In Simon Ducatel's Aug. 2 opinion, “Times change, so should our electoral system”, he states that if today's conservatives had their way, they would have demanded a referendum on whether women, and non-property owners should have a vote. But it was the conservatives who first granted women (Borden 1918), then natives (Diefenbaker 1961) the right to vote.
Simon says that under Trudeau's proposed system, the Conservatives would have done better in the last election. This is not so. Simon refers to a mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system, where according to the CBC, Trudeau would have won 134 seats. Under Trudeau's preferred ranked ballot system, he would have won 224 seats compared to the 184 he did win under our current first past the post system (FPTP). The party that is considered the most centrist wins every election with the ranked ballot system. This would be the Liberals in Canada, and it might as well be the last election in the country if a ranked ballot is implemented.
During the election campaign, Trudeau stated that his preferred system was the ranked ballot over the FPTP and MMP systems. He also made a promise that he would not open the constitution during his term. The Liberal Party's lawyers have announced that the constitution has to be opened for an MMP, but not ranked ballot, single transferable vote, or FPTP system. So to implement the MMP, Trudeau would have to break his 24th campaign promise.
Trudeau had originally said that it would be a Liberal-dominated committee making the recommendation, but the Opposition parties raised a fuss and he caved and allowed a Liberal minority on the committee. The new committee will not approve a ranked ballot system, as the parties on the left (NDP) and the right (Conservative), would never win in a ranked ballot election.
Simon says we do not need a referendum since we elected the Liberals and this is one of their campaign promises. We have already had three referendums on electoral reform, one in B.C., Ontario and P.E.I. So far, three provinces with slightly more than half of the population of Canada have voted on this exact question and they have resoundingly defeated change.
The Liberals care nothing for democracy, or one of their first changes wouldn't have been to cancel the secret ballots for unions that the Conservatives introduced.
Now you can see why the Opposition parties opposed the Liberals on this. Under Trudeau's original plan, the Liberals would have never lost another election, and we would have lost all democracy in Canada because the Liberals would not allow the Canadian people the right to vote on the biggest change to our system since we brought the constitution home.
Bob Wilson
Calgary
