Feds Reconfigure Electoral Reform Committee
Ottawa, ON – It’s a rarity in politics but it happened Thursday inside the House of Commons.
The Trudeau government agreed to support Skeena-Bulkley Valley NDP MP Nathan Cullen’s proposal to establish a democratic reform committee that represents all parties in Parliament and one that does not give any advantage to any single party.
Earlier this spring the government had initially created a committee which gave Liberal members a majority when it came to investigating electoral reform – something the Liberals promised during last year’s federal election campaign.
“This is a positive first step toward what we hope will be meaningful democratic reform for Canadians,” said Cullen. “The important victory that we secured today means that all Canadians will be better heard through the process.”
Cullen said the 12-member committee will include five Liberals, three Conservatives, two New Democrats, one Bloc Quebecois member and one Green.
“And that’s more or less the results of the last election if you look at the percentage of the vote each party got.”
He admitted he’s surprised the government has changed course.
“It’s unusual for a government to do so and we’re giving them credit for it and really happy that we’re going to see some progress.”
Cullen expects the committee to start its work within the next 10 days.
“Getting out of the Ottawa bubble and talking to Canadians right across Canada about what they want to see in their democracy.”
During last year’s campaign Justin Trudeau promised Canadians it would be the last election fought under Canada’s first-past-the-post winner take-all electoral system.
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“Getting out of the Ottawa bubble and talking to Canadians right across Canada about what they want to see in their democracy.”
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And then making sure they never get it.
BS reigns supreme. When you consider that political parties in Canada run as follows.
Conservatives right of centre
Liberals left of centre
NDP left of the Liberals
Bloc left of the Liberals
Greens left of the Bloc
So in effect we have 9 left leaning members on this committee and 3 centre right. Not hard to figure out who will dominate the committee.
We need to keep in mind that the Liberals and NDP have been having a back room affair for a number of years, and basically sing from the same song book on many issues.
I still maintain that the Westminster System of Government was, and is the best system for Canada.
“We need to keep in mind that the Liberals and NDP have been having a back room affair for a number of years, and basically sing from the same song book on many issues.”
They may have had a private backroom affair (whatever that is supposed to be) but usually during an election the Federal NDP concentrates its attacks primarily on the Liberals, letting the Conservatives off the hook. In the debates of the last election I observed Harper often staring silently at the ceiling while Mulcair was after Trudeau with his usual strategy which did not work because people wanted change. One thing is for sure, if the NDP and the Liberals would stick together we would not have a Conservative government for a very long time. The coming electoral reform will force those who sing from the same song book to work together by forming a coalition to govern or they will only be singing impotent opposition songs. No surprise here that the Conservatives want to keep the old system.
The Greens are NOT left OR right . Greens are dead centre . The greens will side with any party that puts logic ahead of ideology . Stop smearing the greens pal ! You haven’t a clue about the greens .
Got to hand it to the Liberals, Justine Trudeau said his government was starting to behave too much like the Harper Conservative Government and has adjusted the make up of the committee for electoral reform to be based on proportional representation of popular vote recieved.
A class act, a Conservative Government would have imposed their approaximately 32% of the popular vote on 68% of the rest of us, like they did over the past 8 years, constantly cutting off debate and imposing their majority will… not very democratic. Nice to have a majority government that will not do the same in this instance.
I guess you missed the teenage violence in parliament and the Liberals attempt to completely take over the parliament agenda.
JGalt, a class act? Sorry, I don’t think so!
Justine’s actions are just part of his ongoing attempts to appear “nice” in the hopes that we will all forget that he physically assaulted MP Chris Brown in our House of Commons!
Haven’t you noticed how nice he’s playing in the sandbox since his temper tantrum?
Physically assaulted who..look up the definition dude.. You shoukd change your nick to Gossip guy..
I know you love the robot called Harper.. But he is so embarrassed as to what he did to Canada he is leaving politics…Harper looks good with his tail between his legs.
You can hardly call it a class act when everyone in Canada knows who the NDP, Bloc, and Greens will side with. It would be a frosty Friday before you would get these groups to side with the Conservatives. However, with a little hornswoggling Trudeau can have the Bloc, Greens, and NDP eating out of his hands. They have been slavering to be at the table for years. They bring nothing to the table but ineffectiveness, however that works for Trudeau.
In my opinion the Greens are LEFT. Ataloss may have a different opinion, however that could be because he is a greeny, and perhaps does not want to be put in the same column at the NDP and Bloc, however that’s where he is.
If Trudeau was trying to put forward a class act he would allow this issue to go to a referendum and have it settled by the people. Don’t hold your breath for that one.
Remind me of how many referendums Harper conducted during his ten years in office!
BS pal . How many positions the Greens put forward have the neocons in Victoria adopted ? Ms. May has voted several times with the cons in Ottawa when they made sense . In the Green parties world wide , including ours , Logic will always triumph over partisanship . Before you beak off again read the Green constitution .
What, that Trudeau guy living up to a election promise…wtf.. That hasn’t happened in over 10 yrs in Canada. What a breath of fresh air…so fresh the conservatives are choking on it ;)
Left is left no matter how you cut it. The Greens in the last election wanted to return the cuts to the CBC budget and then increase their budget going forward. They wanted to continue to have Canada Post do door to door, delivery. They wanted to increase taxes on corporations, get rid of tuition fee’s for colleges and universities, etc etc; etc;.
Ataloss should read their platform for the 2015 election. Left wing through and through.
Here’s a real zinger from Ms Green.
**The Harper Conservative’s invented the use of omnibus budget bills–bills that cover dozens of diverse and unrelated changes to law and policy. Such bills have been rammed through Parliament time and time again sine 2011. without proper study.**
In actual fact Paul Martin (Mr Dithers) put through an omnibus budget bill in 2005. Prior to that Pierre Trudeau put through two major omnibus bills Bill C-150 1968-69 Criminal Law Amendment Act, and Bill C-94 The Energy Security Act 1982.
So here we have the leader of the Green Party blaming Harper for originating omnibus bills, when in fact they were first brought in by the Liberals. Did she not know, or did she purposely mislead people in her campaign platform??? I suggest it was the latter.
What Ms Green did, was no different than what Ataloss, and P Val do on a regular basis. That is, make wild and misleading statements not supported by any facts.
So Liberals left, NDP further left, Greens left of NDP, Bloc left of Greens.
I suppose you could say that we now have a two party system in Canada. The right and the left.
Have a nice day.
Pure deflection . You didn’t read the constitution . The Greens are centre of all stripes . Logic and facts rule . Who cares who you are ? If you have a good idea , you’re in . That’s Green .
I did not read the constitution because it was covered in dust from lack of use. I did read their platform for the last election. Left all the way.
**In this corner, fighting out of Sanich and the Islands, with many loss’s but no wins in the Federal arena. The not so great Lefty Green May. **
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