Wednesday, March 31, 2004

OTTAWA - Today, as the Law Commission of Canada released their report proposing changes to the federal voting system, Democracy Watch called on all federal political parties to ensure that any voting system changes, including changes to the Senate, be undertaken only after an in-depth public consultation.

“Changes to the federal voting system will give more political parties power on Parliament Hill, and could change the Senate fundamentally, but will not necessarily empower voters to influence the federal government or hold it accountable,” said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch.  “Canadians must be consulted using in-depth, meaningful ways to ensure that any changes result in a voting system that a very high percentage of Canadians support.”

Several different voting systems exist, and they can be implemented several different ways by the federal government.  Democracy Watch supports changes to the federal voting system to ensure that the popular vote received by each political party in each federal election is reflected in the number of seats each party obtains in Parliament.  Democracy Watch also supports Senate reform.

However, changes to the existing systems can create as many problems as they solve.  Given that currently Liberal MPs and senators have decision-making power to make changes to the current voting system and Senate, they could make changes that benefit mainly the Liberal Party.  Changes could also give parties with minimal popular support excessive power in a minority government situation.

“All federal political parties supporting changes to the voting system and Senate reform must commit that they will share any power they have to make changes with the public through a meaningful public consultation process,” said Conacher.

For example, the B.C. government is currently using a Citizen Assembly to develop recommendations for changing the provincial voting system.  In the past, the federal government has used the “study circle” method as a more meaningful public consultation process (for example, the 1994 changes to immigration law and policy, and the 2002 Romanow Commission on health care both used the “study circle” method) and the Ontario government recently used the process in its budget consultations.

In the study circle method, several small groups of citizens chosen through a statistically representative process discuss the issue in question over three sessions, and then make recommendations.  Unlike telephone or focus-group polls, the multiple sessions in the study circle method allow participants to learn all the facts and figures about an issue before they are asked their opinion about what they think the government should do).  Democracy Watch believes all governments should use the study-circle method of consultation for any major policy-making processes.