Trudeau backs electoral reform
Letter from ‘average, West Coast, middle-class mom voter’ hits home
VANCOUVER — Justin Trudeau has responded to a B.C. mother’s online top 10 wishes for the incoming prime minister to tackle.
“Casandra, I’ve read your letter with great interest and admiration. Your honesty and frank words have resonated across the country, and I take them to heart,” Trudeau wrote.
Casandra Effe wrote an open letter to Trudeau last week, calling for him to reform the electoral system so that people will stop voting strategically. The letter, posted on Facebook, has been shared nearly 45,000 times.
“First, thank you for your vote. Since the start of this campaign I’ve pledged that no Canadian’s voice would be taken for granted — and I’m grateful for your support, no matter the reason why you marked your ballot as you did,” wrote Trudeau.
In the response, Trudeau said he is eager to work on all the party’s commitments, and that right now he is focused on building a cabinet ahead of being sworn in as prime minister on Nov. 4.
He then invites Effe to send him another top 10 “sometime down the road.”
In the letter, Casandra Effe describes herself as “an average West Coast, middle-class mom voter,” who is upset with Canada’s electoral system.
“I have a pit in my stomach because I just stood behind a cardboard box with a lump in my throat, feeling like I was gambling my life away. I think that’s the seed of what’s churning in my belly,” she writes. “In a democracy, why do I feel like I have to, play my cards, when I vote?”
Trudeau has promised to end Canada’s first-past-thepost electoral system and overhaul the electoral system within 18 months of being elected.
Under the current system, the country is divided into 338 ridings, and voters select one member of Parliament for each riding. But it doesn’t account for the popular vote. This leads to some voters casting their ballots strategically to oust the party in power.
“My country’s electoral system throws away all votes that don’t ‘win.’ This last election’s votes meant two thirds of us weren’t represented at all. That’s crazy! I need you to know that even though I put my X next to your name, I did not vote for you. I voted against the alternative.
“And so with this knowledge, and knowing millions of other Canadians just made the same decision out of pure rage and fear, I hope you can do a few things in your newfound position,” Effe said in the post.