It is unfortunate that the federal
Liberals have broken their promise to change the way we would have
elected our next government. Even though few Canadians seem to care
that our current system of voting does not produce particularly
representative governments, they do seem to care when signature
campaign promises are broken.
Especially the unfortunate ones.
I myself was heartened to find a
government that was elected to a majority of seats with a minority of
voter support saying the right words about how change was needed.
Back in 2015, change for the better
seemed so possible. But sunny ways have been darkened since then by
clouds of extremist politics drifting in from the south. Doing what
you believe is right has become more difficult; doing what is
patently wrong has become the way to get attention and support.
I'm not ready to admit that proposing
electoral change was a bad idea, but changes in the landscape since
the last election show that developing a broad consensus for big
changes has become pretty well impossible.
Consider the response of the critics
when the decision to drop electoral reform was made by the government's
new Minister of Democratic Institutions (yes, we have one of those;
it was created to drive the promised electoral reform to completion).
Karina Gould read her marching orders to a gathering of the press,
and revealed that reforming our voting system was no longer part of
her mandate.
NDP critic Nathan Cullen, generally a
reasonable debater given to measured words, blew a gasket.
Prime minister Justin Trudeau proved
himself a liar, the most cynical variety of politician, said Cullen.
He charged that Trudeau would say anything to get elected, and then
after the election use any weak excuse to justify all his lies.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May
claimed she felt deeply betrayed over Trudeau's breaking faith with
young voters.
The NDP and the Green Party have the
most to gain through electoral reform, particularly in its most
complicated form, proportional representation.
The Conservatives, not so much. They
believe their greatest chances at winning a general election lay in
there being no changes at all to our first-past-the-post voting
system. So they demanded that any changes be sent to a national
referendum where the waters could be sufficiently muddied to ensure
no changes would ever be made. So the most invective their leader
Rona Ambrose could raise was to warn Canadians against believing
anything Justin Trudeau might say.
As May remarked about the dangers of
cynicism in politics, it has enough to feed itself. But cynicism in
politics does not just feed itself today, it is the total of all
three courses of the meal.
This is a government at war with
itself. There is no coming together to reach a reasonable agreement
on anything.
Just reflect on what's changed since
the last federal election in 2015. Canada has gone from repudiating
cynical and divisive politics, to a full-blown adoption of the dark
side.
Are we that much different anymore in
our views and in our society than the ultra-polarized United States?
Is there a comfortable centre still remaining where people can
discuss things respectfully, recognize that the greater good
stretches beyond personal gain and find rational compromises?
If there is such a place, it's being
well hidden.
It's too bad that the Liberals didn't
have a fleshed-out program of electoral reform to introduce
immediately after the election, while goodwill still existed in this
country. It's too bad all sides worked so immediately for the good
for their party, and not the good of the nation.
As events have passed, it's a relief
that Trudeau chose to take the hit for abandoning the idea, rather
than trying to push electoral reform through the mud hole our
politics have become, to the harm of all.
Trudeau may have broken a promise, but
I say all the parties have broken faith with Canadians in this.
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