Electoral reformers commend Bernard Lord
May 27, 2003
May 27, 2003
Fair Vote Canada today commended Premier Bernard Lord for his election
promise to establish a commission to study a proportional representation
voting system for New Brunswick. The commitment to an electoral reform
study comes exactly two weeks after Fair Vote Canada released a report
identifying New Brunswick as the province with the most distorted election
outcomes.
Premier Lord's commitment is included in the "Reaching Higher, Going
Further" platform released on May 26. The platform states: "As part of
this theme, Bernard Lord's plan will focus on strengthening democracy by
establishing a commission on legislative democracy to study the concept of
proportional representation, fixed election dates and other mechanisms...".
"Premier Lord's commitment makes New Brunswick the fifth province where
voting reform is now on the political agenda," stated Doris Anderson,
president of Fair Vote Canada. British Columbia will soon be convening a
citizens' assembly on voting system reform. Public hearings on voting
system reform are now underway in PEI. In Quebec, all three parties
support moving to some form of proportional representation. The Quebec
Liberals adopted a policy last year to introduce proportional
representation within two years of forming a new government in Quebec. In
Ontario, the Liberals have committed to holding a binding referendum on a
new voting system if they form the next government and the NDP support a
referendum on proportional representation.
Fair Vote Canada is a multi-partisan citizens' campaign for voting system
reform. The campaign has been endorsed by groups as diverse as the
Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the Canadian Labour Congress. The FVC
National Advisory Board includes 31 prominent Canadians from various
backgrounds and political perspectives, including notables such as Pierre
Berton, Ed Broadbent, Hugh Segal, Claude Ryan, David Suzuki, Karen Kain,
Maude Barlow, Walter Robinson, Lincoln Alexander and current and former MPs
from the Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, Alliance and NDP.