Electoral Reform committee   and the system. That role has been diminished with the unfair elections act. We have people who think they're electing the prime minister—that whole Americanization thing. Again, I'm back to legislation that really enables that to happen. We have people here in the Northwest Territories

Democratic Reform   or will have consultations in their riding on this issue. The Conservatives have had five. That is a lot better than the zero they had on the unfair elections act, I will grant them that. When are they going to let their constituents have their say on this issue? When are they going

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member opposite for his work on this. The government is anxious to work with him to undo many of the changes that happened in the unfair elections act, and also to specifically look at making sure that both the length of elections and the rules

Business of Supply   of the unfair elections act. The Liberal Party has been strongly criticized in civil society groups and community organizations across the country for not having been on this file at all. It is important that the Liberals are now getting involved in what is a pretty fundamental issue

Electoral Reform committee  Right. As it did, I would suggest, also with the unfair election act, which was unilaterally brought through Parliament changing the way people vote. It was seen as a more partisan calculation than it was some sort of hope for democracy.

Privilege   it was that the member for Mississauga—Streetsville said in the debate on February 6 while the House was debating the government's unfair elections act at second reading, under time allocation imposed by the current government. It seems clear-cut to me and to others that the member was providing

Electoral Reform committee  Thank you, Chair. I appreciate the opportunity. I'll just say, I wish the Conservatives had been a fraction more interested in public input when they were ramming through the unfair elections act in the last Parliament, but I don't want to be small minded. I'll begin

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, let me quote the member opposite in 2014, when the unfair elections act was being rammed through with no consultations, when the opposition parties were not being engaged at all, and expert witnesses were not being listened to. I am sorry, he did not say anything

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the unfair elections act is running into trouble in the courts, just as we knew it would and as expert testimony predicted. Provisions of this act are so problematic that two leading organizations are ready to ask for an injunction. There are sections of the unfair

Democratic Reform   to require the consent and work of the House. Where I did see closed-room deals, where I did see Canadians excluded, was unfortunately on the unfair elections act, or the in-and-out scandal, or on the prorogation of Parliament. We saw a decade of Canadians being locked out of our

Business of Supply   favouring one party over another. Canadians would look upon that with suspicion. When the previous government moved what it called the fair, we called it unfair, elections act, it moved it without the support of any other party in the House. In fact, in our view and in the view of many

Democratic Reform  Again, Mr. Speaker, I always find it mildly humorous when the opposition talks about changing our electoral system and the way we vote without consultation, because that is exactly what the Conservatives did with the unfair elections act, making it more difficult for minorities

Democratic Reform  Again, Mr. Speaker, I am always bemused to hear the members opposite talk about how important it is to engage and consult Canadians when they brought in the unfair elections act, ramming it through to try to help them get re-elected. The fact is that we committed to making

Privilege   cases of fraudulent voting when in fact he had not, all to justify his party's misguided unfair elections act. Once again we have learned that the Minister of State for Finance provided misleading information to parliamentarians and the public at a crucial point in time when federal

Democratic Reform  . They never advocated this policy before. When they created the unfair elections act, it was not as if they even consulted in many instances with their own caucus, let alone Canadians. I would suggest that they give this a try and work on trying to find a better system