Trudeau reaffirms vow on voting reform

BRAMPTON, ONT .• Justin Trudeau say she remains “deeply committed” to reforming the voting system.

The prime minister reaffirmed his commitment Thursday, one day after he appeared to be preparing to renege on his promise that the 2015 federal election would be the last conducted under the first-past-the-post process.

“I think it’s important that a country as forward thinking and constantly improving and evolving as Canada is alert to opportunities to improve our systems of governance and the way we pick our governments,” Trudeau said after the opening of Amazon Canada’s new distribution centre in Brampton, Ont.

“And that’s a commitment we made in our election that I continue to be deeply committed to.”

Trudeau’s reassurance was in contrast to an interview published Wednesday in Montreal’s Le Devoir newspaper, in which the prime minister said that any major reform to the voting system will require “substantial” support. At the same time, he opined that the public clamour for reform has subsided since the Liberals defeated Stephen Harper’s Conservatives one year ago.

“Under the current system, (Canadians) now have a government they’re more satisfied with and the motivation to change the electoral system is less compelling,” he told Le Devoir.

The interview touched off accusations that Trudeau is preparing to abandon his campaign promise to scrap first-past-the-post, a widely criticized voting system that resulted in Trudeau’s Liberals winning 54 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons despite capturing less than 40 per cent of the popular vote.

NDP democratic reform critic Nathan Cullen told the Commons that the prime minister seems to think “that because he won the last election the system must now be perfect.”

“Canadians are tired of self-serving politicians making promises just to get elected,” he added.

In Brampton, Trudeau noted that the government created a special all-party committee to explore alternative voting systems and sort through the wide range of different perspectives and proposals for reform. That committee is to report its recommendations by Dec. 1.

“I’m not going to preclude the arguments that they will be making and conclusions they will be drawing, but I will simply say I look forward to hearing those perspectives and looking at how Canadians wish to move forward on changing our electoral system,” he said.

However, with each party looking out for its own partisan interests, committee members may well find it impossible to reach a broad, cross-party consensus, which chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand has said should be a prerequisite for any major change to election laws.

CANADIANS TIRED OF SELF-SERVING POLITICIANS.