Warning message

Please note that this page is from our archives. There may be more up-to-date content about this topic on our website. Use our search engine to find out.

UPDATE: The government has agreed with an NDP plan for membership on the proposed special committee on electoral reform.


Today, the NDP introduced an opposition day motion to propose a more democratic structure for a special parliamentary committee to study electoral reform. The motion also requires that the committee be formed within ten days, after waiting eight months for the Liberal government to move the committee forward.

The NDP motion models proportionality by allocating approximately the same percentage of seats on the special committee as each party received in the 2015 federal election.

Here is the proposed committee seat breakdown:

 

Percent of
2015 vote

Liberal committee model

NDP
committee model

Liberals

39%

6

5

Conservatives

32%

3

3

New Democrats

19%

1

2

Green

-

0

1

Bloc

-

0

1


To ensure that all parties represented in the House of Commons have a vote and a seat on the special committee, the Bloc and the Green Party will get a seat each.

We hope that all Members of Parliament see the value in this opposition day motion and support it. This proposed model is way more democratic than the Liberal suggestion of a special committee, on which they will hold the majority.

Changes to our electoral system, including how we elect MPs, are among the most critical decisions that we can make in a democracy. That is why the true measure of support for any recommendation for change has to have support from a broad range of parliamentarians.

No one party should be able to bring in changes to our electoral system. A committee that has the power to recommend fundamental changes to our electoral system cannot and should not be controlled by the government of the day.