For a stronger democracy

Justin Trudeau’s minister of democratic institutions, Maryam Monsef, badly needed a win after being buffeted over her plans to overhaul the country’s voting system and pointed questions about exactly where she was born.

She has it in the modest but important reforms she has brought in that will junk some of the most egregious measures introduced by the Harper government two and a half years ago in its inaptly named “Fair Elections Act.”

The Conservatives made those changes ostensibly to prevent voter fraud by tightening up the voting system. But they were never able to show any evidence of widespread fraud and, in the absence of that, it looked as if they were just trying to disenfranchise some of the most vulnerable electors.

Now Monsef is trying to undo the damage with a series of changes contained in a new law called Bill C-33. None of them are earthshaking, but all of them make sense.

For example, electors will once again be allowed to use the voter identification cards mailed out by Elections Canada as ID when they go to a polling station. A small thing, but Monsef cited a Statistics Canada survey that found 172,000 people did not vote in the 2015 general election because they didn’t think they had the right ID. If more can be persuaded to vote simply by letting them use a voter ID card, that’s all to the good.

In the same vein, the chief electoral officer will again be permitted to conduct broad public education campaigns to encourage voting. The Conservatives actually restricted his power to do that on the specious grounds that outreach programs were too costly. In fact, the cost was modest and the government should be doing all it can to raise voter turnout, not discourage it.

Monsef’s bill also proposes to set up a national register to “preregister” future voters 14 to 17 years old to encourage them to vote once they turn 18. It’s tough to persuade young people to vote, but this may well help.

The Liberal government is also reversing measures that made it more difficult for Canadians living outside the country to vote in national elections.

Under the current law, anyone who has lived abroad for more than five years loses the right to vote. The law was adopted by a Liberal government in1993, but it was only enforced starting in 2011by the Harper government. The result was that a million Canadians living outside the country were denied the right to vote.

The Liberals promised to change that and Monsef’s bill would fulfil that pledge.

It’s a wise move. It encourages Canadians abroad to remain engaged with their country’s politics. In the 21st century, it’s easier than ever for people outside the country to keep informed, and many have a long-term commitment to Canada even if they have been away for many years.

The existing law is also out of step with the practice in the United States, Britain and many European countries, which encourage their expats to retain links with their homeland. Overall, allowing expatriates to vote if they choose to do so is fairer and more inclusive.

This is the easy stuff, relatively speaking. The tough stuff for Monsef is the Trudeau government’s campaign pledge to make last year’s election the last to be conducted under “first past the post” voting.

The rubber will hit the road on that delicate matter as soon as this week, when a parliamentary committee is expected to report with recommendations on how to proceed and what options to put forward. Some reports suggest the committee may support putting the question to the people in a referendum, something the government has so far resisted.

Monsef has found that issue anything but smooth sailing so far, and it’s only going to get more difficult as it moves from the consultation stage to decision-making. But however tangled that becomes, she can now claim credit for proposing some solid reforms to our democracy.

Changing “first past the post” will be the real challenge for Monsef