Editor:
On March 3, Bet Cecil responded to my letter on Trudeau’s broken electoral reform promise by stating that I was “mistaken,” without pointing out said mistake.
Clearly, Trudeau, never having served in cabinet, let alone as PM, was mistaken in making a promise to introduce proportional representation (PR) legislation within 18 months, as evidenced by his failure to do so.
The Liberal platform held 200 promises. Anyone who voted Liberal solely for the PR promise now knows they made a mistake voting a single issue.
Ms. Cecil mistakenly states that subsequent governments have been undoing “most of what has come before.”
What Ms. Cecil refers to as left/right swings, others refer to as accountability. While NDPers are not the only ones asking for PR, it is a mistake to overlook that, in the short term, PR will clearly most benefit the NDP (who have failed to form a government in 56 years), and “swing” the country to the left.
PR could prevent extremist takeover, but it would be a mistake to deny that PR provides extremist parties more say in government policy-making, every vote outcome now more subject to the whims of a small minority.
Ms. Cecil refers to government royal commissions on electoral reform, but mistakenly omits that neither the Lortie Commission nor the McDonald Commission made any recommendation in favour of PR.
It would be a mistake for anyone to forget that, in Canada, the following responsibilities are primarily provincial (not federal): property and civil rights, administration of justice, natural resources and the environment, education, health, and welfare. PR will not change that.
Canadians indicate their primary concerns are economy, environment, health, accountability, taxes, jobs, education, and senior care.
Bet, it is a mistake to imagine that democratic reform is a priority for most other people.
Alan Donenfeld, Gibsons
