Promesses, promesses : évaluation du programme de réforme électorale des libéraux

Abstract

Despite bold proclamations, the 2015 election was not the last federal election to use the first-past-the post (FPTP) voting system. Reforming Canada’s voting system was a key plank of the Liberal Party’s 2015 platform. From the process to the outcome, the attempt to reform FPTP by the Trudeau government was widely panned. However, the promise to end FPTP was actually one of nine election promises made by the party in their platform. This paper assesses the Liberal’s electoral reform agenda between 2015-2019. Using the pledge method, it explores the complete set of election promises made. In the pledge method, the researcher identifies the pledges made in the election platform and then examines the record of government action in order to determine how many have been fulfilled. This analysis features a detailed assessment of voting system reform, the Electoral Modernization Act and the Leaders’ Debates Commission. This broader approach shows that the Liberals were successful in meeting their electoral reform goals. Of the nine promises made, the Liberals kept six and made considerable progress on two others. Only one promise was broken. While the Trudeau Liberals probably deserve much of the ire they received by breaking their voting reform promise, the 2019 federal election was remarkably different from 2015 in terms of the rules of the electoral game.