SoVote

Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Oct/4/23 3:25:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while the minister responsible for people with disabilities says it is going to be 18 more months until anyone receives the Canada disability benefit, Canadians with disabilities continue to disproportionately live in poverty across the country. Like me, the Prime Minister has never had the experience of living under the crushing weight of legislated poverty, but he can do something about it. He could immediately introduce the disability emergency response benefit, as the disability community has called for. Will he do it?

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Context: House Hansard - 229 - Oct/4/23

Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Oct/4/23 6:41:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, over 1,800 times, the Prime Minister promised in the 2015 election— An hon. member: Oh, oh!

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Context: House Hansard - 229 - Oct/4/23

Mr. Mike Morrice

Oct/4/23 6:42:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, over 1,800 times, the Prime Minister promised in the 2015 election that it would be the last election under a winner-takes-all first-past-the-post system. I probably do not need to bore anyone with the details to know that this promise was not kept. It is obvious that politics got in the way. Why does that matter? First, it is because promises matter for Canadians across the country to have trust in our democracy, particularly promises as significant as that one. Second, it is because winner-takes-all first-past-the-post systems dramatically distort the results and the interests of Canadians. As just one example, in Ontario's last general election, the current party that now has 100% of the power at Queen's Park only earned around 17% of the popular vote. What a massive distortion that first-past-the-post continually leads to, time and time again. Quebec's most recent election is just another example. Another reason it matters is that it has been proven, time and again, that first-past-the-post is not appropriate for Canada. In fact, the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, when she spoke on this same topic last night and joined in this advocacy as she has for so many years calling for electoral reform, pointed out that eight times, since 1921, this House or various law commissions have studied the issue, found that first-past-the-post does not fit well for us and recommended we do something differently. We are going to continue this advocacy. Here is what is in the works: Earlier this year I introduced a motion, working with Fair Vote Canada, to call for a citizens' assembly on electoral reform to take the politics out of it and to have regular Canadians come together like a jury to get expert opinion. This would be a randomized group, and it would then make recommendations back to parliamentarians. This approach is supported by 76% of Canadians. Fair Vote Canada volunteers then went out across the country and met with MPs and spoke to them about the importance of following this intention from Canadians and supporting this motion. We were allowed up to 20 joint seconds in this place on a motion. Thanks to the work of those volunteers, MPs from the Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party and the Liberal Party joint-seconded to fill up that list. In fact, Fair Vote had to create a separate website to show all of the MPs who wanted to be known for their support. There are almost 40 now, including the parliamentary secretary who is with us here this evening. The Liberal Party itself then had a convention earlier this year where it also endorsed the idea, through the grassroots volunteers of that party. I asked the Prime Minister shortly after, in light of all this, if his opinion has changed. At the time, it had not. His answer was kind of, “my way, or the highway”. Until we had consensus on a winner-take-all ranked ballot, he was not interested in moving ahead at the time. The good news, though, is that while a vote on the motion I had brought forward would not happen for some time still, the member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith took it upon herself to bring this motion forward. She had drawn a much better number in our lottery system for private members' motions, and there will be a vote on it. My question for the parliamentary secretary is this: Will there be a change in focus from his party to now support this really important motion?

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Context: House Hansard - 229 - Oct/4/23

Mr. Mike Morrice

Oct/4/23 6:49:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to start by pausing on this point about any kind of reform being imposed. This notion to me is not a fair argument to start with because that is what elections are for. Promises are made, people are voted for and those promises are meant to be followed through on. I think that is a really important promise from the 2015 campaign. Not to belabour that point, I really appreciate the support of the parliamentary secretary for this motion calling for a citizens assembly. He knows, like I do, that we are going to need a lot more support across all sides, including from the governing party. Can I hear more about what he is going to do to build that kind of support?

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