Support for electoral reform is a potent, if latent, political force in Canada, and Quebec now seems poised to switch its electoral system from single-member plurality (SMP) to mixed-member proportional representation (MMPR). Several factors strongly suggest that Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault\u2019s government is serious about implementing a proportional system.<\/p>\n
In last year\u2019s provincial election, Legault\u2019s party, the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec (CAQ), clearly specified in its platform<\/a> the system to which Quebec should switch \u2014 mixed-member proportional representation \u2014 instead of opting for the generic platitudes about \u201celectoral reform\u201d or \u201cproportional representation.\u201d Legault even pledged during the campaign<\/a>\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>to \u201cpull a Justin Trudeau\u201d and abandon electoral reform if his par<\/a>ty won a majority in the National Assembly.<\/p>\n After the CAQ won a parliamentary majority in October 2018, Legault reiterated his pledge in favour of MMPR specifically, during his Premier\u2019s Opening Speech<\/a> (Quebec\u2019s equivalent of the Speech from the Throne). Legault clearly stated that his government would \u201ctable a bill to alter the electoral system in the first year of our mandate.\u201d He further promised that the CAQ would seek \u201cpolitical consensus\u201d within the National Assembly by \u201cworking in good faith with members from other parties.\u201d But he also insisted that consensus among political parties in the elected assembly does not mean unanimity \u2014 a reasonable and wise distinction.<\/p>\n In January 2019, Minister of Justice Sonia LeBel pledged that the Legault government would introduce a bill<\/a> to switch from SMP to MMPR by October 2019 at the latest. To that end, the government also authorized LeBel to consult with the Chief Electoral Officer<\/a> and \u00c9lections Qu\u00e9bec on the matter. LeBel announced in February that the government would allocate<\/a> $225,000 over two years to a group called the Mouvement d\u00e9mocratie nouvelle so that it can promote MMPR. She reiterated the CAQ\u2019s campaign promises not to hold a referendum. In April, Le Journal de Qu\u00e9bec <\/em>reported<\/a> that the government\u2019s concept for MMPR would keep the existing 125 seats in the National Assembly, with 74 single-member districts and 51 party-list seats, roughly a 60-40 split. \u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n Since 2005, governments in British Columbia, Ontario and Prince Edward Island have explored proportional representation, but all ended up preserving the current system. They did so by using citizens\u2019 assemblies as intermediaries and holding referendums that required extraordinary supermajorities for electoral reform (at least 60 percent instead of 50 percent plus one) instead of simply tabling legislation directly. All of these indirect methods undoubtedly decrease the probability that electoral reform will occur within a Westminster parliamentary system \u2014 a separate issue from the policy question of whether a province or country should switch electoral systems. Though 57.69 percent<\/a> of British Columbians supported STV in 2005, they did not amount to the supermajority of 60 percent that the province\u2019s government required. Majorities of British Columbians then voted against STV in 2009<\/a> and in 2018<\/a>. Similarly, a majority of Ontarians rejected MMPR in the referendum of 2007<\/a>. Prince Edward Island held a referendum in 2005<\/a> in which a majority rejected MMPR and a nonbinding plebiscite in 2016<\/a> in which a majority supported MMPR, but the Premier dismissed the 2016 result because of low voter turnout. Islanders voted in another referendum on switching to MMPR in conjunction with their general election on April 23 and rejected MMPR by a narrow margin<\/a>.<\/p>\n In contrast, Fran\u00e7ois Legault has clearly demonstrated that his government takes electoral reform seriously precisely because of what he did\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>promise to do: he did\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>say that the National Assembly would strike a special committee to study the issue of electoral reform, nor did he entertain establishing a citizens\u2019 assembly on electoral reform, and then holding a referendum on whether the province should adopt the electoral system the citizens\u2019 assembly recommends. In fact, during last year\u2019s campaign, Legault expressly rejected holding a referendum<\/a> on electoral r<\/a>eform, probably because referendums in that province evoke the spectre of secessionism, a political project that Legault has explicitly rejected in favour of autonomism and moderate nationalism.<\/p>\n The CAQ has a strong interest in implementing MMPR because it won a parliamentary majority in 2018 largely by chance with only 37.4 percent<\/a> of the vote, after an unusual campaign in which four parties were competitive. It is unlikely that these conditions gagnantes <\/em>will replicate themselves in subsequent elections. Switching from a majoritarian to a proportional system would help ensure the CAQ\u2019s survival as a party in a province and political culture renowned for sudden and decisive shifts in the political landscape \u2014 and Quebec currently appears to be undergoing its most significant political realignment since the 1970s.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Legault\u2019s approach to electoral reform \u2014 clearly specifying to which system the province should switch, campaigning on that policy and pledging to introduce a bill to implement it \u2014 best conforms to the principles and practices of responsible government and is greatly to his credit as a first minister. A provincial legislature alone can undoubtedly alter the province\u2019s electoral system under the Constitution\u2019s section 45 Amending Procedure. (Such changes would usually be made through amendments to the provincial Elections Act<\/em> or equivalent statutes.)<\/p>\n Citizens\u2019 assemblies and referendums merely provide political cover, and governments can decide whether to employ them or not; governments are not legally or constitutionally required to act on their results. If a provincial government truly believes in switching from a majoritarian to a proportional electoral system, then its cabinet should take responsibility for implementing it fully. In the current National Assembly, three of the four parties (the governing CAQ, the confused and near-defunct Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois and the socialist-secessionist Qu\u00e9bec solidaire) support electoral reform; only the Liberals, the official opposition, support SMP. If the Legault government follows through and tables its bill by October 2019, it should easily pass with a supermajority of assembly members, and \u00c9lections Qu\u00e9bec would have ample time to prepare to conduct the next provincial general election, scheduled for 2022, under MMPR. Furthermore, adopting MMPR would make Quebec unique and could appeal to the autonomist impulse that Legault has thus far successfully channelled.<\/p>\n If Quebec switches from SMP to MMPR, this policy would reinvigorate similar efforts in the other provinces and in Ottawa. The rest of Canada should watch this debate with great interest.<\/p>\n Photo: Shutterstock, by CL-Medien.<\/span><\/p>\n Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the\u00a0<\/em>Policy Options\u00a0discussion, and send in your own submission.\u00a0Here is a\u00a0<\/em>link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on how to do it. <\/em>|\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ? <\/em>Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques\u00a0et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces\u00a0<\/em>directives<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Support for electoral reform is a potent, if latent, political force in Canada, and Quebec now seems poised to switch its electoral system from single-member plurality (SMP) to mixed-member proportional representation (MMPR). Several factors strongly suggest that Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault\u2019s government is serious about implementing a proportional system. In last year\u2019s provincial election, Legault\u2019s party, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":275655,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T02:30:36Z","apple_news_api_id":"05cd731f-4333-4f8f-bd82-cffa133a3ad9","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T02:30:36Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ABc1zH0MzT4-9gs_6Ezo62Q","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9358,9372],"tags":[9256,8692],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4250,4295],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[7108],"class_list":["post-267172","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politique","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-elections-provinciales","tag-electoral-reform-fr","irpp-category-democratie","irpp-category-politique","irpp-tag-reforme-electorale"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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