MLA concerned Liberals alone will decide electoral reform question

An Opposition MLA raised concerns in the P.E.I. Legislature Wednesday that the province's 18 Liberal MLAs will be the ones who decide on one of two options for electoral reform Islanders will be asked to choose from in an upcoming referendum. 

The premier has tabled a motion in the legislature calling for a referendum on electoral reform to be held in conjunction with the next provincial election, currently scheduled to be held Oct. 7, 2019.

We fully expect there will be plentiful debate and discernment and learning and refinement as this process unfolds over the next months.- Premier Wade MacLaughlan

In that referendum, Islanders will be asked to choose from two electoral models: mixed-member proportional representation, which came out the winner in a provincial plebiscite on the issue, and another model to be chosen by the Legislative Assembly.

"This is one of the major reasons why Islanders are so concerned over what a potential referendum question will look like," PC MLA Sidney MacEwen said during question period. "At the end of the day, it's going to be the Liberal caucus that decides what the question and what the options are going to be."

Referendum decision behind closed doors

MacEwen pointed to the revelation from Premier Wade MacLauchlan that it was his Liberal caucus that agreed, after hours of closed-door debate, on the decision to hold a referendum.

That decision was in response to a plebiscite which saw 52 per cent of voters choose mixed-member proportional from among five options. The premier raised doubts about whether that option received the support of a "clear majority" of Island voters, given turnout in the plebiscite of just 36.5 per cent.

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In the legislature Wednesday, MacLauchlan said MLAs will base their decision on public feedback they're already starting to receive.

"I would encourage all 27 members of this House … to engage with Islanders, and to put forward proposals, and to listen and learn," MacLauchlan said. "It's through that process, and ultimately through the approval of this House, that we will determine that second option."

"He got together with the 18 Liberal MLAs to decide the referendum was needed, and now he's going to use the 18 Liberal MLAs to decide what the second option is will be," MacEwen responded.

Public has already spoken, says MacEwen

MacLauchlan later told reporters the referendum question would be included in legislation the House has to pass before a referendum can be held.

"We fully expect there will be plentiful debate and discernment and learning and refinement as this process unfolds over the next months," he said.

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When asked how government should come up with the second option for the referendum, MacEwen responded: "I think government should honour the results of the plebiscite."

MacEwen said he thought it was "kind of ironic" that the premier is now asking MLAs to do what the province's Special Committee on Democratic Renewal spent a year doing: consulting with Islanders and listening to their opinions on electoral reform.

MacEwen, a member of the committee, said that process cost close to a million dollars, though no final figure has been put forward by Elections PEI.