SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 117

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 25, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 117 - Oct/25/22
Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)
  • Oct/25/22 11:04:24 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to pick up on a previous question asked by our colleague from Cowichan—Malahat—Langford. If we are going to make progress on the priorities of all Canadians, as the parliamentary secretary spoke about in his speech, we need to fix the way we elect members to the House. The only consistent outcomes of our current voting system are distorted results and disillusioned voters. We need proportional representation in this country. Can the parliamentary secretary comment on when the governing party will get serious about improving our democracy and following through on what it promised over 1,800 times, that the 2015 election would be the last under first past the post?
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Context: House Hansard - 117 - Oct/25/22
Hon. Robert Oliphant
  • Oct/25/22 11:05:08 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think my speech had more to do with the motion than the question does today. However, I think it is a valid question. The question of electoral reform should be on all our minds all the time. It was a debate that we had in the 2015-2017 period. It was a hard debate. I had three town halls on electoral reform, three large town halls. It came out that about 50% of my constituents wanted a change to the voting system and 50% did not. Among the 50% who wanted change, there were three different groups of people, and they did not come up with a common idea. We need to have that discussion. Just like the motion today, I do not think it is on the top of the agenda for Canadians. The issues of cost of living, affordable housing, climate change and human rights really are more important to Canadians than that particular issue, but we will always be open to improving our democracy in a variety of ways.
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