Article content

In what was, perhaps, the inevitable result of spending another two days sequestered in a windowless committee room as a steady stream of academics, constitutional lawyers and other anointed experts outlined the pros and cons of moving Canada’s electoral system beyond the winner-take-all First Past The Post, I officially became the latest Hill reporter to predict that the question will likely be decided at the ballot box, either as a stand-alone referendum, or as part of the next election campaign.

To be clear, this shouldn’t be taken as a slam of the special committee itself – as far as I can tell, every one of the MPs who has sat in on one or more sessions this summer appears to be trying their best to take a good faith approach to the issue.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or @Kady: So, electoral reform goes to referendum — here's what happens next Back to video

But for the most part, even before the committee was created, their respective parties had staked out their own positions: the New Democrats and the Greens are set on proportional representation, although it’s not clear they agree on the best model to achieve it, while the Conservatives continue to push for a referendum, and the Liberals – well, it’s not really clear, and becoming less so every time the gavel goes down.