By Pepper Parr
July 2nd, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould stands during Question Period in the House of Commons on Feb. 1, 2017. (Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)
“Seven months after her predecessor described the current electoral system as “antiquated,” and one week after the Liberal government abandoned its pursuit of reform, the new minister of democratic institutions defended first-past-the-post during an appearance before a House of Commons committee.
Serving as Minister of Democratic Institutions in 2017, Karina Gould stands during Question Period in the House of Commons (Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)
This was back in 2017, February 7th actually, Karina Gould MP for Burlington, said:
“The first-past-the-post system may not be perfect — no electoral system is, … But it has served this country for 150 years and advances a number of democratic values that Canadians hold dear, such as strong local representation, stability and accountability.”
The decision to abandon the Liberal Party’s commitment to implement a new electoral system was “difficult” but “responsible,” Gould said, citing a lack of consensus around the options.
Had the government stood by its commitment “to implement a new electoral system” the results of the election in Toronto St. Paul would have been a lot different.
It would be interesting to hear what Gould would have to say about the statements she made in 2017.
We will ask and see what comes back in the way of a response.
To Ms Gould: Looking back at the decision you announced in 2017, that the federal government was not going to change the existing ‘first past the post’ method of determining who had won an election and looking at the results of the recent Toronto St. Paul by election would you comment on the way things worked out?
The word ‘Ironic’ sums it up rather well.
We sent Dave Meslin – an authority on ranked balloting, asking what he thought the outcome in Toronto St. Paul would be: His reply; “It’s impossible to know for sure how voters might have ranked their ballots…. but yes, it’s quite likely that the Liberals would have won St Pauls. It’s the most likely outcome.
No response yet from Karina Gould
Discover more from Burlington Gazette - Local News, Politics, Community
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
In a proper ranked ballot system, there is no rule that you have to rank every candidate on the ballot. The instigators of at least 74 of the ‘candidates’ in St. Paul got to prove the achilles heel of FPTP for a just a few thousand $$$ in fees.
I agree with both of your replies Perry. Minister Gould had the rug pulled from under her by those above who know who they are. And so do we.
And ranked balloting does not require you assign a rank number to every candidate on the ballot.
In my opinion, rookie minister Gould was given a poisoned chalice, and when it looked like she was making real progress, she was told to back off. Just sayin’.
For ranked balloting… is the expectation that the voter will prepare an in-depth research on each of the 84 different candidates on the ballot? And then apply a scoring system – and remember this ranking when they enter the voting booth?
The voter will then rank each candidate 1-84 with a pencil.
This process could take some time – creating long line ups behind the booth.
If a mistake is made on the ballot – it cannot be erased – the voter must request a 2nd ballot. The voter only gets ONE chance to make an error on the ballot.
Could be an interesting way to go!
Short answer is NO and if you think that is at the heart of the dissatisfaction the reversal of the “ first past the post” was just one of many broken promises, followed by ineptness, messing up and telling Canadians WE had to do better, and the coup de grace was the Emergency Act that saw bank accounts frozen and the worst of all broken promises was the one where the carbon tax limit was scrapped and the stretching of the truth that we would get it all back. Need I go on? Locally, Minister Gould is not one of the Liberals who wants Trudeau to take a long walk off our short pier.