Electoral reform committee wraps up cross-Canada tour in Iqaluit Monday

The special committee on electoral reform has spent the last several months gathering expert testimony and hearing opinions from voters across the country, but all that will come to an end this Monday. 

A dozen members of Parliament are set to attend the meeting in Iqaluit, Nunavut, where voter turnout in the last Federal election spiked sharply but still fell far short of the national average.

"We're very interested in how to ensure a higher voter turnout rate," said Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia, who chairs the committee. 

In particular, Scarpaleggia says he wants to hear what voters in Nunavut would think of a proportional representation system, where every vote would "count." 

"Would that entice them or encourage them to come out and go out and vote at election time?"

Scarpaleggia says from the committee's research, it appears as if the voter turnout would go up slightly with a new system, but it would not be "a panacea to the problem."

He adds that it's possible Canada should be looking at going "a more consensus-type system" common among Indigenous communities.

Increase to Northern representation unlikely

While gathering public opinions on an alternative to the current first-past-the-post system is a primary focus of the committee's work, the group is also interested in hearing about other electoral issues.  

NDP MP Nathan Cullen says the idea of increasing the amount of representation in the North has been floated during the hearings — though he warns that would be a tough sell to Southern voters.

"The hesitation you're going to get is that the challenges in the North are servicing really far flung communities, very hard to get to with low populations," Cullen said. 

"The challenge that you'll hear from city members of parliament is that they already have 150-, 160-thousand people to service."

Scarpaleggio says people in the Northwest Territories and Yukon have been quick to defend against any movement in the other direction, stressing that each region of the North has unique issues and political circumstances. 

"So if there was ever talk of merging everyone into one riding, then that would be a non-starter," he said.

Cullen says there's a possibility of changing to a proportional representation system which would give each person two votes: "One to elect your local representative and then a second vote that goes to electing someone more broadly from the North or from a region."

The committee is also interested in hearing what remote Northern communities — where Internet services can be extremely limited — might think about the ideas electronic voting or mandatory voting. 

Committee learned from 'unfortunate' town hall

Earlier this year, Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef visited Iqaluit for a town hall on this issue, but the handful of residents who turned up for the meeting said it was "very disappointing."

The meeting, which took place during a regular work day, had no Inuktitut translation.

"That was a bit unfortunate that I think there was also not necessarily a lot of notice given," said Cullen. "I suspect that [Monsef] would agree that it wasn't done the way it should be."

Both Cullen and Scarpaleggia say this meeting will make up for the town hall, with two opportunities for residents to voice their concerns in between witness panels — one in the afternoon and one in the evening.

"These open mic sessions have been some of the most interesting parts of any given day," said Scarpaleggia.

It's too late for residents outside of Nunavut's capital to fill out an electronic survey on electoral reform, but Cullen suggests that anyone who can't come to this final community hearing email the committee with their thoughts.

In particular, he hopes to hear from youth in advance of any "historic" changes.

"These decisions that we make last for many generations," he said.

The meeting runs from 1:30p.m. until 9:30p.m. at Iqaluit's Frobisher Inn. Members of the special committee will hear from more witnesses in Ottawa before drafting their final report, which is due on December 1.