Hundreds protest broken electoral reform promise

Hundreds gathered in Centennial Square on Saturday to protest Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to abandon his election promise of electoral reform.

Victoria’s protest was one of more than 25 planned for Saturday across Canada.

Trudeau has repeatedly promised to get rid of the first-pastthe-post voting system in time for the 2019 election. But this month, he announced that electoral reform would not be part of the mandate of newly appointed Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould.

Valerie Sullivan, who was carrying a large No More FPTP sign, said she is passionate about vote reform.

“Not only was it a campaign promise, but it was in the throne speech! Come on — that is criminal irresponsibility,” the retiree said. “That is mendacity. I’m really angry about it.”

Speakers at the rally included representatives from the NDP and Green party, and a Fair Vote Canada national council member and former Liberal candidate.

“The outrage stands across all parties, as you can see here,” said Hilary Stead, a retired journalist and Cowichan Valley farmer.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich and the Gulf Islands, recalled how energized she and 11 others electoral reform committee members were as they travelled coast-to-coast to take the pulse of Canadians.

“What we discovered was … not just Canadians who understand our [present] voting system want to get rid of it,” May said. “The committee that first studied electoral reform in 1921 concluded that first-past-the-post does not work for any democracy that has more than two political parties.”

Trudeau has defended his decision by saying that Canadians haven’t expressed a clear preference for electoral reform — let alone a consensus.

Heather Buchanan, brought her 15-month-old son John to the rally.

“It’s especially important now that I have a son,” she said. “I want Canada of the future to have votes matter more than they currently do.”