There was a certain type of voter in the last federal election, and the Sunshine Coast had its share of them. These people were genuinely passionate about electoral reform and were convinced that strategically voting Liberal was the way to finally get it done. That’s because the Liberals were unambiguously committed to making “every vote count” and ensuring the 2015 election was the last time Canadians would have to endure the first-past-the-post voting system.
For Justin Trudeau it was, in the words of the Globe and Mail, “a signature campaign promise.”
That promise was officially broken last week, but it wasn’t hard to see it coming after the Liberals’ dysfunctional parliamentary review and hugely flawed public consultation process on electoral reform. Nevertheless, many Canadians who took Trudeau’s promise at face value felt sucker-punched by the news. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, reportedly close to tears, spoke for many of them when she said, “I feel more deeply shocked and betrayed by my government today than on any day of my adult life.”
Like their promise, similarly broken, to not approve controversial industrial projects without “social licence,” electoral reform was one of the paths to power for Liberal candidates in 2015, and Liberal members of Parliament have had to adopt a tone and vocabulary of worldly disappointment to explain it all to their constituents.
This week, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP Pamela Goldsmith-Jones told the North Shore News’ Jane Seyd that electoral reform seems to be a bigger issue for people in B.C. than other parts of the country. But Goldsmith-Jones said she recognized that some people in the riding were “profoundly disappointed” that the Liberals abandoned their pledged reform.
“I apologize for that,” she said.
She’s sorry. Liberals should be sorry, not only for promising sweet nothings to obtain power, but for seriously messing with the voters. By giving hope to all those Canadians who sincerely believed electoral reform would become a reality because they were told it would be, and then betraying that promise, the Liberals have done harm to our democracy. Voter apathy and disengagement are bound to thrive in such a climate of cynicism and contempt.
To those voters, one can be fairly certain, the Liberals’ apologies will be worth about as much as their promises.
