Why I'm Disappointed With a Liberal Majority

Tonight Canadians overwhelmingly voted for change. And they successfully put a new party in power. But I don't think anything is really going to change.

You see the change that I wanted, that I believe Canadians wanted, or even needed, was a change far greater than liberal over conservative or Trudeau over Harper. The change Canada needed was a core change in how our politics work. For his long as we've been a nation we've used this rudimentary and outdated political system which consists of partisan candidates vying for seats in a first-past-the-post system. Historically this system has had periods where it has worked quite successfully and periods where it has been a broken and stagnating machine.

Presently our machine is not broken and stagnating but broken and destructive. A fact acknowledged by the Liberals in their platform where they do in fact promise electoral reform. I had hoped tonight that a minority government would be elected and that electoral reform would change and possibly repair the system. Sadly, with Mr. Trudeau's big majority win, and the decisions and patterns of traditional party lawmakers over the course of my lifetime, I am skeptical that electoral reform (or at least the kind we need) will actually happen. 

You see my observation has been that the traditional parties and politicians are more likely to defend or consolidate their power rather then to weaken their position by doing what is right. With a majority government in place, Trudeau and the Liberals probably envision themselves ruling much like Harper and other majority governments before have ruled; without cooperation with the other parties. With just 39% of the popular vote, if the Liberals moved toward electoral reform now, than they would be loosening their control of the government. It would force them to cooperate with the Conservative and/or New Democratic parties in order to create new policy and rule the nation. 

I am disappointed and worried because my head and my gut tell me that Trudeau is going to follow the path of other majority governments gone by. He will also be an improvement on Harper, but in my mind the system is still broken. Maybe Mr. Trudeau and the Liberals are superior politicians and parties to others gone by; maybe they will stand by their campaign promises; if so sweeping electoral reform will mean Canadian politics looks VERY DIFFERENT in 3-5 years time. If not it seems Canadians must wait for electoral reform until the next time we get this frustrated with the party in power.  

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If you want electoral reform as badly as I do here’s something to do:

Write your local MP. Write him/her often. Start by asking them to pursue reform. Then ask about how things are developing on the topic. Don’t let ANY MP forget that this is one change Canadians want more than most others! 

For a quick video on why to write your MP check out:

https://www.ted.com/talks/omar_ahmad_political_change_with_pen_and_paper