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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was dogged by questions about electoral reform during a visit to
the new Amazon Fulfillment Centre in Brampton, Ont., on Thursday, October 20, 2016. (Nathan
Denette/Canadian Press)
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing growing calls to confirm his commitment to overhauling
Canada's voting system.
After promising electoral reform in last fall's election and launching a comprehensive
public consultation process, Trudeau muddied the waters this week in a media interview marking
his first year in office.
Diminished desire for electoral reform?
Critics question commitment to reform
Consultations kick in to high gear
Asked today if he is backtracking on his promise, Trudeau said he remains "deeply committed"
to reforms, but conceded it's a challenge to find consensus among a broad spectrum of public
opinion.
He is awaiting recommendations from the special committee of MPs studying electoral reform.
Confusion created
"I'm not going to preclude the arguments that they will be making and the conclusions that will
be drawn. I will simply say I look forward to hearing those perspectives and looking at how
Canadians wish to move forward," he said.
But Green Party Leader Elizabeth May urged Trudeau to clarify his commitment to reform the
system in time for the next election.
"He has created this level of confusion by suggesting there may not be the same demand for
electoral reform. I can assure him there is," she said.
'Crazy argument'
In an interview with Le Devoir this week, Trudeau appeared to be wavering.
Trudeau told the newspaper that Canadians were pushing hard for electoral reform as a way to
get rid of a government it did not like the Conservatives. But now that the Liberals are in
office, the "motivation" to change the electoral system is less compelling.
"Fundamentally, it's a crazy argument," said Conservative democratic reform critic Scott Reid.
"Stop and think about this: He said one year after the election, I'm super popular so we don't
need to have this discussion now."
Reid and fellow members of the special committee studying the issue are now scratching their
heads over whether their work is all for nought.
'Selfish' reasons
The NDP's democratic reform critic Nathan Cullen accused Trudeau of changing tack for
"selfish" reasons.
"Canadians in part elected this government on promises like this, and to very cynically start
breaking them just because you have a lot of Facebook followers is pretty arrogant and
misguided," he said.
Katelynn Northam of advocacy group Leadnow said there is also much grassroots concern that
Trudeau may be backing off the promise. More than 400 members have already made phone
calls to Liberal MPs or the Prime Minister's Office, and another 4,000 have sent emails so far.
"Many members of Leadnow voted Liberal in 2015 because of the party's commitment to voting
reform and tens of thousands of people have since joined our Vote Better campaign for
proportional representation in the last year," she told CBC News. "It's clear that people do care
about voting reform and they expect this promise to be kept."
Real Change?
The Liberal campaign platform, called Real Change, promised to "make every vote count."
"We are committed to ensuring that 2015 will be the last federal election conducted under the
first-past-the-post voting system Within 18 months of forming government, we will introduce
legislation to enact electoral reform," it reads.
Kicking off consultations in May, Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef described
the current system as deeply flawed.
"In a multi-party democracy like Canada, first past the post distorts the will of the electorate. It's
part of why so many Canadians don't engage in or care about politics," she said at the time.
"While there's no such thing as a perfect electoral system, we can do better."
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760 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE COMMENTS OF MINE THAT CROOKS WITHIN CBC
BLOCKED THEN AFTER THAT IS WHAT I SAID THAT PARLIAMENT PUBLISHED
Darren MacDonald
A lot of people bought what he sold but fortunately refunds are available in 2019.
1 day ago
Show 72 older replies
donald craig
@Arlond Lynds here is a friendly suggestion.. do something for the environment.. turn off your
computer and save electricity
1 hour ago
bill chagwich
Canadians to this man mean nothing
1 day ago
Show 55 older replies
donald craig
@Chuck Morrison beg borrow and steal...
1 hour ago
donald craig
@Arlond Lynds the genius of the closet commentary...coupled with he listens...
1 hour ago
Damian Gottfried
ABC
Anyone but Canadians
The liberal mantra
1 day ago
Show 13 older replies
Bob Forward
@Darby Boon
Sadly, the "small government is good" Conservatives managed to get rid of 60,000 experienced
public servants and replace them with 90,000 inexperienced ones.
6 hours ago
Bob Enrob
@David Gloag
How does shelving electoral reform make him a conservative, considering that the CPC were
apposed the whole time.
Or are you saying, if you don't like what a politician or liberal does they most be a conservative..
5 hours ago
Ellis Purdue
Say and promise whatever it takes to get elected, once elected you can then ignore what was said
and break promises. - The beauty of this tactic is the gullible who fell for the phony promises
will quickly defend the breaking of promises, as doing anything else will force them to have to
admit they had been conned.
