The image is an infographic titled “The Liberal’s Broken Promise: Electoral Reform” that displays a vertical timeline with colored dots and information boxes chronicling electoral reform events in Canada.
The timeline shows six key events:
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June 2015 (pink dot): Campaign Promise - Justin Trudeau pledges: “We are committed to ensuring the 2015 election will be the last election using first-past-the-post.”
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October 2015 (blue dot): Election Victory - Liberals win a majority government with 39.5% of the popular vote, securing 184 seats (54% of the House of Commons).
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June 2016 (light blue dot): Special Committee Created - The Electoral Reform Committee (ERRE) is established to study options. The committee conducts consultations across Canada.
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December 2016 (red dot): Committee Recommendations - The ERRE recommends proportional representation. 88% of electoral experts consulted favoured proportional representation.
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February 2017 (blue dot): Promise Abandoned - PM Trudeau abandons electoral reform, claiming “no consensus” despite clear committee recommendations and public consultations.
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October 2024 (black dot): Looking Back - Trudeau admits he should have “immediately shut down talk about proportional representation” and that Liberals were “deliberately vague.”
Below the timeline is a “Key Statistics” box showing:
- 63% of voters cast ballots for parties promising electoral reform
- 80% of town hall participants asked for proportional representation
- 71% wanted parties to govern together
The infographic includes a Creative Commons license icon in the bottom left corner and a QR code in the bottom right. The footer cites sources: House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform, Fair Vote Canada, Policy Options.
I get the frustration, I really do. But look, there are actually other options out there - NDP🟧, Greens🟢, and Bloc⚜️ all support proportional representation.
The thing is, this feeling that we only have two choices? That’s exactly what our First-Past-The-Post system wants us to believe. It’s working as designed. Canada’s effective number of parties has already shrunk to 2.76 - we’re literally sliding toward that American two-party nightmare thanks to Duverger’s Law.
Every time we hold our noses and vote strategically for parties that have zero interest in fixing the system, we’re just keeping this broken cycle going.
Your vote is yours. It doesn’t “belong” to either of the big parties by default. And honestly, if you’re voting for a party that refuses to fix our democracy, that’s when your vote is truly wasted.
Some of us live in areas where Liberals and Conservatives are neck and neck. A vote for anyone but Liberal is effectively a vote for Conservative under FPTP, and I’m not going to make it any easier for those traitors and bigots to ruin the country. Sure, Liberals are not what I want, but falling to fascism is a lot more not what I want. I very much want PR but where I live a vote for the parties that support it is just going to result in one more Conservative MP. I hate it, but we have seen in the US election what happens when people let fascists get a foot in the door.
This is me. My riding is a tossup Conservative/Liberal, with NDP currently given a pity 1% chance of winning and nobody else even given that.
This means that as angry as I am at the Liberals for the FPTP stab-in-the-back, that very FPTP system now requires that I vote Liberal for the sake of my country.
I am not happy about this. But in times of war you sometimes need to do unpleasant things you’re not happy about.
I’m in Poilievre’s riding. My buddy who is so hardcore left, he votes communist, is actively campaigning to get the Liberal here elected.
Call out to Bruce Fanjoy. I have no idea who you are, or what you look like, but I’m voting for you to kick the smug asshole out of government.
Fanjoy is getting a lot of support. He actually gives a shit about the riding, unlike pp who is only using it as a stepping stone.
https://www.brucefanjoy.ca/english/about-bruce
That’s good to hear. Since we may be stuck with him for 5 years.
But TBH, I would vote for a sack of potatoes right now if it had a red L on it.
Then after the election, you better be fighting your hardest to get proportional representation.
Get started with this link: Simple things you can do right now, to grow the proportional representation movement—so we never have to vote for the lesser of the evils, have a two party system, “split the vote”, or strategic vote.
My riding is pretty solidly Conservative. I don’t think it has been anything else in its various incarnations since WWII. All I expect to get this time around is a protest vote, but I will be making my voice heard with it, and I will be telling them how they are failing us as Canadian citizens by sticking with FPTP when there are much more democratic options available.
Then after the election, you better be fighting your hardest to get proportional representation.
Get started with this link: Simple things you can do right now, to grow the proportional representation movement—so we never have to vote for the lesser of the evils, have a two party system, “split the vote”, or strategic vote.
I have been an NDP member for over 20 years. I have always voted my conscience. This will be the first time since the 90s i have voted for the liberal party.
Why?
Because this election is too important. If we allow Poilievre to form government, our country could very likely fall completely under his watch.
Let’s be completely clear. If you want to vote in 5 years in a CANADIAN election, there isn’t even 2 choices, there is only 1.
Singh knew the danger of Poilievre, which is why he propped up the Liberals for 3 years.
We are at war. It may be a war of economics, but it’s still a war. And when you are at war, you want your most experienced and equipped soldier in charge. Right now, today… that is Carney.
I hate FPTP, and I have been angry at Trudeau for a decade for breaking his promise of reform… but the barbarians are at the gate. We as Canadians, for this election, need to not let perfect be the enemy of survival.
Carney is not the perfect leader, but he’s the best option by far to keep the barbarians out because Poilievre will happily open the gates for them.
Also, a big part of why the NDP is losing ground is a completely uninspiring leader. Today would be a different conversation if Angus, who was my vote for leadership, had won in 2017. But here we are…
Then after the election, you better be fighting your hardest to get proportional representation.
Get started with this link: Simple things you can do right now, to grow the proportional representation movement—so we never have to vote for the lesser of the evils, have a two party system, “split the vote”, or strategic vote.
I have done all of those things and will continue to do them in the future. But it doesn’t change the reality of the present.
Thanks! Let’s keep growing the PR movement!
Yeah, I hear what you’re saying.
But doing that is exactly what led to the fascist morons being in charge down there.
We can figure out proportional representation after the very real existential threat to our country is dealt with.
Then after the election, you better be fighting your hardest to get proportional representation.
Get started with this link: Simple things you can do right now, to grow the proportional representation movement—so we never have to vote for the lesser of the evils, have a two party system, “split the vote”, or strategic vote.
No, that’s exactly what our first-past-the-post system gives us. It’s not a question of belief, it’s a mathematical reality.
There are probably a few ridings out there with plausible three-way battles where one could influence it in any of those ways. And there are many more ridings where one party is already a shoo-in, and in those cases you can vote your conscience as well knowing that it at least won’t negatively impact anything and will “send a message” in whatever small way the popular vote matters. But in many ridings there are only two plausible choices, and one of those choices could quite possibly lead to the ruin of Canada. This is the reality of first-past-the-post systems. I hate it, but it’s what we currently have.
Then after the election, you better be fighting your hardest to get proportional representation.
Get started with this link: Simple things you can do right now, to grow the proportional representation movement—so we never have to vote for the lesser of the evils, have a two party system, “split the vote”, or strategic vote.