ERRE: Green Party celebrates Committee's report . . .

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Green Party of Canada celebrates Electoral Reform report's commitment to proportional representation

[ https://www.greenparty.ca/en/media-rele ... commitment ]

December 01, 2016

(OTTAWA) - The Green Party of Canada supports the key recommendation of the all-party Special Committee on Electoral Reform.

"Today, for the first time in Canadian history, a Parliamentary committee has recommended that the government take concrete steps to move away from the archaic First Past the Post voting system and toward a proportional system of electing Members of Parliament and the Government," said Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands), and member of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform (ERRE).

"The report, an unprecedented document that compiles the best public and academic evidence available, will be an important milestone for reform. It confirms that the overwhelming majority of those who testified to the Committee favoured proportionality. It tasks the government with designing an electoral system according to specified guidelines to achieve acceptable levels of proportionality. By 2019, in the words of the Liberal Speech from the Throne, 'every vote will count.'

"I encourage Minister Monsef and her cabinet colleagues to thoroughly examine our report. In hearing after hearing, across Canada, we heard from the public and experts that the time for reform is now. As the Minister herself has noted, a majoritarian system that constructs false majorities no longer serves Canada's diverse, multi-party democracy.

"While the Committee has recommended a referendum, I personally do not favour one. That recommendation is a product of the effort to find compromise and, unlike the recommendations for proportional representation, was not supported by evidence. It is ultimately a political decision for the government to make," Ms. May concluded. - 30 -

For additional information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Dan Palmer
Press Secretary | Attaché de presse
dan.palmer@greenparty.ca
m: (613) 614-4916