Trudeau by John Ivison

Author:John Ivison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Published: 2019-08-12T16:00:00+00:00

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AT HOME, THE LIBERALS were in the middle of a storm of their own making. One of the signature campaign promises in 2015 was ending the first-past-the-post voting system and replacing it with a shiny new, if unspecified, way to choose a federal government. On the campaign trail, Trudeau had promised to make “every vote count.” “We are committed to ensuring that the 2015 election will be the last federal election using first-past-the-post,” he declared, repeatedly. But in early February 2017, Monsef’s replacement as democratic institutions minister, Karina Gould, was dispatched to explain why the government was abandoning the pledge. “Most of our electoral pledges have been kept,” she said, by way of defence.19

Trudeau had aligned himself with reformers, including many younger voters, who argued that the existing system delivered majority governments, without the party in power necessarily winning the majority of the votes. But after winning a majority with 40 per cent of the vote, the prime minister appeared to lose enthusiasm for change. He had advocated a ranked ballot system, which could have delivered Liberal governments until one of the prime minister’s progeny was ready to take over the family business, given that it rewards centrist parties that collect a lot of second-place support. While in opposition, he would talk to young voters about political cynicism, suggesting that disaffection with politics was a reflection of a failed system.

But as prime minister, he had now concluded that if he couldn’t get the system that would keep his party in power in perpetuity, he’d stick with the one that delivered a whopping majority last time. Trudeau had suggested in a newspaper interview the previous fall that Canadians’ motivation to change the system had waned since Stephen Harper was defeated. An all-party committee studying the issue had concluded that there should be a referendum on an unidentified proportional representation voting system, but Monsef had dismissed it as an idea that would exclude women, minorities, and people with “exceptionalities” because they didn’t vote in large numbers.

It was, then, no great surprise when Gould’s mandate letter as the new minister said it would not be part of her job to change the electoral system. “A clear preference for a new electoral system, let alone a consensus, has not emerged,” it read.20 And “There is no clear path forward,” said Trudeau in the House of Commons. “It would be irresponsible for us to do something that harms Canada’s stability.”21 Behind him, his backbenchers looked glum, as if Trudeau had just announced a campaign to wipe out the Canadian moose.

The reputational damage for the Liberals was significant, even if polling suggested that it did not shift voting intentions among left-of-centre voters permanently. The opposition leapt on the U-turn like lions on a gazelle. “A massive political deception,” said Tom Mulcair, who remained NDP leader pending the election of his successor. As he helpfully pointed out, the pledge was made 1,813 times over the course of the election campaign. It helped get the Liberals elected and many voters would never give them the benefit of the doubt again.

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