Liberals To Keep Majority on New, All-Party Electoral Reform Committee

Huffington Post May 11, 2016  Althia Raj

The Canadian government is finally addressing the Liberal election promise to change the undemocratic first-past -the-post (FPTP) voting system. They just announced the All-Party committee to develop recommendations for a new electoral system and other electoral changes such as mandatory and online voting.

But... the Huffington Post reports the all-party committee has a majority of Liberal MPs and although Elizabeth May, Green Party Leader and MP for Saanich Gulf-Islands, can attend she cannot make a motion or vote:

Elizabeth May told The Huffington Post Canada in an email: 

 "I am glad the committee has been named and can begin its work. Obviously I am pleased to be a member, but I am disappointed not to have voting rights. I will be mulling over what rights I can have in my role.

During the 2015 election campaign, the Liberals promised to "make every vote count." The party pledged that the 2015 election would be the last conducted under the first-past-the-post system and promised legislation to enact electoral reform within 18 months of forming a government.

The government has taken one step forward in finally creating an all-party committee, but one step back in the nature of the committee: The 12-person Special Committee on Electoral Reform will be chaired by a Liberal, have six more Liberal MPs, three Conservative MPs, and one New Democrat MP. One Bloc Quebecois MP and Green party Leader Elizabeth May are allowed to attend meetings but cannot make motions or vote. 

The Liberal majority on the committee means that whatever the government wants passed is likely to get pushed through.

To read the full Huffington Post article, click here.

To watch the discussion in the House click here.

Elizabeth May is being gracious and positive about being included on the committee but it does not bode well for moving toward a proportional electoral system if f the electoral reform committee itself is not representative? 

To read more from Elizabeth May on electoral reform and why it is so important to our democracy click here.

This is how MPs seats were allocated (on left) and this is how we voted (on right). Fair?

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A reminder: This is a government by cabinet. They need and want our input. Please write or tweet all 30 Ministers. After you Tweet our auto-generated tweet below, you could then copy and paste each minister's handle to send to them as well.

Click on the Tweet button for an auto-generated tweet to Minister Monsef to let her know that robbing Green party supporters of a voice on the committee suggests that the new government is going to use its false majority to decide what they want for electoral reform.

How can they be serious about giving all Canadians a voice if they cannot even do this on the All-Party committee?