As Canada looks towards its 150th anniversary, the official Opposition continues to demand a referendum on the governing Liberal Party's campaign pledge to look into electoral reform.
This is a complete waste of time, effort and resources since more than two-thirds of Canadians cast ballots in the 2015 election for parties that had promised to investigate electoral reform.
If the modern incarnation of the Conservatives had their way, the party would have no doubt demanded a referendum on whether to expand voting rights beyond only property owners, and later women as well — both far greater changes that had a much larger impact on our electoral system than proportional representation would.
Here's the thing — almost nothing today is the same as it was 150 years ago. Technology has shrunk this vast nation and made interconnection and collaboration among the provinces far more plausible and efficient than ever before. Canada's electoral system was largely designed during a time when the advent of electricity was just beginning to change our way of life forever. Airplanes remained mere flights of fancy, pun intended, in the imaginations of inventors.
Simply put, times change — and so should the way our government is elected.
What I can't understand is why the Conservative Party is so opposed to electoral reform. Under a more proportionally representative system, the Trudeau Liberals would only have won a minority mandate with the Conservatives holding significantly more power.
It's also quite perplexing to comprehend the mindset of an individual who seems quite content when his or her party wins a “majority” mandate with a mere 39 per cent of the popular vote, but suddenly gets all bent out of shape and decries the death of democracy when another party wins a “majority” under the exact same circumstances.
Being the official Opposition does not necessarily mean opposing anything and everything put forward by the governing party. Yet that's largely all the Conservatives seem to strive for — opposition for opposition's sake.
Despite lots of common ground between the Liberals and Conservatives — Bill C-51, the TransPacific Partnership, coddling the wealthy, the controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia — the latter seems to have no interest in looking for common ground, which is precisely what a truly effective opposition should endeavour to do.
Unfortunately, the Opposition seems more interested in calling for a referendum on issues the governing party campaigned on. Had the Liberals come out of left field with electoral reform having never even mentioned the issue during the election, there would at least then be some ground for the Conservative Party's point of view to stand on.
But instead, the Opposition petulantly wastes time demanding a referendum on an issue the Liberals clearly raised and were partly elected under. This is actually rather counterintuitive considering the Conservatives — as mentioned earlier — would have gained more seats in the 2015 election under proportional representation.
So why they're against it — aside from the sheer sake of being opposed — remains unclear.
Regardless, the committee that is looking into what kind of electoral reform might best suit Canadians in the 21st century is far from coming up with or presenting any suggestions. For all we know, the committee's recommendation might end up being simply to keep the archaic and outdated first past the post system that allows a party to form a majority mandate with a minority of the overall popular vote.
In other words, getting riled up over changes that haven't even been proposed yet — let alone discussed — seems premature. Let's at least wait to see what the committee puts on the table before calling foul.
