Could electoral reform finally be taking root in Canada?

MONTREAL — To follow the Canadian electoral reform debate is akin to keeping track of a game of whack-a-mole.

No sooner is the issue put down in one political venue that it pops up elsewhere.

And so it is that proposals to do away with the first-past-the-post voting system are currently live in two provinces — British Columbia and Quebec — with a third — Prince Edward Island — scheduled to ask its voters when they go to the polls in the fall whether they want to move to a mixed-member proportional system.

Had Prime Minister Justin Trudeau honoured his pledge to ensure the 2015 election was the last to be held under the current system we would be mere months away from using a new voting method to elect the members of the next Parliament.

Over the past two decades, at least half the provinces have dabbled with electoral reform. In none did the implementation of a new voting system reach the finish line.

So why should the ending be different this time?

For one, common sense suggests that if pressure to change the system has not abated the dam will eventually break.

It might take just one province — particularly if that province were one of the more populous ones — to have a successful trial run at using a more proportional voting method to trigger a domino effect.

The latest string of provincial elections has seen a rise in the support for smaller parties. Earlier this month, Québec Solidaire more than tripled its seat count in the Quebec national assembly. The presence of the Green party has increased in a number of provincial legislatures.

Those parties share an interest in advancing the cause of proportional representation.

It is not a coincidence that proportional representation is nowhere more on the radar than in some of the provinces where the influence of smaller parties has been

on the rise.

Here is an abbreviated look at the state of play.

P.E.I. actually polled its voters on a variety of options and 52 per cent supported a mixed-members proportional system. But participation was low — less than 40 per cent — and the ruling provincial Liberals set aside the result until the question could be put to voters in next fall’s provincial election.

Support for the Greens is nowhere higher than in Canada’s smallest provinces, with polls putting the party in contention for power in Charlottetown. There could be history in the making in P.E.I.

As of this week, B.C. — where the Green party has the balance of power in the provincial legislature — is holding a mail-in referendum.

This is B.C.’s third kick at the can. The young British Columbians who are eligible to vote for the first time in this plebiscite were entering kindergarten the first time the province asked the question.

Prior to this month’s Quebec election, three of the four parties in the National Assembly including the victorious Coalition

Avenir Québec pledged to replace the first-past-the-post system in time for the province’s 2022 campaign.

The promise is not contingent on the results of a referendum and all parties to the pledge have agreed on a mixed-member proportional representation. The devil may be in the many details that have yet to be discussed. Still, Quebec could be on a faster track to electoral reform than any other province.

On the day of the swearing-in of his government earlier this month, Premier François Legault reiterated his intention to bring in the relevant electoral reform legislation within the year.

The only way for Legault to wiggle out of the promise would be to renege on his word to voters and to his opposition partners.

But Trudeau’s broken promise is still fresh in many minds and it is an example the incoming Quebec premier has said he would not follow.