Following province-wide discussions, the Special Committee on Democratic Renewal has submitted its interim report to the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island and, as the committee heard, it will be taking more time to engage the public and Islanders.
Mandated to guide public engagement and make recommendations in response to the White Paper on Democratic Renewal, the Special Committee sought input as widely as possible with experts, interest groups and Islanders of all ages, including many youth, during these past few months.
The Special Committee on Democratic Renewal hosted a series of nine community meetings across Prince Edward Island, along with additional meetings involving the University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown Rural High School and Colonel Gray Senior High School. The committee received many formal presentations and comments from the public during these public meetings. The work of the committee prompted numerous emails, web comments, Facebook and Twitter responses, telephone calls and personal contacts, which served to reinforce the importance of this issue to Islanders.
Jordan Brown, Chair of the Special Committee on Democratic Renewal Committee explained, “The Special Committee heard over 112 presentations through its initial consultations and has refined the options it intends to seek input on. The committee has set a robust agenda for continued consultations. As we have explained throughout this process, this Special Committee, working by consensus, feels that the residents of Prince Edward Island have a critical role to play in this exercise and ultimately to the democratic process itself.”
The next phase of the committees work will be to refine the plebiscite question and evaluate electoral systems which will be presented to the Legislative Assembly at its next sitting. The electoral systems include: the current first-past-the-post with additional seats for leaders of political parties which receive a certain threshold in the popular vote; the preferential ballot, as a method of selecting members of the Legislative Assembly; mixed member proportional representation; and dual member mixed proportional representation.
The Special Committee on Democratic Renewal is pleased to recommend:
1. That the plebiscite question continues to be shaped by the public of Prince Edward Island over the coming months, resulting in a question which broadly gauges opinion on the desire for a change to the province’s electoral system and presents a number of alternatives for change.
2. That electoral systems to be presented to the public for discussion will include the current first-past-the-post system with the addition of seats for leaders of political parties which receive a certain threshold in the popular vote; the preferential ballot as a method of selecting members of the Legislative Assembly; mixed member proportional representation; and dual-member mixed proportional representation. The current electoral system used in Prince Edward Island will also be considered.
3. That this community consultation phase concerning the plebiscite question take place in early 2016, to be followed by additional educational initiatives once the plebiscite question has been determined.
4. That a clear question be presented to Islanders which will result in a clear expression of the will of the population of the province.
5. That the plebiscite be supervised by Elections PEI, and Elections PEI be charged with considering alternative methods of voting in the plebiscite.
6. That the right to vote in the plebiscite be extended to those Island residents 16-17 years of age.
7. That the timeline for this process be as follows:
• January to March 2016 – Additional public consultations are scheduled and take place across the province to refine the plebiscite question;
• April 2016 – The plebiscite question is drafted based on public comment and response;
• May 2016 – The plebiscite question is presented to the Legislative Assembly;
• June to October 2016 – An educational campaign takes place regarding the options to appear on the plebiscite question; and
• November 2016 – Plebiscite is held.
The Special Committee is made up of the following individuals: Chair, Jordan Brown (Charlottetown-Brighton), Peter Bevan-Baker (Leader of the Third Party), Honourable Paula Biggar (Minister of Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy), Sidney MacEwen (Morell-Mermaid) and Janice Sherry (Summerside-Wilmot).
The committee looks forward to continuing discussions with the public. For further information on the Special Committee on Democratic Renewal please refer to the committee’s website at http://www.assembly.pe.ca/democraticrenewal.