Electoral reform: Quebec student groups mobilize, calling for change

A Quebec student movement is mobilizing around hopes for reform of the voting system, saying they're concerned that the current system does not reflect the will of voters.

Student associations are determined to re-launch the debate and are organizing a demonstration in front of the national assembly on Nov. 29, the day the parliamentary session begins, to make the Legault government aware of their demands. Other actions are planned in the coming months.

Upset by the significant disparity in the Oct. 3 election between the popular vote and the number of seats won by each party, five spokespeople, most of them students, argued that it was wrong to claim that the subject was of no interest to anyone. It comes after Premier François Legault said recently that electoral reform was only of concern to 'a few intellectuals.'

On the contrary, at a news conference in Quebec City on Tuesday, they argued that Quebecers are dissatisfied with the current system and are demanding changes.

Essentially, to correct the situation, they say they are in favour of adopting a mixed-member proportional voting system with regional compensation.

They hope that the elected representatives of the different parliamentary groups represented in the National Assembly will join them next Tuesday to support their cause.

While in opposition, in the spring of 2018, Legault was also in favour of reviewing the electoral system. He pledged to reform the current first-past-the-post voting system if he took office.

During the first mandate, then Electoral Reform Minister Sonia LeBel, tabled Bill 39 introducing a mixed-member proportional system with regional compensation, but it was immediately shelved and never adopted.

Under the pretext that it was not a priority for Quebecers, Legault flouted his 2018 promise.

Despite this, the student associations are not giving up and are asking the government to recall this bill.

In the Oct. 3 vote, the three opposition parties all received a similar percentage of the popular vote, between 14 and 15 per cent of support, but that popular will is in no way reflected in the distribution of seats in the national assembly.

The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) won 21 seats (since revised to 19), Quebec Solidaire 11 and the Parti Québécois , three. The Conservative Party, which won 13 per cent of the vote, has none.

Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) took the lion's share of the seats, with 90 out of 125, or 72 per cent of the seats, with 41 per cent of the vote.

The organizations that took part in the press conference were the Mobilisation Citoyenne pour une Réforme du Scrutin (MCRS), the Mouvement Démocratie Nouvelle (MDN), the Coalition pour une Réforme Électorale Maintenant, the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ) and the Union étudiante du Québec (UEQ).
 

 

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 22, 2022