That was a great debate April 2 between Andrew Coyne and
Alex Himelfarb, advocating for proportional representation, and Conservatives Tasha
Kheiriddin and Michelle Rempel.
My favourite moment was at 38:45.
Tasha Kheiriddin had not done her homework.
“There would be a list. The parties would choose that
list. You would not vote for a local MP. The party could re-appoint people. The
party would choose . . .”
Moderator Even Solomon interrupts: “Some people are yelling
out “false.” And so was Alex Himelfarb, former Clerk of the Privy Council, the
very top position in Canada’s civil service.
Tasha Kheiriddin: “I don’t see why it would be false.”
So Evan Solomon calls on Himelfarb.
“It’s false because it’s not true” say Alex Himelfarb,
to great laughter and applause.
“Almost invariably what the Commissions have
recommended has local MPs . . . There are systems which are designed otherwise,
but not for Canada.”
Andrew Coyne spelled it out: “Not all PR system use
lists. The members on the lists can be elected by the members at large. People
can choose names off the lists, voters can vote directly off the list. Lists
are not the caricature that’s being presented.”
Worth sharing.
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