Liberal plan for electoral reform won’t be easy or quick, says elections chief Marc Mayrand

New election system may require long process for new districts and a referendum would cost around $300 million, Mayrand tells MPs.

Thestar.com
July 7, 2016
By Alex Boutilier

The Liberals’ proposal to overhaul Canada’s electoral system just got more complicated.

Outgoing Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand told MPs Thursday a new voting system may require a long and difficult process to redraw Canada’s 338 electoral districts.

Mayrand said it’s still possible, if the government moves quickly, to put in place a new system for 2019 - but it’s not so simple as placing a new process over the existing ridings.

“You should not underestimate the challenges it would represent,” said Mayrand.

“Even looking at a streamlined process to simply aggregate the current ridings, you will have pockets where aggregation will not necessarily be the best way to go. You may find, among other things, a community of interest could be linguistic. Or you may suddenly, through aggregation, completely dilute a community of interest.”

Part of the problem is that Elections Canada doesn’t know what kind of system will be ultimately proposed.

The electoral reform committee is meeting throughout the summer to come up with a recommendation for Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef. The Liberal cabinet, however, will ultimately decide on legislation.

The absence of a clear preference on a new system from the government led to a number of hypothetical situations being thrown Mayrand’s way. Is there time enough to hold a referendum on the new system? Can we simply amalgamate existing ridings? Is it already too late to hold a referendum, redraw ridings, and have a new system in place for 2019?

Mayrand, who is stepping down later this year, said many things are possible - but repeatedly noted the clock is ticking. Elections Canada has worked on a number of contingency plans, but requires a new system approved no later than May 2017.

While the Liberals have not endorsed any specific system, the New Democrats are pushing for a form of proportional representation, which they argue would more accurately reflect the popular vote.

The Conservatives are generally thought to support the current first-past-the-post system, and maintain Canada’s 149-year-old voting system shouldn’t be substantially changed without a national referendum.

Mayrand told MPs that Elections Canada estimates a referendum would cost around $300 million.

Monsef, who testified Wednesday, has not ruled out a referendum, but neither has she endorsed the idea. The minister reiterated Wednesday that the government would not move forward with major changes without the broad support of Canadians - although how the Liberals intend to gauge that support remains up in the air.

“Electoral reform, to be successfully achieved, should be built on co-operation amongst political parties and have the broad-based support of Canadians,” Monsef said Wednesday.

The committee, which will hold hearings throughout the summer, must report their findings by Dec. 1.