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At the provincial level in B.C., we have a provincial government that had similarly promised prior to the election last spring that they would seriously review the project initiated by its B.C. Liberal predecessor to dam the Peace River at Site C, to produce “green” and supposedly cheap energy despite widespread agreement that there was “no business case at all” for the project. It has also pledged a new nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous peoples (as had Trudeau) based on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the core of which is echoed in the Plan of Action stemming from the TRC Commission’s report. This is “free, prior and informed consent.” The NDP has reneged on both, much to the horror of most of its supporters.

What can be done? There are basically two outcomes that follow my description of the state of democracy in Canada. The first is an ever-deepening crisis of institutions and political will in which voter participation spirals ever downward and, as has been amply demonstrated, when this happens it favours the political right. This further opens the doors for the rise of a Trump-like figure in this country.

The second is that citizens take the initiative and rally for electoral reform, promised by the current government, in this province. Naysayers and odd bed-fellows such as Bill Tieleman, a lobbyist for construction unions and NDP back-room boy, and Susan Anton, former Attorney-General in the B.C. Liberal government, would have us believe that proportional representation opens the door to extremism. This is patently false, most of the countries listed above as teetering on the edge of authoritarianism employ the “first past the post” voting system with some form of proportional representation as well. Indeed, the very polity which had a built-in safety valve in the form of an Electoral College, namely, the United States, now has an authoritarian demagogue as its Commander-in-Chief. What proportional representation will do, however, is make the expression of the popular will more democratic and governments more accountable, and will therefore go a long way toward combating the deeply corrosive effects of cynicism in politics.

Samir Gandesha is professor of humanities and director of the Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University.