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2015 Federal Election

I love the idea of electoral reform! Quebec had a bunch of four way vote splits in the election, leading to people winning with a small percentage of the vote.
 
I never thought electoral reform would have come so soon. When I took high school civics class and first learned about it (around the turn of the millennium), I got the impression that most people thought "first past the post" was pretty well accepted by the public and unlikely to go away any time soon.
 
Very, very smart to omit Blair and Vaughan from Cabinet. The former will unable to take/follow orders, will overstep his authority, break/stretch the rules, and be a thorn in Trudeau's side. The latter is on the surface just another old white guy from Ontario in a Cabinet that wants anything but, while beneath the surface has some nasty traits that I'd prefer remained out of cabinet.
 
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Is this the biggest lawyer caucus in Canada's history? I was going through the bios of all the Toronto MPs and I swear at least half had law school on their CV.
 
picard102 said:
Ontario had a referendum on electoral reform not that long ago. It fell flat on it's face.
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Which is one reason why many electoral reform advocates will do everything in their power to avoid a referendum, while electoral reform opponents (in particular, the Conservative Party) will demand one.

The Liberals have not committed to a referendum. In fact, their platform implies that there won't be a referendum ("Within 18 months of forming government, we will introduce legislation to enact electoral reform"). It wouldn't be illogical of them to take the position that there was an election, Trudeau was crystal clear in the campaign that a Liberal government would do away with FPTP, and that a majority of Canadians (at least 62.6%) voted for parties that clearly promised an end to FPTP. In other words, we've already consulted the people. Time to move on.

The volume of calls for a referendum may depend on the nature of electoral reform ultimately chosen. If it's something like MMP (long the choice of NDP platforms), the calls for a referendum may be louder, while if it's preferential voting the calls may be more muted. In all cases, the Conservatives will scream bloody murder.
 
Skeezix said:
Which is one reason why many electoral reform advocates will do everything in their power to avoid a referendum, while electoral reform opponents (in particular, the Conservative Party) will demand one.

The Liberals have not committed to a referendum. In fact, their platform implies that there won't be a referendum ("Within 18 months of forming government, we will introduce legislation to enact electoral reform"). It wouldn't be illogical of them to take the position that there was an election, Trudeau was crystal clear in the campaign that a Liberal government would do away with FPTP, and that a majority of Canadians (at least 62.6%) voted for parties that clearly promised an end to FPTP. In other words, we've already consulted the people. Time to move on.

The volume of calls for a referendum may depend on the nature of electoral reform ultimately chosen. If it's something like MMP (long the choice of NDP platforms), the calls for a referendum may be louder, while if it's preferential voting the calls may be more muted. In all cases, the Conservatives will scream bloody murder.
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Would you guys think the odds are quite high the next election will definitely have a system that's not FPTP, regardless of what replaces it? Enacting legistation to enact electoral reform doesn't specific when the new legislation applies, but it seems pretty hyped that it'll happen shortly.

Some part of me is somehow doubtful that such changes in Canadian politics happen that quickly though but I do think the odds are reasonable.
 
Good question. Trudeau said that 2015 would be the last federal election held under FPTP. I believe he said it more than once during the campaign (and I have no idea how many other Liberals said the same). They went further than the text of the Liberal platform. Legislation in 18-months to replace FPTP for the next federal election.

ETA: He first announced that this was the last election under FPTP in June (see the video attached to this article)
 
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Skeezix said:
The Liberals have not committed to a referendum.
It wouldn't be illogical of them to take the position that there was an election, Trudeau was crystal clear in the campaign that a Liberal government would do away with FPTP
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It will be interesting to see the PQ make this same argument the next time they get a majority. After all, everyone knows they stand for separatism, so when they get a majority, it obviously means people support separation.
 
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BurlOak said:
It will be interesting to see the PQ make this same argument the next time they get a majority. After all, everyone knows they stand for separatism, so when they get a majority, it obviously means people support separation.
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False equivocation considering that separation is governed by the Clarity Act, which clear states that 50+1 isn't necessarily sufficient under judgement by the HoC. Let's not equate the topic at hand as something that would for the weirdest reason, enable separatists in Quebec.

AoD
 
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AlvinofDiaspar said:
False equivocation considering that separation is governed by the Clarity Act, which clear states that 50+1 isn't necessarily sufficient under judgement by the HoC. Let's not equate the topic at hand as something that would for the weirdest reason, enable separatists in Quebec.

AoD
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I am no constitutional expert, but could Quebec not just invoke the "notwithstanding" clause to overrule the Clarity Act?
 
BurlOak said:
It will be interesting to see the PQ make this same argument the next time they get a majority. After all, everyone knows they stand for separatism, so when they get a majority, it obviously means people support separation.
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Independence would be a major Constitutional change. Electoral reform is highly unlikely to be.
 
Speaking of electoral reform, are there any plans to change the rule about citizens living outside Canada being not eligible to vote after 5 years abroad?
I thought I recalled there was something about how it was going to be changed lately but the last time I checked, it still held.
 
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