1 day ago
Show 26 older replies
Bob Forward
@Eugene Eklund
The pcs are not the Conservatives - the pcs were closer to the Liberals and would alternate as
government. The Conservatives got into power by cheating and were found guilty of fraud in
every election they won. Now we know what they are truly like they will not get in again unless
they make major changes.
6 hours ago
colin smith
@Ellis Purdue
I doubt anyone believed it when they voted. All politician say they are for electoral reform when
the system isn't working for them. When it does work for them quickly electoral reform becomes
an issue not worth pursuing.
5 hours ago
Roderick James
Consultation process? Yeah right. When Justin wants your opinion, he'll give it to you.
23 hours ago
Show 9 older replies
Arlond Lynds
@Roderick James
Actually that was Harper, if he bothered to do that , which he usually didn't.
11 hours ago
Eugene Eklund
@Roderick James Agreed. Just like harper did.
8 hours ago
Hank Schraeder
Arlond Lynds
@Hank Schraeder
But you lot are having such fun with this one. Haven't read a comment about the story yet.
11 hours ago
Dave HUNT
@Hank Schraeder or about all those articles CBC wrote about Margaret partying hard should be
forgotten... or how is wife can use offshore investments to avoid tax and it's OK for her but not
other canadians.... or maybe that adopting what harper was doing as a platform after election, in
large part, should be hidden from the population....
7 hours ago
Eric Earls
The fact is clear, the vast majority (73%) of Canadians feel that changes to the electoral system
must be decided by the citizens and not a handful of MPs of the day. As how a vote is counted
and how government is chosen is the corner stone of a democracy and in a democracy the true
power lies with the people. - Trudeau knows not giving the citizens the right to vote on their own
electoral system will doom him and he also know if people are given the right to vote his "ranked
ballot" preference will never be chosen....so he is scrapping the whole idea.
1 day ago
Show 21 older replies
Bob Forward
@Eric Earls
Yes, Trudeau has stated his preference for alternate vote, or ranked ballot, or preferrential ballot.
However, he has also shown his capacity to change his mind. Part of the policy quoted stated
"make every vote count", another part requires retention of direct representation. Neither FPTP
nor AV meet those requirements.
Trudeau will accept the committee report even if it does not recommend AV.
6 hours ago
David Allan
@Dan Stephan
"They loaded the panel with Liberal's that did not represent the MPs in the house as voted for by
Canadians. "
Nope.
The initial proposed structure of the Special Committee was 10 voting members allocated based
on each official party's seats in the House (6 Liberal members, 3 Conservative members, and 1
New Democratic member).
Cons: 96 Seats/338 = 28% & they got 30% of the Committee.
NDP: 44 Seats = 14% & they got 10% of the Committee.
If I have to explain grade school rounding rules to you, you're not fit to discuss the basic reality
of the subject.
There was no rigging. Every committee in the history of Canada was built this way
5 hours ago
Zoe Richmond
Trudeau should have been removed the day he laid his hands on his fellow Politicians.
1 day ago
Show 13 older replies
Bob Forward
@Chuck Morrison
Harper always had a convenient bus.
6 hours ago
Bob Forward
@Elizabeth Morris
Harper rewrote the House procedures, making it impossible for MPs to propose amendments to
bills other than in committee among others. Harper also attempted to rewrite the way elections
are managed, reducing the ability of Elections Canada to prosecute election violations. He made
the Senate dance to his tune and attempted to do the same with the SCC. Which seems to me to
be far worse than attempting to guide an MP to his seat through a knot of other MPs.
5 hours ago
Craig Jones
I thought he was on vacation somewhere. If not,I wish he would be.
1 day ago
Show 1 older reply
Dan Stephan
@Craig Jones He has actually been around Canada the last few weeks,maybe Butts reined in his
expense account.
21 hours ago
Roderick James
@Roderick James
Disabled???? Wow! But to be fair to you I can see how I would upset the bigfoot population by
comparing them to your man Trudeau.
19 hours ago
Justin Smith
The Liberals are certainly selfish. That's not new. I hope this country can stay together until
2019, when this one term wonder will be voted out.
23 hours ago
Show 8 older replies
Bob Forward
@Justin Smith
In 2019, we get to choose between a party that has been governing for four years with its focus
on the next generation, rather than the next election; or a party that no one seems to want to lead;
or a party that has proven itself undemocratic by sowing distrust in public institutions, has
practiced wedge politics at the expense of national respect, and has shown disrespect for all
opposition, parliament, Elections Canada, the Senate, and the SCC. Which one should I pick?
