Nanaimo-Ladysmith’s MP wants electoral reform up for debate once more in the House of Commons.
MP Lisa Marie Barron held town hall meetings at Ladysmith’s Aggie Hall on Monday, Oct. 23, and Nanaimo’s Royal Canadian Legion Branch 256 on Tuesday, Oct. 24, letting constituents know about her motion calling for a national citizens’ assembly on electoral reform.
The New Democratic Party MP brought the motion forward this past spring, and it will be debated in Parliament in two weeks’ time. Barron said the motion has received some initial support across party lines, so she hopes enough MPs will follow through to support the creation of the citizens’ assembly.
“The reason why I wanted to run in federal politics is because I wanted to look at increasing representation and I wanted to look at having diversity of opinion and I wanted to look at us moving forward with the actual promises that are made in elections,” she said.
Barron said there’s been an increase of divisive politics in Canada and said one reason why is because the current first-past-the-post voting system “is set up adversarially.” Proportional representation, she said, would require parties and political representatives to work together in collaboration.
Barron criticized the federal Liberals for not following through on a 2015 election promise to change the voting system. At that time, a democratic reform ministry was created and an all-party committee recommended a referendum and an unspecified model of proportional rep, but without clear direction, the government eventually abandoned all electoral reform plans.
Barron acknowledged that proportional representation systems debated provincially and nationally have been complicated.
“When there’s challenges in being able to understand what it is that people are being asked, of course it’s human nature to stick with what we currently have in place,” she said.
A citizens’ assembly would be a group of Canadians – randomly selected, but with interest in the process – from a diversity of backgrounds and representing all regions of the country. They would study not only various voting systems, but also related topics such as voting age and mandatory voting.
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The discussion at the Legion in Nanaimo this week lasted two hours, with citizens offering pros and cons about different proportional rep systems and coalition governments. Barron said the Ladysmith town hall the night before also went well, with a smaller group of people who were similarly excited about renewing the conversation about electoral reform.
The MP said her motion isn’t necessarily about setting the groundwork for any referendum – she pointed out that Parliament could legislate proportional representation today if it wished to do so. Her hope is that the work of a citizens’ assembly can empower the federal government to feel informed and gain an understanding of what Canadians want in a voting system. She feels it’s the right time for change.
“We’re constantly hitting road blocks on being able to get through essential legislation that we need to see put into place in a much more timely manner…” Barron said. “It’s time for us to be working together and not playing all these partisan games that unfortunately, if I could be frank, are quite soul-sucking.”
She is planning two more town halls before the initial House of Commons debate – one in Ottawa on Nov. 1, and one held virtually on Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. Pacific Time. For more information, visit http://lisamariebarron.ndp.ca/virtual-townhall-creating-a-citizens-assembly-on-electoral-reform.