The Pollcast: What does the NDP want from electoral reform?
Host Éric Grenier is joined by NDP MPs Nathan Cullen and Alexandre Boulerice
The CBC Pollcast, hosted by CBC poll analyst Éric Grenier, explores the world of electoral politics, political polls and the trends they reveal.
The special committee on electoral reform gets back to work next week. The battle lines have been drawn: the New Democrats and Greens on the side of proportional representation, the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois concerned with holding a referendum, and the Liberals noncommittal and seemingly more interested in talking about online and mandatory voting.
Will this mostly polite but disparate committee be able to come to a consensus on what electoral system should replace Canada's first-past-the-post system for the 2019 federal election?
- The Pollcast: The summer of electoral reform
- Podcasts: Subscribe to the CBC Pollcast
After discussing electoral reform with two Liberal MPs last week, on this week's episode of the Pollcast host Éric Grenier is joined by two MPs from the NDP: Nathan Cullen, MP for Skeena–Bulkley Valley, and Alexandre Boulerice, MP for Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie.
Both Cullen and Boulerice are members of the committee.
They say the NDP is ready to find a compromise, though they have some concerns that the government is dragging its feet on getting electoral reform done. So do they believe that their work will lead to a change in the electoral system after all?
"That is my expectation," says Cullen. "That is the promise that Mr. Trudeau made. It was a black-and-white kind of promise."
Listen to the full discussion below — or subscribe to the CBC Pollcast and listen to past episodes.
Follow Éric Grenier on Twitter.