With the precipitous decline of democracy in the United States, it is all too easy to ignore that Canada’s democracy is in decline as well. We ignore the signs at our peril.
Trudeau did not fail to bring in proportional representation. He campaigned with the intention of bringing in ranked balloting. Instead of forcing it through when he could, he sent it to committee where no consensus was reached. Instead of compromising with a small improvement the NDP flat out refused anything but proportional representation. With ranked balloting the NDP would consistently win more seats than they do now and we would have more minority governments where compromising would result in more progressive legislation.
Trudeau did not fail to bring in proportional representation. He campaigned with the intention of bringing in ranked balloting. Instead of forcing it through when he could, he sent it to committee where no consensus was reached. Instead of compromising with a small improvement the NDP flat out refused anything but proportional representation. With ranked balloting the NDP would consistently win more seats than they do now and we would have more minority governments where compromising would result in more progressive legislation.