Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister believes that his amazing and innovative new consultation process will win the consent of the people to change the voting system in this country, he should have no trouble winning a referendum on his plan. The trouble is that it is not at all clear that he either has that support or ever will have that support. He wants to ensure that once Canadians find out what his plan actually is they will not be able to say no.
The new voting system needs the democratic consent of Canadians or else, by definition, it is not democratic. Why will the Prime Minister not hold a referendum?