Historic report lays out path to a fair voting system

OTTAWA – The Special Committee on Electoral Reform released its final report Thursday morning, which makes a historic recommendation of a Proportional Representation voting system for Canada.

“Today, we made history and cleared a path toward proportional representation. The committee worked incredibly hard to achieve a broad consensus recommendation, and this is the first step towards taking Canadian democracy into the 21^st Century,” said Deputy Democratic Reform critic Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont—La Petite Patrie). “It looked to many like an impossible task, but we reached a compromise and recommended proportional representation. The committee did its job – now it’s time for the Liberal government to do theirs.”

A Proportional Representation electoral system will ensure that the share of votes a party gets in an election is reflected in the number of seats they receive in the House of Commons. The Committee heard that the current system, known as First-Past-the-Post, creates massive distortions and fails to reflect the democratic will of Canadians.

“The Prime Minister made a black-and-white promise to Canadians to make 2015 the last election under first-past-the-post, and to make every vote count,” said Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley). “The government has a mandate, the tools, a viable path, and a clear obligation to replace our outdated, unfair voting system with a proportional voting system. Canadians are counting on it.”

Highlights of the Committee’s findings:

• 88% of expert witnesses and 87% of the public testimony before the committee called for the government to adopt a proportional voting system.
• The committee also recommended that the government should implement financial incentives for political parties to nominate more women – as recommended in a private member’s bill by NDP MP Kennedy Stewart earlier year.
• The all-party committee membership was based on a proportional model put forward by the NDP. With no one party holding a majority, members found solutions through hard work and compromise.
• The committee held close to 50 meetings, in every province and territory, and heard from nearly 200 expert witnesses. Tens of thousands of Canadians participated in the consultation process.