Canadian House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform

The House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform (ERRE) (French: Comité spécial sur la réforme électorale) was a special committee of the House of Commons of Canada established in 2016 during the 42nd Canadian Parliament to investigate reforms to the Canadian electoral system. The formation of "an all-party Parliamentary committee to review... [electoral] reforms" was an election promise by Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau in the 2015 federal election.^[1] After the Liberals won a majority in the election, and Trudeau became Prime Minister of Canada, he indicated the formation of a special committee was a priority in his mandate letter for Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef. Shortly after the committee submitted its report to Parliament on December 1, 2016, Monsef was transferred to the position of the Minister of Status of Women and Karina Gould took over the electoral reform file.^[2][3] Shortly after taking her position, Gould announced that the government would no longer be pursuing reform of the electoral system, stating "It has become evident that the broad support needed among Canadians for a change of this magnitude does not exist."^[4]

Establishment

On May 10, 2016, Maryam Monsef gave notice in the House of Commons of the government's plans for the composition of the Special Committee.^[5] The initial proposed structure of the Special Committee was three voting members allocated based on each official party's seats in the House (six Liberal members, three Conservative members, and one New Democratic member), with a member of the Bloc Québécois and Green Party leader Elizabeth May given additional non-voting seats.^[6]

The structure of the Special Committee was criticized by the opposition party leaders, as the government would have possessed a majority of the committee seats and could unilaterally recommend alterations to the electoral system without the support of any other party. Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, the Leader of the Official Opposition, denounced the plan as "stacking the deck", while Nathan Cullen, the NDP critic for Democratic Institutions, urged the government to reconsider this plan as well. The Green Party and Bloc Québécois additionally objected to their lack of voting representation on the committee.^[7]

On June 2, 2016, Monsef announced that the government would support a motion by Cullen to alter the structure of the committee to have seats allocated based on percentage of the nationwide popular vote in the 2015 election and give the Bloc Québécois and Greens one voting seat each on the committee.^[8][9] The Liberal caucus on the committee would have in effect only four voting members, as the chair would not vote unless there was a tie.^[10]

On June 7, 2016, Cullen's motion, seconded by NDP MP Matthew Dubé, was approved by the House of Commons. The special committee was thereby empowered to "conduct a study of viable alternate voting systems to replace the first-past-the-post system, as well as to examine mandatory voting and online voting", all with an eye to improving the legitimacy, integrity, and inclusiveness of the voting system and the extent to which it could facilitate local representation and citizen engagement.

The motion directed that parties' whips assign members to the committee within ten sitting days of its passage, and that the committee issue its final report to the House of Commons no later than December 1, 2016.^[11] This deadline was extended to June 23, but this proved to be unnecessary, as the final membership was deposited with the Clerk of the House on June 17.^[12] The committee held its first meeting on June 21, 2016.

Citizen submissions

The deadline for making submissions to the committee was October 7, 2016. Citizens were able to make submissions online, attend town hall meetings hosted by Members of Parliament or attend committee hearings which were held in cities across Canada in September and early October 2016.^[13]

By October 8, 2016 a poll by Mainstreet Research for the Ottawa Citizen revealed that, while 45 per cent of Ottawa voters are following the electoral reform process and that two in three Ottawa residents favour reforms, most of those surveyed missed out on local town hall meetings on electoral reform already held by MPs because they were not aware that they were happening.^[14]

Membership

Party		Member	District
	Bloc Québécois	Luc Thériault	Montcalm, QC
	Conservative	Scott Reid, vice-chair	Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
	Conservative	Gérard Deltell	Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
	Conservative	Blake Richards[a]	Banff—Airdrie, AB
	Green	Elizabeth May	Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
	Liberal	Francis Scarpaleggia, chair	Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
	Liberal	John Aldag	Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
	Liberal	Matt DeCourcey	Fredericton, NB
	Liberal	Sherry Romanado	Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
	Liberal	Ruby Sahota	Brampton North, ON
	New Democratic	Nathan Cullen, vice-chair	Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
	New Democratic	Alexandre Boulerice	Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC

Witnesses

The committee heard from numerous public servants, academics, members of the public, and electoral officers from Canada and around the world.^[15] The first witness before the committee was Maryam Monsef, Minister of Democratic Institutions, who outlined the government's approach.^[16][17] The following day, Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand^[18] and his predecessor Jean-Pierre Kingsley testified.^[19] Their counterparts Robert Peden, from the New Zealand Electoral Commission, and Tom Rogers, of the Australian Electoral Commission, also appeared later in July.^[20] Among the many academics that testified before the committee was Arend Lijphart, an expert on electoral systems.^[21][22] In September and October 2016, the committee held public meetings in cities across Canada. Computer security expert Barbara Simons presented to the committee in Vancouver.^[23]

