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“A massive political deception” is how NDP leader Tom Mulcair, portrayed the Liberal government’s abandonment of electoral reform.

Mulcair’s claim suggests that when Justin Trudeau committed — unequivocally and without reservation — to make the 2015 election the last to be conducted under the first-past-the-post system, he knew he was lying.

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On first inspection, it smacks of George Stephanopoulos’ cynical defence of his former boss, Bill Clinton: “The president has kept all the promises he intended to keep.”

But I’m not so sure. That would indicate a level of premeditated mendacity we haven’t seen yet, even from a government that is becoming more elastic in the application of its principles by the day.

Opinion polls suggest a plurality of Canadians want changes to the way they elect governments, but there is no agreement on what kind of change.

A special committee of MPs that studied electoral reform recommended a referendum, pitting the current system against an unspecified form of proportional representation. The Liberals dissented, while the NDP and Green members added a supplementary report that also questioned the need for a referendum.