Roundup: Electoral reform tries to take the spotlight

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In addition to the constant wanking of pollsters and polling analysts, while the Elder Pundits continue to pronounce the end of Justin Trudeau’s political career, there has been an entire sub-category of commentary that is trying to tie this by-election loss to the failure to enact some kind of electoral reform, even though Trudeau has won two elections since then. Justin Ling wrote up a whole op-ed about this for the Star yesterday, given that the 84 candidates on the by-election ballot were because of a tantrum by electoral reform group to use the stunt to call attention to Trudeau’s broken promise. And Ling makes some wild assertions along the way.

This notion that MPs are more beholden to the party than to their constituents would not be fixed by changing the electoral system. In fact, the current system is the one that most empowers MPs to be beholden to their constituents, as most PR systems rely on party votes, and party lists to fill “proportional” seats, and that makes those MPs even more beholden to the leader because they don’t have the connection to a riding as a result. That’s an even worse outcome, and hands even more power to the leader to centralise, worse than they already do. The ability to be independent under such a PR system is even less than under the current system, so I have a hard time fathoming why anyone thinks that this solves any of those problems.

The current dysfunction that Ling complains about in the piece is not a result of the electoral system—it’s because of the perverse incentives that have developed, compounded by the Trump Effect, that have made rational discourse impossible because everything is about driving engagement over social media, not in the Houses of Parliament. Changing the electoral system wouldn’t change that—in fact, it could make it worse as parties fragment and fragile coalitions emerge that rely on extremists to play kingmaker, forcing parties to behave in even more outrageous fashions. Electoral reform doesn’t solve problems—it takes an existing set of problems and replaces them with a new set of problems. Resurrecting this debate in order to once again flog this dead horse is not helping anyone, and if anything, is just distracting from the actual frank conversations that parties need to be having amongst themselves with their members about how to meet the moment to solving the problems this country faces. PR won’t make that happen, and we have to stop entertaining the notion that it somehow will.

Programming Note: I’m taking the long weekend fully off of blogging, as well as a few days next week in order to work on another project.

Ukraine Dispatch

Ukrainian forces say that they have forced Russian troops out of part of Chasiv Yar. Some Ukrainian commanders are complaining that the Canadian-built Senator armoured vehicles aren’t built for off-road capability, break down too often, and aren’t well suited for the front lines. With the EU security pact now signed, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on European allies to fulfil their promises around arms and supports.

Good reads:

  • In an address to donors, Justin Trudeau stayed on-message about people facing challenges and uncertainty around the world.
  • Liberal ministers fanned out across the country to praise that dental care coverage has now extended to children under 18 and those who get the disability tax credit.
  • Someone alleged to the Globe and Mail that Harjit Sajjan wanted Afghan Sikhs evacuated from Kabul; Sajjan called the story BS and implied racist motives.
  • The CRA is moving to legal action to recoup pandemic benefits that were improperly given, which could include garnishing wages.
  • Outgoing Chief of Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre thinks there are too many high-level bureaucrats in DND, but doesn’t offer any solutions to change that.
  • There is some internal drama within the AFN as resolutions around child and family welfare have been pushed off to a special assembly in the fall.
  • Here’s a look at the new batch of nominees to the Order of Canada. (The full list can be found here.)
  • There are four more by-elections to come over the next few months to see if we can go through more of the same handwringing as Toronto—St. Paul’s.
  • Some Liberal MPs want a caucus meeting before the one slated in the fall, while others are doing the whole “we’re too woke” schtick (so they favour casual racism?)
  • Jagmeet Singh is happy to badmouth the Liberal by-election results but won’t talk about the NDP’s worse result.
  • Singh also wants to dissuade the Alberta NDP from separating from the federal party, but isn’t offering them much to convince them to stay.
  • Keldon Bester points to how the Competition Bureau is getting serious about its new powers with their investigation into Google’s advertising practices.
  • Colin Horgan suggests that the Liberals need to reconnect with having a big-picture narrative if they want to have any hope in the next election.

Odds and ends:

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