Canada’s unions say prime minister must keep his promise on fixing Canada’s unfair electoral system

Canada’s unions say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to keep his promise and reform Canada’s outdated and unfair electoral system. Today Justin Trudeau issued a revised mandate letter to Minister of Democratic Institutions, Karina Gould, indicating that the government is abandoning its promise on reforming Canada’s electoral system.

“Canadians do not believe that a government should be able to win a majority of the seats without a majority of the vote,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff.

“Justin Trudeau promised that 2015 would be Canada’s last unfair election, and he needs to keep that promise,” Yussuff added.

Yussuff noted that the government held parliamentary committee hearings, cross-country town halls and then mailed a Canada-wide household survey on this issue.

“Every measure showed that a resounding majority of Canadians want our outdated and broken electoral system fixed, and for a clear majority, that means moving to proportional representation,” said Yussuff.

“If key election promises can be broken, and consultations ignored, the government is sending the wrong message to Canadians,” he added.