Canadian House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform

The House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform (ERRE) is a special committee of the House of Commons of Canada established during the 42nd Canadian Parliament to investigate reforms to the Canadian electoral system. The formation of "an all-party Parliamentary committee to review... [electoral] reforms" was an election promise by Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau in the 2015 federal election.^[1] After becoming Prime Minister, Trudeau indicated the formation of a special committee was a priority for newly-appointed Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef.^[2]

Establisment

On May 10, 2016, Maryam Monsef gave notice in the House of Commons of the government's plans for the composition of the Special Committee.^[3] The initial proposed structure of the Special Committee was 10 voting members allocated based on each official party's seats in the House (6 Liberal members, 3 Conservative members, and 1 New Democratic member), with a member of the Bloc Québécois and Green Party leader Elizabeth May given additional non-voting seats.^[4] This was criticized by the opposition party leaders, as the government would have possessed a majority of the committee seats and could unilaterally recommend alterations to the electoral system without the support of any other party. Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, the Leader of the Official Opposition, denounced the plan as "stacking the deck", while Nathan Cullen, the NDP critic for Democratic Institutions, urged the government to reconsider this plan as well. The Green Party and the Bloc Québécois additionally objected to their lack of voting representation on the committee.^[5]

On June 2, 2016, Monsef announced that the government would support a motion by Cullen to alter the structure of the committee to have seats allocated based on percentage of the popular vote in the 2015 election and give the Bloc Québécois and Greens one voting seat each on the committee.^[6][7] The Liberal caucus on the committee would have in effect only four voting members, as the chair would not vote unless there was a tie.^[8]

On June 7, 2016, Cullen's motion, seconded by NDP MP Matthew Dubé, was approved by the House of Commons. The special committee was thereby empowered to "conduct a study of viable alternate voting systems to replace the first-past-the-post system, as well as to examine mandatory voting and online voting", all with an eye to improving the legitimacy, integrity, and inclusiveness of the voting system, and the extent to which it could facilitate local representation and citizen engagement. The motion directed that the committee's membership be named by the party whips within ten sitting days of its passage, and that the committee issue its final report to the House of Commons no later than December 1, 2016.^[9] This deadline was extended to June 23, but this proved to be unnecessary, as the final membership was deposited with the clerk of the House on June 17.^[10] The committee held its first meeting on June 21, 2016.

Citizen submissions

The deadline for making submissions to the House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform was October 7, 2016. Citizens could make submissions online, attend townhalls hosted by Members of Parliament or attend committee hearings which were held in Cities across Canada in September and early October 2016.^[11]

By October 8, 2016 a poll by Mainstreet Research for the Ottawa Citizen revealed that while 45 per cent of Ottawa voters are following the electoral reform process and that a two in three Ottawa residents favour reforms, most of those surveyed missed out on local townhall meetings on electoral reform already held by MPs because they were not aware that they were happening.^[12]

Membership

Witnesses

The committee heard from numerous public servants, academics, members of the public, and electoral officers from Canada and around the world.^[13] The first witness before the committee was Maryam Monsef, Minister of Democratic Institutions, who outlined the government's approach.^[14][15] The following day, Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand^[16] and his predecessor Jean-Pierre Kingsley testified.^[17] Their counterparts Robert Peden, from the New Zealand Electoral Commission, and Tom Rogers, Australian Electoral Commission, also appeared later in July.^[18] Among the many academics that testified before the committee was Arend Lijphart, an expert on electoral systems.^[19][20] In September and October 2016, the committee held public meetings in cities across Canada.

Report

On December 1, 2016, the committee released its report recommending that a form of proportional representation be adopted, and that a referendum be held on the issue.^{[21][22][23][24]}

References

External links

• Official website
• Report: Strengthening Democracy in Canada: Principles, Process and Public Engagement for Electoral Reform