5 hours ago
David Allan
@Justin Smith
I don't understand what's selfish about backing off on this promise.
It's sure to hit them in the approval rating.
It's sure to hit them in the next election.
It was a key election promise, one that received huge cheers when he said, "2015 will be the last
election held under FPTP."
5 hours ago
Submission Policy
Note: The CBC does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your
comments, you acknowledge that CBC has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those
comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are
moderated and published according to our submission guidelines.
Content disabled.
David Raymond Amos
@Darren MacDonald So do ya think CBC is gonna block my comment again?
If not Perhaps folks should listen to what I told the Liebrano chair ERRE in Fat Fred City just
before Thanksgiving?? My words can be found at 19:03 mark of this ERRE hearing.
http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/XRender/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20161007/1/25706?useragent=Mozilla/5.0%20(Windows%20NT%206.1;%20WOW64;%20Trident/7.0;%2
0SLCC2;%20.NET%20CLR%202.0.50727;%20.NET%20CLR%203.5.30729;%20.NET%20CL
R%203.0.30729;%20Media%20Center%20PC%206.0;%20.NET%20CLR%201.1.4322;%20.NE
T4.0C;%20.NET4.0E;%20InfoPath.3;%20rv:11.0)%20like%20Gecko
It appears that I was absolutely correct about what I said Franny Baby your beancounting
Liebrano buddy from Montreal N'esy Pas Mr Prime Minister Trudeau "The Younger" ???
20 hours ago
Content disabled.
David Raymond Amos
@Darren MacDonald To Mr Prime Minister Trudeau "The Younger" ya think even the greedy
lawyer Hubby Lacroix and his many mindless minions would have figured out by now what I
have been up to.
It seems that all your fellow snobby lawyers from Montreal and the Governor General's daughter
Alex cannot understand a CROWN Corp's mandate to be non partisan even after Hubby's old
buddy Harper has run off and hid under a rock in Alberta with his political puppet master the
Evil Yankee Tommy Boy Flanagan N'esy Pas Minister Melanie Joly?
Methinks that Hubby Baby is to dumb to even read his emails.I bet his minions who do read
them are too scared to tell the boss that they know that I have been mirroring the true story of
CBC's obvious wrongs within a blog for many months. Hence everybody and his dog within
CBC are playing as dumb as posts which quite frankly is not hard for a greedy CBC employee to
do N'esy Pas? Well CBC can bet dimes to dollars that this comment will be emailed around the
world and back then posted with the aforesaid blog in a heartbeat. Trust their Evil Yankee hero
Hillary and her pal Trump will be on the list of people to get my email.
Folks should consider it just another one of those things a fierce but ethical political animal does
that CBC and legions of journalists, bloggers, lawyers, cops and politicians have FAILED to
appreciate since 2002 EH Rotten Ralphy Goodale?.
18 hours ago
Content disabled.
David Raymond Amos
@colin smith Oh so true but this "change" rhetoric is older than the mean old Liebrano lawyer
Chretien. Methinks its as old as man himself and prehistoric in nature.
However as of today and the war of words ensues within the CBC domain about the ERRE, the
unethical jouranlists employed by the Crown block all but one of my comments thus far. Yet the
mindless journalist have a better record than the lawyers working within the Federal Court. Thus
far they have failed to publish all six decisions in my lawsuit that I filed last year while running
for a seat in Parliament again. I have no doubt whatsoever that malice was practiced for the
benefit of the Mr Prime Minister Trudeau "The Younger" and his many Liebrano minions
That said byway of the many comments about ERRE that I it do get to read methinks that folks
are starting to realize that Trudeau is just "Harper Light" Hell I bet even the has been
rebel/lawyer Ezzy Baby Levant is now a secret fan of his "Shiny Pony" N'esy Pas?
3 hours ago
Content disabled.
David Raymond Amos
@David Raymond Amos So has CBC's many mindless lawyers figured out yet where to find
what they had deleted?
Enjoy
http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.ca/2016/10/mr-prime-minister-trudeau-younger-and.html
1 hour ago
https://twitter.com/broadbent/status/789116309703450624
1st SESSION
42nd PARLIAMENT
EVIDENCE
(1335)
[English]
The Chair:
Thank you very much.
Mr. David Amos, the floor is yours.
Mr. David Amos (As an Individual):
Mr. Chair, I ran for public office five times against your party. That said, I ran against Mr.
