Mayrand: don’t change election laws without broad support of Parliament
OTTAWA — Canada should consider requiring the support of more than just a simple majority of parliamentarians before making any changes to the country’s election laws, the chief electoral officer says.
In his final report to Parliament, Marc Mayrand urges parliamentarians to consider following the example of New Zealand, where key changes to election laws — including provisions dealing with the method of voting — require the support of 75 per cent of MPs or a majority vote in a national referendum.
Such an approach in Canada would likely doom the Trudeau government’s promise to replace the first-past-the-post voting system in time for the next federal election in 2019.
The Conservatives, who hold almost 30 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons, have vowed to oppose any change to the electoral system unless it is first put to a vote in a national referendum — a costly and potentially divisive route the government is reluctant to take and which has killed past attempts in three provinces to reform the electoral system.