OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau abandoned his promise to reform Canada’s electoral system on Wednesday, claiming no consensus has been found on an alternative system.

Only two months after recommitting to electoral reform, Trudeau told newly appointed Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould that replacing the first-past-the-post system was no longer on the table.

Trudeau’s decision shelves months of work by a special House of Commons committee, two separate public engagement and consultation exercises, numerous MP town hall meetings and one cross-country ministerial tour.

The move was called a “betrayal” by the opposition New Democrats, who accused Trudeau of lying to progressive voters when he made electoral reform a central promise in the 2015 election.

“Rather than keep his word to the millions of Canadians who voted for him and the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who engaged in good faith … over this question of how to strengthen and broaden our democracy, Mr. Trudeau chose today instead to spit in their face,” New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen told reporters.

In the House of Commons, Trudeau said not only is there no clear consensus on a new voting system — which citizens weren’t actually asked to weigh in on — but the issue itself is not a priority for Canadians.

“There is no consensus among Canadians on how, or even whether, to reform our electoral system,” Trudeau said during question period.

“We are moving forward in a way that will focus on the things that matter to Canadians. That is what Canadians elected us to do.”

But only two months ago, Trudeau told the Star’s editorial board that he heard “loudly and clearly” that “Canadians want a better system of governance, a better system of choosing our governments.”

Trudeau went on to say he wouldn’t abandon his promise to replace first-past-the-post — which gave the Liberals a majority government with less than 40 per cent of the popular vote — simply because it was difficult to do.

“I make promises because I believe in them,” Trudeau said on Dec. 2.

“Canadians elect governments to do hard things and don’t expect us to throw up our hands when things are a little difficult … No, I’m sorry, that’s not the way I was raised. That’s not the way I’m going to move forward on a broad range of issues, regardless of how difficult they may seem at a given point.”

In June 2015 with the Liberals in third place in the polls, Trudeau held a press conference to promise that “the 2015 election will be the last federal election using first-past-the-post.”

The winner-take-all system, critics have long argued, skews the will of voters by allowing parties to win a majority of the seats in the House of Commons without support from a majority of voters.

Trudeau made the promise in the context of a package of reforms meant to “fix” Ottawa after years of accusations that the Conservatives were running roughshod over Parliament.

While his promise to replace first-past-the-post was unambiguous, however, Trudeau failed to articulate exactly what the Liberals would replace it with.

The government took months to set up a committee to study the issue after the election, under constant opposition questioning in the House of Commons. The Conservatives demanded that any new system be put to a nationwide referendum, while the NDP urged the government to get on with the committee study.

Former democratic institutions minister Maryam Monsef weathered it all, but struggled to articulate the government’s position beyond a commitment to consultations.

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Months of study and consultations later, Monsef blasted her colleagues on the Special Committee for Electoral Reform for failing to endorse an alternative to first-past-the-post — which she hadn’t actually asked them to do. Monsef apologized the next day.

The Liberals also polled a large number of Canadians online — although their survey, dubbed MyDemocracy.ca, was criticized for not asking participants what specific alternative voting system they supported. Shortly after reporting the results of the survey, the Liberals were ready to pull the plug on the whole initiative.

Monsef’s successor, Burlington MP Karina Gould, repeated the prime minister’s claim that there was no consensus on Wednesday.

“If we were to change the electoral system, something as foundational as how we decide to govern ourselves, we need to do it with the support of Canadians,” Gould said.

“It would not be responsible for us to move forward if we did not.”

Gould did not respond to repeated questions about why the government did not ask Canadians to come to a consensus on a new system.

Trudeau’s new mandate for Gould rules out electoral reform in the short term, but also jeopardizes the work of the last seven months by the all-party committee on electoral reform.

That committee recommended that the government hold a nationwide referendum between the status quo, first-past-the-post and a new proportional system of the government’s own design.

The Liberals on that committee issued a separate report, which argued the public was not preoccupied with electoral reform issues, and recommended the government continue to engage and educate citizens about the issue before proposing an alternative.

It’s not clear if either suggestion could be taken up by the Liberals, or another government, in the future.

Now that electoral reform is off her plate, Trudeau has asked Gould to lead an effort to ensure Canadian elections are secure from cyberattacks and foreign meddling.

The Communications Security Establishment, Canada’s cyber-defence and electronic espionage agency, and Public Safety Canada have been asked to assist her in that task.

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