Monsef on national tour on electoral reform
Democratic Instituions Minister Maryam Monsef, the MP for Peterborough-Kawartha, will be in Iqaluit on Sunday to begin a crosscountry tour of town hall meetings about prospective change in the way Canadians vote.
She’ ll be visiting every province and territory in Canada, on her sevenweek tour. She’ll be stopping in 23 communities along the way, including Peterborough (on Sept. 6).
On Sept. 7 she’s in Victoria, BC, and will make her way from west to east.
She’ll be in Newfoundland in early October and then back to her own riding to host two meetings in Peterborough County.
Monsef wasn’t available for comment, on Friday. She was travelling back from a caucus meeting in Saguenay, Que.
In July, she announced that she would be travelling across the country holding meetings where she asks people about their views of democratic reform.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised last year as Liberal leader that the 2015 federal election would be the last one conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system. But it’s still unclear what type of system would replace it.
The Conservatives have been pushing for the question to be decided by a referendum, although the Liberals haven’t committed to that.
Instead, there will be town hall meetings organized by MPs across the country to gauge Canadians’ feelings on electoral reform.
One area Conservative MP, Jamie Schmale, is conducting a referendum on electoral reform in his own riding.
Schmale’s riding is HaliburtonKawartha Lakes-Brock (which includes Cavan Monaghan Township).
He’s planning to mail an information package to every voter in his riding.
Along with that, he’ll ask constituents to respond to two questions, in writing: When the Liberal government comes up with a preferred option for voting, would you like it to go to a referendum?
Also, he’ll be asking constituents about their preferred means of voting (whether they like firstpast-the-post, or would prefer an alternative).
“I’m going to ask everyone – every single constituent,” he said.
Schmale said he’ll be submitting his findings to the government’s special committee on electoral reform (which is expected to report to the Commons in December).
He said that while town hall meetings can be effective, they’re not always well-attended.
On Aug. 2 in Vancouver, for instance, a town hall meeting on electoral reform hosted by Liberal MP John Aldag drew no more than about 20 citizens who wished to speak (11 of whom said they didn’t want to see any change to the way Canadians vote, reported the Vancouver Sun).
When Schmale read about it, he said he thought the attendance was very sparse for a big city like Vancouver.
“To me, that’s not really consulting,” he said. “I just thought, ‘There has to be a better way.’”
Schmale has successfully polled his constituents by mail, before; he asked what they thought of doctorassisted dying, for instance, and got 4,000 responses (the majority of people opposed it).
He said he thinks this is the best way to reach everyone in his riding and get a response. He wants everyone to speak up.
“This is an important topic.”