Trudeau’s quiet town hall tackles electoral reform
Proportional system gets most support
OTTAWA • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quietly held and attended a town hall meeting on electoral reform in his riding of Papineau, where “most” were found to be favourable to a proportional voting system.
There was no public mention of the town hall. An itinerary for Oct. 6 sent to reporters by the Prime Minister’s Office didn’t include it on his schedule — a meeting with Quebec business associations was the only item for that day.
The town hall took place Oct. 6 at the Papineau riding office, according to a report compiled by Trudeau’s office, submitted Oct. 11 and recently published by the special parliamentary committee on electoral reform.
About 40 people participated. Trudeau presented the “various types of voting systems and how they work,” the report says, then “mentioned that mandatory voting, electronic voting, and lowering the legal voting age to 16” are all options “the government will consider.”
The report l i sts questions and comments from participants, including one proposal “that parties no longer exist,” a proposal to impose “fiscal penalties” on people who don’t vote and a question on whether a referendum would be held. No answer to that question is listed.
Whi l e opinion wa s “mixed” regarding mandatory voting and the voting age, and “no one really talked about electronic voting,” the town hall found that “in general, most were favourable to the idea of a proportional and mixed-proportional voting system.”
It was less than two weeks after the event that Trudeau came under fire for an apparent walk- back on the government’s promises to implement a new voting system.
In an i nter vi e w with Montreal’s Le Devoir publ i shed Oct. 1 9, Trudeau implied the public desire for reform had diminished since they were happier with the Liberal government than they had been with their Conservative predecessors.
He and Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef reaffirmed the government’s commitment to its promise later that week. Meanwhile, the special committee on electoral reform unanimously passed a motion asking Monsef to bring summaries of town halls she’s held as minister.
Monsef had submitted an MP report based on her own constituents, like Trudeau had, but was meanwhile holding dozens of events across the country.
She was still holding town halls last week. On Thursday evening in Victoria, one participant posted on social media t hat Monsef was echoing the prime minister’s comments on how demand for reform had diminished.
The committee will compile recommendations for the federal government in a report to be tabled in parliament by Dec. 1.
NO ONE REALLY TALKED ABOUT ELECTRONIC VOTING.