Ontario Liberal Leadership Race 2023: Where Do They Stand on Electoral Reform?
The Ontario Liberal Party is having a leadership race. It’s hard to overstate the importance of the party leader to making progress towards electoral reform.
The deadline to join the party to vote in the Ontario Liberal Party leadership race has passed. Party members will cast ballots on Saturday, November 25 and Sunday, November 26, 2023. Counting of the ballots and results will be announced on Saturday, December 2 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Even if you are not a Liberal Party member, you can encourage the party to adopt a strong policy on electoral reform by sharing our report card below!
We realize that each of the candidates has made comments on electoral reform at different times. The report is based on two things: what is in their leadership platform, and their past verifiable actions in support of proportional representation or a Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.
Important Notes:
Fair Vote Canada supports an independent Citizen’s Assembly as an evidence-based process we can trust!
This report card is updated as of November 10, 2023. If the platforms of the candidates change, we will update this page.
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith
PLATFORM ON CANDIDATE WEBSITE:
Electoral Reform
Nate has a track record of supporting electoral reform in Parliament, and he will deliver electoral reform for Ontario.
Citizens’ assembly on electoral reform
Every vote should count, and our representative democracy should be more representative of where we live. We will establish a citizens’ assembly and take a collaborative and good faith approach across party lines to implement its recommendations.
TRACK RECORD ON ELECTORAL REFORM:
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith has been a long-time advocate of proportional representation. Before becoming an elected politician, he supported Fair Vote Canada and mentioned FVC in one of his first speeches in the House of Commons, and has continued to support our campaigns since. In 2017, Nate was the only MP to publicly apologize with a piece in the media for Justin Trudeau’s broken promise. This year, Nate seconded Motion M-76 and M-86 (which will be voted on) for a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. He also supported a resolution going to the federal Liberal Party convention for a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.
Ted Hsu
PLATFORM ON CANDIDATE WEBSITE:
Electoral Reform
When I was an MP in 2015, I voted in favour of a motion on Mixed Member Proportional (the exact form was not specified). It was a free vote for the Liberal caucus which I remember split down the middle with about half voting in favour and half voting against (Justin Trudeau voted against). So I am on the record in favour of proportional representation in general. However, I do not like party lists because they put more power in the hands of the party leadership. I prefer a regional top-up type of proportionality where elected members run for and are elected to represent a region. I think there should be candidates who campaign regionally because I see problems with representation in parliament if unsuccessful riding candidates automatically become regional representatives.
I would put electoral reform in our election platform for 2026 and I am open to including a citizen’s assembly in the platform.
ADDITIONAL NOTE FROM FAIR VOTE CANADA: Ted clarified on X (formerly twitter) that electoral reform wouldn’t be part of their central messaging in 2026.
TRACK RECORD ON ELECTORAL REFORM:
As a federal MP, in 2014 he voted for an opposition motion for Mixed Member Proportional.
BONNIE CROMBIE
PLATFORM ON CANDIDATE’S WEBSITE:
UPDATED Nov 10:
Strengthening our democracy
“If I receive the honor to serve you as the Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, and eventually the Premier of Ontario, I will:
- Support the idea of launching a Citizens’ Assembly to receive objective, non-partisan, and independent recommendations on advancing electoral reform in Ontario.”
TRACK RECORD ON ELECTORAL REFORM
No past action on proportional representation or a Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.
YASIR NAQVI
PLATFORM:
There is nothing on Yasir’s website about electoral reform.
TRACK RECORD:
Federally, Yasir seconded Motion M-76 for a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform (he has not seconded the current Motion M-86). He also supported a resolution going to the federal Liberal Party convention for a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.