Strictly speaking, it does not matter whether a majority of the members of the special parliamentary committee on electoral reform are Liberals, or whether a majority are drawn from the opposition parties. As a practical matter, that means the Liberals cannot force the committee to adopt a given plan on the strength of their own votes alone. Do the Liberals work out a deal with the NDP, some sort of hybrid of PR and ranked ballots? The committee may be tasked with consulting the public, studying different models of reform, and advising the government how to proceed, but nothing says the government has to accept its recommendations. The whole issue of electoral reform is rooted in the divergence, common under the first past the post system, between the parties’ representation in the House and their share of the popular vote.

Source: National Post June 04, 2016 00:33 UTC