Report

The committee adopted its final report, Strengthening Democracy in Canada: Principles, Process and Public Engagement for Electoral Reform,^[23] on November 28, 2016. The report was presented to the House of Commons on December 1, 2016. The twelfth recommendation of thirteen was that a referendum should be held, with both the current voting system and a proposed proportional electoral system on the ballot.^{[24][25][26][27]} The government would design the system with the goal of any proposed system scoring a 5 or less on the Gallagher index but preserve local representation by avoiding party-list proportional representation systems, and the committee recommended that the design of the proposed system be finalized and shared with Canadians before any referendum campaign is conducted.^[28]

The report also included recommendations against implementing online voting and mandatory voting and recommended exploring the use of other technologies in the voting process to improve accessibility, especially for persons with disabilities and segments of the population which have historically been disenfranchised.^[28] The report considers the option Instant-runoff voting (Alternative Vote in Single-Member Constituencies), but does not recommend it.

Aftermath and outcomes

On February 1, 2017, the newly appointed Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould announced that the government was no longer pursuing electoral reform and it was not listed as a priority in her mandate letter from Justin Trudeau.^[4] In the letter, Trudeau wrote that "a clear preference for a new electoral system, let alone a consensus, has not emerged" and that "without a clear preference or a clear question, a referendum would not be in Canada's interest."^[29]

Both Nathan Cullen and Elizabeth May addressed Gould's announcement during the next Question Period. Cullen said that Trudeau and the Liberals "will certainly pay a political price" in the next election for not following through on their electoral reform promise, while May stated her disappointment with Trudeau and her frustration that "our feminist prime minister threw two young women cabinet ministers [Gould and Monsef] under the bus on a key election promise."^[30] Defending the decision, Trudeau claimed in later statements that implementing a proportional system would "augment extremist voices and activist voices" and promote instability in the country.^[31][32]

Gould tabled the government's official response to the committee report in the House of Commons on April 3, 2017.^[33] In response to Recommendations 1, 2, 11, 12, and 13 (related to changing the electoral system) she reiterated that "changing the electoral system is not in [her] mandate as Minister of Democratic Institutions" and that the government "remains committed to improving, strengthening and safeguarding Canada's democratic institutions."^[34] Gould indicated that the government accepted the remaining recommendations, including the recommendations against implementing online and mandatory voting.^[33]

Press reaction reflected the view that abandoning basic system reform had broken a promise.^[35]

On May 31, 2017 a non-whipped vote to adopt the Dec 1, 2016 report of the Canadian House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform was held^[36] but was defeated by 159 votes to 146.^[37] Thus the federal reform effort was abandoned. Only two Liberal MPs voted in favour: Nathaniel Erskine-Smith of Beaches—East York in Ontario and Sean Casey of Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island (PEI) voted in favor. Casey explicitly cited the 2016 PEI referendum as a factor in his vote:

"...more than 9,000 of the people that I represent cast their ballots in the provincial plebiscite and about two-thirds of them indicated that they wanted to move away from the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system at a provincial level. That, to me, was a very, very clear indication of the will of my constituents and that's what I was sent here to do, to project their voice. So that's what I did."^[36]

Trudeau has continued to express reservations about proportional representation has but expressed openness to considering other systems.^[38] Gould said, "The first-past-the-post system may not be perfect — no electoral system is, but it has served this country for 150 years and advances a number of democratic values that Canadians hold dear, such as strong local representation, stability and accountability."^[39]

Notes

1. Richards was appointed to the committee on August 12, 2016 to replace fellow Alberta-based Conservative MP Jason Kenney, who was elected in 2015 for the riding of Calgary Midnapore. Kenney resigned as an MP to seek the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta.

