Trudeau needs to regain trust

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has suffered a selfinflicted bloody nose through his decision to backtrack on a promise to act on electoral reform.

It is likely that electoral reform was not the uppermost concern of most voters in the last federal election. However, Mr. Trudeau made it a part of his election campaign, stating frequently that the 2015 election would be the last using the “first past the post” system.

By reneging on this oft promised action Mr. Trudeau squandered a great deal of the trust provided by those who elected him. If we can’t trust him to follow through on this promise, how can we believe anything he says?

There is a relatively simple fix that would go a long way toward restoring some of the trust he has lost. That is, simply acquiesce to public demands for real investigation into the issue of electoral reform. This should follow a non-partisan path that can be seen as an open discussion of the alternatives.

To this end I propose a number of steps that should be taken:

■ Make a reasonable amount of money available to all MPs for the specific purpose of informing their constituents of the various systems in use globally. (This should pose no particular funding difficulty. The Harper government spent a couple of hundred million promoting “The Economic Action Plan” which was thinly veiled promotion of The Conservative Party at public expense.)

■ After appropriate public education has been completed, introduce the issue to the House of Commons for consideration.

■ Do not present a government preferred system prior to full debate in parliament.

■ Allow all MPs to be informed by their constituents and their conscience rather than imposing party discipline to force a favoured option on voters.

■ If no consensus can be found for a new system, let the issue rest until such agreement can be reached.

By taking this open approach to the issue it is possible that respect can be regained and parliament could be seen as

England when Mary Wortley Montagu inoculated her son against smallpox. The injection was successful.

■ In 1892, Gov. Gen. Lord Stanley of Preston donated a trophy, later named after him, as an award for the best hockey team in Canada. The Stanley Cup is the oldest functioning in the interest of Canadians of all political persuasion. The time and money spent in this way could go a long way toward renewing confidence in government.

The Harper government seriously eroded our collective faith in politicians. Despite a false step on electoral reform Justin Trudeau could yet dispel some of our mistrust.

Orland Kennedy, Brookfield