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By now it is clear that the purpose of the committee is not to find conclusions, but rather, to run out the clock. The longer the Liberals delay, the narrower the range of options for electoral reform.

First to vanish will be the ability to move to any system that involves riding redistribution. This will remove from the table the electoral systems that were proposed to voters in Prince Edward Island in 2005, in British Columbia in 2005, and in Ontario in 2007. Only the single-member, preferential ballot system, which Mr. Trudeau has indicated to be his favourite all along, will be left as an alternative to the status quo.

Then, with a bit more time, the option of holding a referendum on Mr. Trudeau’s preferred option will also disappear.

Here is the timeline: On April 21, I had the opportunity to question Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand about the practical time constraints he faces. He stated that for any change to the voting system – other than the change to the voting system that Mr. Trudeau favours – “legislation enacting the reform should be there at least 24 months before the election.” That means no later than October 2017. As for the time needed to prepare and execute a referendum on the government’s chosen system, Mr. Mayrand indicated that “six months is an absolute minimum.”

It goes without saying that the government did not have to structure things as they have been doing since Oct. 19. Had the Liberals acted quickly following their election victory, they could have set up a politician-free process of determining which new voting system to place before the voters, similar to the “citizens’ assemblies” employed in B.C. and Ontario a decade ago.