Dear Pamela Goldsmith-Jones,
I am writing you this letter to express my deep dismay and anger with the way the Liberal Party of Canada is handling the electoral reform file.
I am asking you to stand up for electoral reform and ensure that the all-party committee for electoral reform will be in charge, not the Minister who has effectively disqualified herself.
The Liberal Party of Canada made electoral reform part of its 2015 election campaign and platform. Liberal candidates, including Prime Minister Trudeau, exclaimed numerous times that 2015 would be the last election to use first past the post. The commitments were part of the speech from the throne on Dec. 4, 2015.
After years of Conservative government with Mr. Harper at its helm, many Canadians voted for hope, a message the Liberal Party had embraced, which was reflected in the commitment to change the way we elect the Canadian government.
Electoral reform is serious stuff. It is about the ultimate cornerstone of a democracy: how we elect our governments. It is about making sure that every vote counts, which absolutely is not the case at present. The first-past-the-post system is about exclusion to power and nothing else.
With the experience of being born and bred in the Netherlands, a country that since 1917 has used proportional representation to elect its governments, I am appalled by the way the Canadian government, the Minister of Democratic Institutions and individual Liberal MPs have sabotaged the process that was underway.
Over the last few months, we have seen the Liberal preventatives undermining the work of the all-party committee. And recently, we have seen the minister insulting the all-party Electoral Reform Committee. Followed by an apology that was simply not at all credible. Minister Monsef has shown to have no commitment to democratic reform and it looks like Monsef has joined ranks with former minister Mr. Poilievre, who was also a total embarrassment. The minister must resign.
Pamela, you represent the federal government in our riding and you represent our riding in Ottawa. You also represent the Liberal Party. Both Liberal Party and the government have committed to electoral reform. You committed yourself to electoral reform as candidate, and we the people in your riding elected you to become our MP, not in small part because of the commitments to change the way we elect our federal government.
I hope that the Liberal Party of Canada, a colonial party that has never been interested in sharing power, will be able to throw off its colonial roots and cut the umbilical cord with the colonial elite. Otherwise, I foresee the party’s last ‘win’ to be nothing more than an anomaly in a process of fading into obscurity. I am probably asking too much, the future of the party lays in its past.
If you now chose to follow the minister and the Liberal Party in their sabotage of electoral reform, you are betraying the trust of the people in this riding. I am not sure what role would be left for you if you were to do so.
Let’s not ponder over you following the Liberal Party into obscurity, I know you can do better and I want you to show us.
Awaiting your reply. Sincerely,
Anton van Walraven