References

1. "Electoral reform". Real Change. Liberal Party of Canada. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
2. Boutilier, Alex (January 10, 2017). "Rookie MP Gould takes over troubled electoral reform file". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2017-02-07. Retrieved 2017-02-06.
3. Trudeau, Justin (February 1, 2017). "Minister of Democratic Institutions mandate letter". Office of the Prime Minister of Canada. Archived from the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
4. Stone, Laura (February 1, 2017). "Trudeau abandons electoral reform, breaking key campaign promise". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 2017-02-05. Retrieved 2017-02-06.
5. Order Paper and Notice Paper No. 53, May 11, 2016 Archived August 12, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Parliament of Canada website, retrieved July 4, 2016.
6. Wherry, Aaron (May 10, 2016). "'We can do better': Liberals kick off push to change Canada's voting system". CBC News. Archived from the original on June 7, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
7. Raj, Althia (May 11, 2016). "Liberals To Keep Majority On New Electoral Reform Committee". Huffington Post Canada. Archived from the original on September 2, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
8. Boutilier, Alex (June 2, 2016). "Liberals give up majority control on electoral reform committee". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on June 3, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
9. Stone, Laura (June 2, 2016). "Liberals agree to give majority to Opposition on electoral reform committee". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on September 2, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
10. Coyne, Andrew (June 3, 2016). "Committee on electoral reform now a working model of proportional representation". Archived from the original on July 8, 2021. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
11. About the Special Committee Archived 2016-08-18 at the Wayback Machine, Parliament of Canada, retrieved July 4, 2016.
12. Journals of the House of Commons of Canada, 42nd Parliament, 1st Session, No. 75 Archived 2016-07-27 at the Wayback Machine, June 17, 2016.
13. Hilderman, Jane; Prest, Stewart (September 19, 2016). "Hilderman and Prest: Don't leave it to 'experts' – Here's how you, too, can tackle electoral reform". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
14. Ottawa Citizen Editorial Board (October 8, 2016). "Editorial: Door's closing on your chance to tell MPs what you think about electoral reform". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
15. Special Committee on Electoral Reform. "Witnesses". Archived from the original on 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
16. Wherry, Aaron (July 6, 2016). "Maryam Monsef tells Commons committee first-past-the-post voting system is 'antiquated'". CBC News. Archived from the original on August 23, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
17. CPAC. "In Committee from the House of Commons - Special Committee on Electoral Reform - July 6, 2016". Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
18. CPAC. "In Committee from the House of Commons - Special Committee on Electoral Reform - July 7, 2016 - Part 1". Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
19. CPAC. "In Committee from the House of Commons - Special Committee on Electoral Reform - July 7, 2016 - Part 2". Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
20. CPAC. "In Committee from the House of Commons - Special Committee on Electoral Reform - July 27, 2016 - Part 3". Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
21. MacLeod, Ian (August 22, 2016). "Ottawa should avoid referendum on electoral reform over danger of a vote based on 'outright lies,' expert says". Ottawa Citizen. Postmedia Network. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
22. CPAC. "In Committee from the House of Commons - Special Committee on Electoral Reform - August 22, 2016 - Part 1". Archived from the original on August 27, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
23. Canada. Standing Committee on Electoral Reform (December 2016). Strengthening Democracy in Canada: Principles, Process and Public Engagement for Electoral Reform (Report). Archived from the original on 2021-02-12. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
24. Wherry, Aaron (December 1, 2016). "Electoral reform committee recommends referendum on proportional representation, but Liberals disagree". CBC News. Archived from the original on April 12, 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
25. Bryden, Joan (December 1, 2016). "Liberal MPs urge Prime Minister to break promise of new voting system by next election". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on July 6, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
26. Boutilier, Alex (December 1, 2016). "Liberal MPs recommend breaking electoral reform promise". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on December 2, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
27. Payton, Laura (December 1, 2016). "Liberals dig in heels against election referendum". CTV News. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
28. Special Committee on Electoral Reform (December 1, 2016). Strengthening Democracy in Canada: Principles, Process and Public Engagement for Electoral Reform (Report). Parliament of Canada. Archived from the original on April 8, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
29. Smith, Joanna (February 1, 2017). "Trudeau abandons promise for electoral reform". Maclean's. The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on February 9, 2017. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
30. Payton, Laura (February 1, 2017). "NDP, Greens vow broken promise of electoral reform will cost Liberals votes". CTV News. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
31. Kupfer, Matthew (February 10, 2017). "Trudeau says national unity more important than electoral reform". CBC News. Archived from the original on 10 February 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
32. Kirkup, Kristy (February 10, 2017). "Trudeau defends 'turning back' on electoral reform promise". CTV News. Archived from the original on 10 February 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
33. Wherry, Aaron (April 4, 2017). "Liberals say no to mandatory and online voting". CBC News. Archived from the original on April 5, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
34. Gould, Karina. "Government Response". House of Commons Committees - ERRE (42-1). Parliament of Canada. Archived from the original on May 24, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
35. Stone, Laura (1 February 2017). "Trudeau abandons electoral reform, breaking key election promise". The Global and Mail. Ottawa. Archived from the original on 5 February 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
36. Wright, Teresa (31 May 2017). "Charlottetown MP votes his conscience on electoral reform". The Guardian. Charlottetown, PEI. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
37. "Vote Detail: Canada, House of Commons, Members of Parliament; Vote No. 290; 42nd Parliament, 1st Session; Sitting No. 184 - Wednesday, May 31, 2017". Parliament of Canada. Parliament of Canada. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
38. von Scheel, Elise (February 1, 2018). "A year later, Trudeau will only revisit electoral reform if pushed by other parties — something MPs don't buy". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2018-04-21. Retrieved 2018-05-05.
39. Wherry, Aaron (February 7, 2017). "With electoral reform off the table, minister defends first-past-the-post". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2018-05-21. Retrieved 2018-05-05.

External links

• Official website
• Report text: Strengthening Democracy in Canada: Principles, Process and Public Engagement for Electoral Reform