Huron Expositor, 2016-11-02, Page 1818 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Liberals give information about "electoral reform" and ask for the community's voices to be heard
Press release
from Allan
Thompson
GODERICH Ont. - Protect
our rural voice when it comes
time to change the way we
vote in Canada. That senti-
ment was the overwhelming
consensus at a town hall on
electoral reform held in
Goderich on October 26th.
"One of the overriding
issues is we're not being heard
because we're in a rural com-
munity," one participant said
in a wrap-up session at the
end of the evening. "A rural
community voice needs to be
heard regardless," said
another participant.
The event organized by
the Huron -Bruce Federal
Liberals attracted a capacity
crowd in a gym at Goderich
District Collegiate Institute.
Allan Thompson, the com-
munications chair for the
federal Liberal riding associ-
ation, opened the evenin g
and stressed that the event
was intended as a non-parti-
san opportunity for mem-
bers of the public to get
some straight information
on electoral reform and then
have their voices heard.
Prof. Laura Stephenson, a
political scientist from West-
ern University, was the guest
speaker for the evening and
provided a comprehensive,
hour-long presentation
about some of the various
electoral reform options on
the table before participants
were divided up into discus-
sion groups.
Stephenson explained the
First -Past -The -Post system
currently in use at the fed-
eral level in Canada as well
as other such "majoritarian"
options as Alternative Vote
(sometimes called ranked
ballot) and two -round votes
that would require a winner
to reach 50 per cent support
before being declared the
victor. She also outlined vari-
ous proportional representa-
tion options, such as List
Proportional
Representation, Single
Transferable Vote, Mixed
Member Proportional,
Rural -Urban Proportional
and other hybrid systems.
The discussion groups
were asked to deal with the
following questions, with a
note -taker at each table writ-
ing down the responses for
the final report:
• As someone who lives in
a rural community, what is
your primary concern when
it comes to changing our
voting system:
• What do you think about
the current system for elect-
ing Members of Parliament
(benefits/flaws)? Do you feel
that votes are fairly
translated?
• Do you have a preferred
alternative to the current
system? What specific fea-
tures are important to you in
an electoral system (for
example local representa-
tion, proportionality, sim-
plicity, legitimacy etc.)?
• Do you feel that it should
it be mandatory to cast a
ballot? (yes or no is fine for
this one)
• Should Canadians be
able to vote online? Or
would you prefer to main-
tain current voting
practices?
Participants were also
asked to discuss which mat-
tered most to them:
• Stable government vs.
Better representation of
small parties in Parliament.
• A Parliament where all
viewpoints are represented
vs. A system that makes it
easy to get rid of a govern-
ment that is not doing a
good job
• Strong and cohesive par-
ties vs. Local MPs who
defend the interest of their
local communities
• Providing voters with a
wide variety of options vs. A
voting system that is simple
and easy to understand
The evening ended with a
wrap-up discussion from
each of the 10 discussion
tables during which the
note -takers shared the
highlights from their group's
debate.
Some said they were still a
bit confused about the
options, or needed much
more detailed information
about what was being pro-
posed before making a deci-
sion. One participant com-
plained about what he called
"dictatorship by one party
for four years followed by
dictatorship by another for
four years."
At another table, the pri-
mary concern was how vot-
ers would maintain a close
bond with their MP. "There's
a rural desire for a relation-
ship with our MP," the note -
taker at that table said.
Another participant noted
that there were few if any
young people at the event
and said that was a shame
since they would be the ones
to live with any change to the
voting system in Canada.
At the beginning of the
event, one man asked point-
edly whether the whole exer-
cise was worthwhile after
recent comments from
Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau in a media inter-
view that suggested electoral
reform may not be a priority
any more. Thompson
stressed that while he did
not speak for the govern-
ment, it was worth noting
that in another recent inter-
view, with Maclean's maga-
zine, Trudeau said he was
keenly interested in the elec-
toral reform process.
Another participant said
she wanted to know how the
meeting came about and
what would happen with the
information gathered. As the
host, Thompson explained
that the town hall was spon-
sored by the Liberal riding
association and was not for-
mally part of any government
consultation. But he said that
all of the information gathered
from the meeting would be
submitted to the parliamen-
tary committee studying elec-
toral reform as well as to the
office of the minister of demo-
cratic reform.
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