DeCourcey's boss right here in Fredericton in the election for the 39th Parliament.
I was not aware of this committee meeting in Fredericton today until I heard Mr. DeCourcey
speaking on CBC this morning. I don't pretend to know something I don't, but I'm a quick study.
I thought I had paid my dues to sit on the panel. I notified the clerks in a timely fashion, but I
received no response. At least I get another minute and a half.
The previous speaker answered the $64,000 question: 338. I can name every premier in the
country. Governor Maggie Hassan is my governor in New Hampshire. The people there who sit
in the house get paid $100 a year plus per diem expenses. I think that's the way to run a
government. There are lots of seats in the house for a very small state.
My understanding of this hearing is that you have to report to Mr. Trudeau by December 1,
because he said during the election that if he were elected Prime Minister, the 42nd Parliament,
which I also ran in, would be the last first-past-the-post election. You don't have much time, so
my suggestion to the clerks today, which I published and sent to the Prime Minister of Iceland
and his Attorney General, was to do what Iceland does. Just cut and paste their rules. They have
no first past the post. They have a pending election.
A former friend of mine, Birgitta Jnsdttir, founded a party there, for which there is no
leader. It is the Pirate Party. It's high in the polls right now with no leader. That's interesting. I
tweeted this. You folks said that you follow tweets, so you should have seen what I tweeted
before I came here this evening.
That said, as a Canadian, I propose something else. Number one, my understanding of the
Constitution and what I read about law.... There was a constitutional expert named Edgar
Schmidt who sued the government. He was the man who was supposed to vet bills for Peter
MacKay to make sure they were constitutionally correct. He did not argue the charter. He argued
Mr. Diefenbaker's Bill of Rights.
In 2002 I read a document filed by a former deputy minister of finance, Kevin Lynch, who
later became Mr. Harper's clerk of the Privy Council. Now he's on an independent board of the
Chinese oil company that bought Nexen. As deputy minister of finance, he reported to the
American Securities and Exchange Commission on behalf of the corporation known as Canada.
It is a very interesting document that I saved and forwarded to you folks. It says that he was in a
quandary about whether the charter was in effect.
(2005)
The Chair:
Could it be in relation to a particular voting system?
Mr. David Amos:
According to Mr. Lynch, because of the failure of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords,
he was in a quandary as to whether the charter was in effect. I know that the Supreme Court
argues it on a daily basis. That charter, created by Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Chrtien, his attorney
general at the time, gave me the right to run for public office and vote as a Canadian citizen.
However, in the 1990s, Mr. Chrtien came out with a law, and because I am a permanent
American resident, I can't vote. Yet the charter says I can.
The Chair:
That's a
Mr. David Amos:
That said, that's been argued in court. In 2000, Mr. Chrtien came out with a law that said I
couldn't vote. Right? He also took away my social insurance number.
The Chair:
I don't know about the case
Mr. David Amos:
No, he did.
The Chair:
But I don't know about the case.
The Chair:
Yes.
Mr. David Amos:
Look how parliamentarians are elected in the Northwest Territories. There is no party, and I
like that.
The Chair:
That's true. We were just up in Yellowknife, in fact, and we learned all about that. That's why
it's good for us to be travelling the country.
But, sir, I
Mr. David Amos:
I have one more suggestion.
The Chair:
One more.
Mr. David Amos:
Mr. Harper changed the Canada Elections Act and I still couldn't vote.
The Chair:
Yes, I was in the House when that happened.
Mr. David Amos:
Anyway, that said, when you alter the Canada Elections Act, make it....
The biggest problem we have is, look at the vast majority of people who, like me, have never
voted in their life. Apathy rules the day.
The Chair:
Except that you've put us on to an idea about Iceland
Mr. David Amos:
Let me finish.
I suggest that you make voting mandatory, such as Australia does. Make it that if you don't
vote, it costs you money, just like if you don't report to Statistics Canada.
The Chair:
Well, we're talking about that. That is part of our mandate, to look at mandatory voting and
online voting.
You already had your last suggestion.
(2010)
Mr. David Amos:
Put in the line, none of the above, and if none of the above wins
The Chair:
That's right, we've heard that, too.
Mr. David Amos:
Well, I haven't.
The Chair:
We've heard that in our testimony.
Mr. David Amos:
You and I will be talking again, trust me on that one, by way of writing.
You answered my emails, Ma'am.
The Chair:
Thank you very much, sir.
Now we'll hear from Julie Maitland.