There’s more to electoral reform than undoing the damage Harper did


The new government has made ambitious promises on reforming the rules of the electoral game in its platform and, more briefly, in the throne speech. Some of these commitments are designed to undo the large-scale changes carried out under the Harper years. Others address long-standing dissatisfaction with the way Canadian democracy works.

There are important challenges facing the new government — in deciding how to carry out these reforms, in working out what the new rules of the game should be.

The Harper years brought numerous changes to election law, ranging from the admirable to the blatantly self-serving. The Fair Representation Act of 2011 added 30 new seats to the House of Commons, bringing under-represented provinces closer to representation-by-population. This was a much-needed reform.

The Fair Elections Act in 2014, however, signalled a new low in partisan attempts to manipulate the rules of the game. It undermined the right to vote by imposing strict identification requirements that, in practice, amounted to voter suppression directed against groups such as seniors, students and the poor. During the campaign, the new government promised a repeal of the objectionable portions of the Fair Elections Act, which will be necessary to ensure fairness and integrity in Canadian elections.

The centrepiece of Liberal reform efforts is the commitment to a consultative process that will propose a change to the electoral system within 18 months of taking office, which was made during the campaign and reiterated in the speech from the throne. Whether such reform means a ranked ballot, proportional representation or a mixed system of the type used in Germany will be a matter of intense debate.

open quote 761b1bThe Liberal agenda on electoral reform is potentially the most wide-ranging of any government in recent memory. It will take a sustained commitment to reform to reverse the damage done over the last ten years.

The government initially will need to address the process. First, what does meaningful consultation look like? Ontario and British Columbia created elaborate ‘citizens’ assemblies’ to consider electoral reform, rather than tasking a parliamentary committee with the job or employing a Royal Commission or some other expert body. Given the 18-month time frame, it is likely that a parliamentary committee will be given the responsibility of coming up with a proposal. The composition, procedures for consultation and approach of the committee will need to be carefully constructed.

Second, is a referendum necessary on the eventual proposal? Changing the voting system is a major shift in how politics is conducted, and public input is necessary for legitimacy. Referenda on changing the electoral system in Ontario, British Columbia, and P.E.I. over the last decade failed to get the required support from voters, however. Introducing a referendum requirement would seem likely to doom any reform proposal to failure, given this history. The question is whether the public will accept the legitimacy of a shift in the electoral system without a referendum.

On the substance of electoral system reform, all of the major options have their merits and drawbacks. The ranked ballot gives voters more choice by allowing them to select their first, second and third options, and creates incentives for parties to avoid engaging in negative campaigning against their opponents. Ranked ballots are not proportional, however, and PR or a mixed system that preserves ridings while ensuring proportionality would guarantee that the percentage of votes received by a party reflects the percentage of seats it receives. A move to PR, however, probably would mean the end of majority governments.

While not mentioned in the throne speech, the Liberal platform also contained serious commitments to limit the reach of money in politics. Pre-writ ads from parties and interest groups became ubiquitous in the 2011 and 2015 elections. This was because ads prior to the official start of the campaign did not count toward the spending limits imposed by the Elections Act on political activity taking place during the election period. Ensuring a level playing field for all is among the most important tasks for the new government on electoral reform.

The Liberal agenda on electoral reform is potentially the most wide-ranging of any government in recent memory. Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef will have a full plate for the foreseeable future. It will take a sustained commitment to reform to reverse the damage done over the last ten years, and to fix the long-standing problems with our electoral system that have been ignored for too long.

Michael Pal is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa




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