Confusion over electoral reform may skew P.E.I. plebiscite: professor | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Confusion over electoral reform may skew P.E.I. plebiscite: professor

Original Publication Date October 28, 2016 - 11:50 AM

CHARLOTTETOWN - The P.E.I. government has intentionally confused voters ahead of a provincewide plebiscite on electoral reform in a bid to maintain the status quo, a prominent political observer said Friday, as voters prepared to start casting their ballots on the weekend.

Prof. Peter McKenna, chairman of the political science department at the University of Prince Edward Island, said the Island's Liberal government has placed no less than five options on a ranked ballot, a move he said has left voters so befuddled they are unlikely to abandon the existing first-past-the-post system, which favours traditional parties.

"(Premier) Wade MacLauchlan announced his interest in having a plebiscite on electoral reform and, in my view, essentially torpedoed it," McKenna said in an interview.

"I admit as a political scientist, I don't even know the full ramifications of these models. So, you're expecting the ordinary citizen on the street to know them? I think that's unrealistic ... It's designed to confirm the status quo."

The provincial government had initially signalled its preference for a preferential ballot system in a 2015 discussion paper, but McKenna said it soon became clear that another system might carry the day.

"I think (the premier) had to rethink his position. He realized, 'If I can't get what I want, then I'm going to do what I can to undermine the process ... by loading the dice."

The non-binding vote will be held online over 10 days, from Oct. 29 to Nov.7. Regular polling stations will be open on Nov. 4 and Nov. 5.

A request for an interview with the premier or a cabinet minister was met with an emailed response from a government spokeswoman who said the ballot options were decided by a legislative committee that includes all parties.

That committee, dominated by Liberals and Conservatives, has only one Green party member.

McKenna went on to predict voter turnout will be low, even though voters have the option of voting by phone or online — a first for a single-issue, provincewide vote. As well, those age 16 and 17 are also eligible to vote — another provincial first — once they register.

Paul Alan, spokesman for Elections Prince Edward Island, said the agency has worked hard to inform the public about the choices at hand.

"We have heard that some people are confused by it," Alan said. "But we've been out on the road since the middle of June ... We were at malls. We were at farmers markets ... Any place people were gathering, we were there."

Elections P.E.I. has also visited every high school. About half of the province's 4,400 16- and 17-year-olds have been registered to vote.

"We laid it out as simplistic as we could," Alan said. "Now everyone's talking about it."

McKenna said Islanders have shown little interest in electoral reform.

"To most Islanders, this is one big yawn," he said, adding that a 2005 plebiscite on electoral reform sparked a much wider public debate even though there were only two choices on the ballot — either the status quo or a system known as mixed-member proportional representation, which is used in Germany and New Zealand.

Only 36 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots back then, rejecting change by a 64 per cent margin. British Columbians rejected the single transferable vote system in votes held in 2005 and 2009.

Neither the Liberals nor the Opposition Progressive Conservatives have endorsed a voting system, which is a way of saying they don't approve of change, McKenna said.

"They know that this model, first-past-the-post — as discredited as it is — still works for them."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised last year the 2015 federal election would be the last one conducted under the first-past-the-post system — a commitment later repeated in the speech from the throne. But recent reports have suggests the Liberals may soon ask for more time.

The Conservatives have been pushing for the question to be decided by a referendum.

— By Michael MacDonald in Halifax

News from © The Canadian Press, 2016
The Canadian Press

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