We have bigger problems closer to home Scrapping electoral reform is a betrayal’

So let me get this right. People in Ontario or Canada, for that matter, are so upset with the American immigration process that they will protest here in Ontario or even drive to the U.S. to make their feelings felt.

But those same people, it would appear, think all is well in Ontario and do not lift a finger to protest treatment of our native population, our lack of health care, our ever-increasing electricity cost, skyrocketing education costs, overpaid bureaucrats, and poor treatment of our senior population.

Take a good look in the mirror, people and maybe before we start criticizing other countries we best clean up our own house first. Lord knows the politicians won’t. Mark Williamson Rishor Cres.

recently heard that the Liberal government is not going to proceed with electoral reform. I have been a Liberal supporter most of my life and even joined the party to vote in the Liberal leadership race. Though this decision is not unexpected, I feel betrayed by my government. The cynic in me says the Liberals lied from square one when this promise was made to get support from the NDP and Green party -never intending to attempt electoral reform.

The Liberals badly handled the electoral reform process from the beginning and seemed to look for any way to derail the process themselves, or to blame someone else. For example, the “lack of consensus” point is ludicrous -- seldom do you have complete consensus on anything, and the Liberals continued to ignore that a majority of Canadians wanted electoral reform and some form of proportional representation. The Liberals have done whatever they could to discredit their own process.

It is not difficult to make almost every vote count, as the Liberals promised, as any of the common proportional representation systems modified for Canada would do that. So many countries around the world use proportional representation systems and so few use firstpast-the-post -- I don’t think you’ll find anyone looking to copy our system.

This should have been a legacy moment for Canada and the Liberal party -- like universal health care -- changing the electoral system to a more representative and democratic system that benefits all Canadians, not just the Liberals.

If Trudeau does not have the intestinal fortitude to carry out this promise, I think it will be the last time I support the Liberals and, in fact, I may actively campaign against them. This is the type of behaviour that has made people so cynical of politicians and the political system. Mark Figge Kingston

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