{"id":87634,"date":"2017-02-02T01:05:56","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T06:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=87634"},"modified":"2017-02-02T01:05:56","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T06:05:56","slug":"trudeau-abandons-promise-to-change-voting-system-in-time-for-2019-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/02\/02\/trudeau-abandons-promise-to-change-voting-system-in-time-for-2019-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Trudeau abandons promise to change voting system in time for 2019 election"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Trudeau<\/a>
Trudeau abandons promise to change voting system in time for 2019 election (Photo: Justin Trudeau\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA\u2014Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is abandoning his long-held promise to change the way Canadians vote in federal elections\u2014an about-face that has opposition rivals seeing red.<\/p>\n

In a mandate letter for newly appointed Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould, Trudeau makes it clear that electoral reform\u2014once top of mind for the Liberal government\u2014is no longer on the agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cChanging the electoral system will not be in your mandate,\u201d the prime minister writes in the letter, released Wednesday.<\/p>\n

A variety of consultations across the country have shown that Canadians are not clamouring for a change in the way they choose their federal government, the letter continues. It also rules out the possibility of a national referendum.<\/p>\n

\u201cA clear preference for a new electoral system, let alone a consensus, has not emerged,\u201d Trudeau writes. \u201cFurthermore, without a clear preference or a clear question, a referendum would not be in Canada’s interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trudeau repeatedly promised\u2014both as a campaigning Liberal leader and as prime minister in a speech from the throne\u2014to get rid of the current first-past-the-post voting system in time for the 2019 federal election.<\/p>\n

New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen, the party’s democratic reform critic, savaged Trudeau as a \u201cliar\u201d during a news conference in the foyer of the House of Commons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the most cynical displays of self-serving politics this government has yet to engage in,\u201d Cullen said, accusing the Liberals of \u201cseeking any excuse, however weak, however absent, to justify that lie to Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trudeau, he added, \u201cpromised to conduct himself with honour and integrity…. It puts into question any promise, any commitment Mr. Trudeau makes or has made in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadians made their views known through the House of Commons special committee on electoral reform, town halls held by MPs from all parties, the travels of former minister Maryam Monsef and a much-maligned online survey called MyDemocracy.ca.<\/p>\n

The mandate letter shows that Trudeau and do not believe those consultations have produced their desired\u2014albeit undefined\u2014level of support for electoral reform, let alone any clarity on a preferred replacement.<\/p>\n

The New Democrats, who have long called for a system of proportional representation, went into a meeting with Gould on Tuesday hoping to hear the new minister repeat Trudeau’s original, unequivocal promise: that the 2015 vote would be Canada’s last under first-past-the-post.<\/p>\n

The Conservatives, who had pushed for a referendum, will likely be pleased with the status quo, but will no doubt excoriate the government for breaking such a prominent campaign commitment.<\/p>\n

There are also some big new items in the mandate letter.<\/p>\n

Trudeau wants Gould, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to come up with ways to defend the Canadian political system against cyberthreats and hackers _ a possible consequence of the \u201cvoter fraud\u201d and hacked email controversies emanating from the raucous U.S. election.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should include asking the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) to analyze risks to Canada’s political and electoral activities from hackers, and to release this assessment publicly,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n

Trudeau also wants the three ministers to ask the CSE to \u201coffer advice\u201d to Elections Canada and political parties\u2014including opposition parties\u2014on \u201cbest practices\u201d regarding cybersecurity.<\/p>\n

The letter also asks Gould to take the lead on developing legislation to bring stricter rules\u2014and greater transparency\u2014to political fundraising, a response to months of negative headlines about so-called cash-for-access Liberal fundraisers.<\/p>\n

The promised legislation would require cabinet ministers, party leaders and leadership candidates to publicly advertise their fundraisers in advance, and release a report after the fact with details of the event.<\/p>\n

The proposed new law, if passed, would also require events to take place in publicly available spaces, a move designed to address concerns about well-heeled donors bending the ears of cabinet ministers in private homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther measures may follow after discussion with the other political parties,\u201d Trudeau writes.<\/p>\n

The letter also repeats earlier commitments, such as repealing some elements of the previous Conservative government’s Fair Elections Act and exploring the idea of an independent commissioner to organize leaders’ debates during federal elections.<\/p>\n

It also includes reviewing campaign spending limits and working with Treasury Board President Scott Brison and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to increase the openness of government, including reviewing the Access to Information Act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA\u2014Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is abandoning his long-held promise to change the way Canadians vote in federal elections\u2014an about-face that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":87638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18,16,483],"tags":[14567,3070,12526],"class_list":["post-87634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","category-news","category-politics","tag-2019-election","tag-justin-trudeau","tag-voting-system","mauthors-joanna-smith","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}