Comment by tlavoie
3 years ago
I sure would have liked to see the Liberal party follow through on their promise to engage in electoral reform though. It seemed to have completely slipped their minds once they found a majority.
Perhaps related, but I find minority governments to be the most aligned to how I think things should work. It's not that they can't get anything done, but rather they have to actually engage with the other parties to find common ground. Crazy idea, I know...
Agreed on both counts, with the added note though that minority government only works in multi-party systems. US-style split government is far less functional.
My understanding of what happened with the electoral reform promise is that the Liberals wanted a specific form of electoral reform: ranked choice. Unsurprising, because as the centrist party, they would stand to benefit most from that system. Which isn't to say I necessarily disagree with it; personally I think a system that encourages moderation is probably a good thing. Anyway, when the committee they put together to study the issue didn't come back with that option, they just shelved the whole thing.
Ah, very interesting! It seems like some people are making noise about the issue again, so will be watching that closely. Here in BC, there was some attempt a little while back, but it did not gain sufficient support this time around.