Jennifer McLauchlan, the Liberal wannabe MP for Newmarket-Aurora in the forthcoming Federal Election, turns out to be a bit of a disappointment. At least to me. 

She is the type of politician who sticks with pleasantries, unable or unwilling to engage in discussion in case she says the wrong thing.

Earlier today, I wander down to the Seniors’ Centre on Davis Drive where I learn that my old friend Dan Deeson is giving one of his periodic talks on electoral reform. He has been doing this for many years, making sense of proportional voting systems and pointing to the failure of First-Past-the-Post.

It’s a public meeting open to all.

I arrive early. Jennifer McLauchlan comes towards me and introduces herself. I smile and say hello. I say I know who she is, pointing to the giant name tag with the Liberal logo hanging around her neck. In fact, it’s the first time we’ve met.

Keeping her thoughts to herself

Then it’s over to Dan who walks us through the various alternatives to First-Past-the-Post. From time-to-time people ask questions or make comments but our Liberal candidate stays mum, keeping her thoughts to herself.

I have some issues with the “Fair Votes Canada” approach. I strongly believe any change to the voting system must be validated through a referendum. (I also believe a change will never happen in Canada unless the leaders of the major parties are all signed up for it.)

In recent elections the drop in turnout has been a big concern. Dan gets questions about compulsory voting. What do they do in Australia?

I ask about PR in Israel where the entire country is, in effect, treated as one riding. There, the religious parties have disproportionate influence and the tail wags the dog.

Clearly, all PR systems aren’t equal. 

Dan tells me there is no threshold for representation in the Knesset. Most PR countries have a threshold (say 5% of the total national vote) for representation in the national parliament.

Now Dan puts up an interesting slide showing the countries that moved from FPTP to a proportional system – the last being New Zealand in 1993. I am interested in how these countries managed the change. 

Sponge

As Dan wraps things up I turn towards Jennifer and ask for her views. Is she happy with FPTP or would she like to see a change?

She says she is just listening. She says she is a sponge soaking up what people have to say.

Oh dear!

Exasperated, I say: 

“For goodness sake. You are running for the Federal Parliament. You must have a view!”

Listen and learn

But no. Her job, apparently, is to listen and learn; not to offer a view, even if it is provisional.

I tell her she couldn’t get away with that answer on an election debate stage in front of voters. 

We’ve just had a Provincial election where the Liberals got 31% of the vote and 11% of the seats in the legislature.

No view? 

Apparently not. 

Public opinion

I’ve always believed politicians have a duty to shape and lead public opinion. It’s in the job description – or should be.

What if Jennifer McLauchlan were asked about the conflict in Gaza? Or about the melting of the permafrost in the Arctic? Or banning handguns? Or the thousand other questions that candidates for the Federal Parliament should be able to field.

On the back of the Provincial election results she could have told me the result was clearly unfair to the Liberals but that’s the system and she wasn’t going to campaign to change it. That would have satisfied me. 

Disengagement

But to say nothing and to disengage completely from the argument – having sat through a 50-minute presentation – was jaw-dropping.

I voted for the Liberal Chris Ballard in last month’s Provincial election. 

If I had asked him for his views on electoral reform and he told me he was a sponge, soaking up views on the issue before he ventured an opinion, he wouldn’t have got my vote.

People seeking political office at the highest level have a duty to make their views known on the big issues of the day. The perceived unfairness of an electoral system which gives the NDP official opposition status at Queen’s Park with many, many fewer votes than the Liberals is, surely, worthy of comment?

Saying you are there to listen to people – rather than express an opinion, tentative or otherwise - is a complete cop-out.

How on earth did it come to this?

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Note: Vote totals and percentages exclude all minor parties.