Op-Ed Commentary

An upcoming vote in the House of Commons is giving MPs a chance to stand up for their constituents and put their promise of electoral reform back on the table for 2019. Will they vote with their constituents or their party?

At the end of May, MPs are expected to vote on a motion to concur with the recommendations of all-party committee on electoral reform (ERRE), which recommended proportional representation.

A free vote; it is widely expected that the Conservative, NDP, Green, and Bloc MPs will all vote yes. The vote will need the support of approximately 20 Liberal MPs, challenging Justin Trudeau’s February decision to break the Liberal key campaign promise to replace first-past-the-post and make every vote count in 2019.

Polling in 20 Liberal ridings done by Strategic Communications between April 22 and May 9, shows that Canadians want their MPs to stand up for their campaign promise.

Nationally, with 15,806 people surveyed, 70% of those with an opinion answered yes to the following question: The Liberal Party campaigned on a promise to end first-past-the-post and make every vote count in time for the next election. After consultations with the public and experts, the all-party committee on electoral reform recommended proportional representation. The Liberals have now chosen to break their promise of electoral reform. Do you want your Member of Parliament, ________ to advocate in the House of Commons that the Liberal government keep its promise, and change our system to proportional representation in time for the next election?

In every region polled across Canada, including ridings in Atlantic Canada, Ontario and B.C., a strong majority of Canadians said ‘yes’ to action from their Liberal MPs on proportional representation. The question was repeated four different ways and consistently yielded similar results.

“When 63% of Canadians voted for parties who made platform promises to “Make Every Vote Count in 2019”, they expected this government to follow through,” says Fair Vote Canada’s Executive Director, Kelly Carmichael.

“The government continues to claim there is no consensus but in April 2016 Justin Trudeau stated that Canadians had responded “positively and massively” to the promise three parties made to make every vote count”.

Evidence heard by the ERRE committee from impartial experts and Canadians was overwhelmingly in favour of proportional representation. And, the Liberals’ own survey on mydemocracy.ca found 71% of Canadians want parties to put the people first and work together to govern on behalf of all Canadians.

Now constituents are now counting on their MPs to put the evidence first and make sure this promise is delivered.”

Submitted by Joyce A. Green on behalf of Fair Vote Canada

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