Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) -- is used in Germany, Scotland and New Zealand, and has the advantage of combining local representation with a seat count in the legislature based on the popular vote. MMP was recommended by the Law Commission of Canada in a 2004 report on Canadian electoral reform. It has the support of nonpartisan groups like Fair Vote Canada and the Canadian Electoral Alliance.

What matters, of course, is what kind of support it has among political parties. And on that front, there are grounds for encouragement.

NDP leader Tom Mulcair and Green Party leader Elizabeth May both fully support it. An Opposition Day motion endorsing MMP, sponsored by NDP MP Craig Scott, was ultimately defeated last month, but won considerable support from Independent and Liberal MPs. Crucially, 16 Liberal MPs -- half of the Liberal MPs who cast a vote -- supported the bill.

The strength of this Liberal support is especially impressive, since Liberal leader Justin Trudeau voted against the bill.

Your move, Trudeau [ . . . ]