Fair Vote Canada today mourns the death of Tom Kent, journalist, civil servant, and champion of electoral reform.

Tom Kent was a senior civil servant under Prime Minister Lester Pearson, and chief architect of many of the social programs that Canadians today consider central to our national identity, such as Medicare and the Canada Pension Plan. He remained an influential liberal advisor into the Trudeau years.

He was a distinguished journalist, having been an editorial writer for The Guardian and The Economist in his native Britain before he came to Canada in 1954 to become editor of the Winnipeg Free Press. Later, he was founding editor of Policy Options magazine.

He was also a strong supporter of proportional representation, and served for many years on the National Advisory Board of Fair Vote Canada.

In an article in the Globe and Mail in 2007, he wrote, “It is pure romanticism to believe that we can go back to the good old days when politics was the normal business of two grand old parties. And since we can't, the current electoral system is indefensible."

Tom was an important ally and early mentor of Fair Vote Canada He will be missed.

Shoni Field, President
Fair Vote Canada