MPs lobbied to support electoral reform motion

There is a campaign underway to convince more Liberal and Conservative MPs to vote in favour of creating a committee to explore electoral reform.

The NDP’s Lisa Marie Barron put forward the motion (M-86) last November.

She says there is a need to improve government and remove some of the barriers that exist.

“There is a lot of privilege in those who are elected as members of parliament. I noticed from the outside before I decided to run during the election process itself, and then when getting elected, it was very evident seeing the barriers in people being able to run, seeing the challenges in being able to have that strong representation in parliament, seeing the way in which the systems that are in place, often are the barrier to get vital legislation put forward,” says Barron.

“There’s a lot of good people doing good work, and the systems are problematic to get work done at the pace that we require. As somebody who has a community development background, a sociology background, somebody who’s understood the barriers in the systems and being able to get forward, as somebody who’s lived in low income, it was evident to me that we needed to change the systems that we’re in.”

There is a scattering of support coming from all parties, including Liberals and Conservatives, with 20 MPs seconding the motion, the maximum a motion can have.

To proceed, it needs 170 votes.

The motion proposes the creation of a citizens’ assembly that would be non-partisan, independent and made up of Canadians from all walks of life.

Fair Vote Canada, an organization supports reforms to Canada’s electoral process, likes the idea.

Executive Director Anita Nickerson says a lot of work is being done to get MPs to support the motion when it comes to a vote sometime in February.

“We asked people to start collecting petitions asking MPs to vote for motion M 86. Again, this is in ridings with Liberal and Conservative MPs who need a push,” says Nickerson.

The group has also been staging public media, tagging MPs on social media and is about to embark on a telephone campaign.

“The last vote we had in the House of Commons related to electoral reform was seven years ago, and two Liberals voted for it. So here we are. We have a chance to make a difference. These chances don’t come along very often,” says Nickerson.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was open to changing the voting process in 2015 but backed away from the idea two years later after the Special Committee on Electoral Reform recommended a proportional system of representation and a national referendum.