Referendum on reform not ruled out

Premier François Legault QUEBEC is no longer excluding holding a referendum on reforms to the electoral system.

A day after meeting with nervous members of the Coalition Avenir Québec caucus to discuss the plan to create a mixed proportional electoral system, Legault softened a position he held just a few weeks ago.

“I have listened to what MNAs had to say, what the other parties say, so we will try to (operate) with the largest consensus possible (on this issue),” Legault told reporters on his way into daily question period.

“Listen, it’s a significant change. If we make many seats, 45 or 50 listed candidates, it’s a big change. I can understand some people are asking for a referendum.”

He insisted, however, that the final decision has not been made.

“We had discussions with MNAs and many ideas were put on the table,” he said.

Legault’s position is a shift from what he said three weeks ago in New York in an interview with the Journal de Montréal.

“We never said there would be a referendum (on the reforms),” Legault said then. “Groups and editorialists would like that there be one, but we made a commitment to not have one.”

Legault, however, shifted gears Wednesday after it became clear there is a malaise in his own caucus about the idea, how it affects the futures of MNAs and how the voters will respond to the plan.

“It’s a big issue,” Roberval CAQ MNA Nancy Guillemette told reporters Wednesday. “We need to ask the population what it thinks.”

What Legault is sticking to regardless is his promise to table electoral reform legislation by Oct. 1, 2019 enacting a mixed proportional electoral system.

It’s unclear how fast such a bill could be adopted and whether the reforms can be in place in time for the next general election, which is in 2022.

According to a scenario presented to CAQ MNAs Tuesday evening by the minister responsible for the reforms, Sonia LeBel, 45 MNAs (out of a total of 125 in the National Assembly) would no longer be elected by universal suffrage.

Instead, there would be two types of MNAs: 80 representing ridings elected by universal suffrage (the traditional election system) plus 45 listed candidates who would be elected based on the overall score of the party in each of Quebec’s 17 administrative regions.

Legault has already stated he would rather not add more seats to the National Assembly.

Had this formula been in place in the 2018 election, the CAQ would not have formed a majority government. The CAQ won 74 seats in the election and garnered 37.42 per cent of the popular vote.

One of the main stumbling blocks for the CAQ and other parties is deciding who gets to be elected in the traditional way and who would wind up a listed candidate.

Legault conceded the debate is emotional for many MNAs because it potentially affects their future.

“There’s always anxiety when there is a change,” Legault said. “Of course it would be a major change, so that’s normal.”

He noted, however, that many countries have made such a shift.

“This is something we hear about in many countries where people would like their votes to count more, that the result in the number of MNAs be more in line with the proportion of the vote for each party,” Legault said.

“People would like the parties to work more together. Of course, if you had a proportional part in our voting we would more often get minority governments. So it means more working together. I think that’s what a part of the population wants.”

Legault said he urged his MNAs to think of the greater good.

“It was among the first things I told the caucus last night, to say we need to think of the needs of Quebecers and not the interests of the CAQ.”

The other parties swiftly reacted. Interim Parti Québécois leader Pascal Bérubé welcomed news that the issue could be put to the people in a referendum.

He said what’s important is that the reforms be in place in time for the next election.

Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Manon Massé said she does not think a referendum would be necessary.

The Liberals, however, fear the regions could lose clout in such reforms.

Two other provinces, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia, have put such reforms to a vote in referendums in the last year. In both cases, the people rejected them.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also proposed to abolish the current first-past-the-post federal voting system during the 2015 election. He later abandoned the idea, saying Canadians were not eager for change.