Demonstrators gathered at Queen’s Park Saturday to demand an electoral system that actually reflects the will of Canadians, instead of the first-past-the-post election that most recently elected Stephen Harper majority.
The protest was part of the National Day of Action for Electoral Reform, a hastily organized grassroots campaign which saw similar demonstrations in major cities across the country. Rabble.ca founder Judy Rebbick, Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner, Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, and representatives of Fair Vote Canada were among the speakers who were there to advocate Canada follow the suit of other modern democracies and finally switch to some form of proportional representation.
Bennet warned that Without meaningful reform, Parliament was at risk of becoming “nothing more than a suggestion box we hang Christmas lights on every year.”
The weather was grey and damp, but that was fitting considering the unenthused mood many Canadians are in after the federal election. After five years of Stephen Harper’s leadership, 60 per cent of voters cast a ballot for change on May 2 and instead got a Conservative majority.
But with the NDP as the official opposition and the Green Party winning its first ever seat, we now have 104 MPs in Parliament who ostensibly support proportional representation. There might never be a better time to make the push for electoral reform federally.
