Proportional representation proponent unhappy with Liberal election survey

A member of the PEI Coalition for Proportional Representation isn't happy with the federal Liberals' new electoral reform survey.

Mark Greenansays MyDemocracy.ca gives a misleading impression of proportional representation as slow government, and he's disappointed there are no clear yes-no questions about PR or the first-past-the-post system.

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Greenansays he believes the survey is an attempt to deride the federal committee's call for a referendum on proportional representation.

"I have trouble seeing how this is going to become something really meaningful," Greenan said. "It's frustrating to see yet another committee look at the question of electoral reform and yet again come back ... with the answer that proportional representation is what Canadian democracy needs to be renewed here in the 21st century.

"And really how I read this, MyDemocracy.ca,is [as] an attempt for the government to change the channel from proportional representation."

Widely criticized

Greenan isn't alone in his criticisms.

The federal government is mailing postcards to nearly 15 million households to promote the survey, part of its effort to include more Canadians in the electoral reform debate.

But hours afterMyDemocracy.cawent live, Conservatives, New Democrats and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May dismissed it as poorly conceived and vague, and thehashtag#rejectedERQswas created to help ridicule the questionnaire on Twitter.

As for ideas raised in the survey, Greenan likes the idea of making election day a statutory holiday to bump up voter turnout, but he doesn'tlike the idea of making voting mandatory.

Electoral Reform Reports

8 years ago

Duration 1:11

The special committee on Electoral Reform recommends a referendum but the Liberals dissent