Green Party Leader David Coon says he's surprised and bewildered by a Liberal government decision to put off a decision on lowering the voting age for another three years.

The Liberals say they'll hold a referendum on allowing 16-year-olds to vote at the same time municipal elections are held in May 2020.

But the party may not even be in power at that time, given there's a provincial election next year.

Lowering the voting age was one of the recommendations of an independent commission on electoral reform, which released its report earlier this month.

Referendum now necessary

Premier Brian Gallant seemed to welcome the idea at the time and suggested it wouldn't require a referendum, but the government now says it's necessary.

"Obviously someone with some interest or some pull convinced the premier to back away from what seemed to be a warm reception to the recommendation," Coon told reporters Tuesday at the legislature.

Coon said the Liberals have other opportunities to canvass voters on the issue.

"If they feel it's necessary to have the entire population weigh in, [they can] put in their platform for the election of 2018," he said.

"Or if they're convinced a referendum is necessary, have the referendum in conjunction with the 2018 election. Waiting until 2020 doesn't make any sense particularly when you think the municipal election turnout is generally unfortunately quite low."

No comment from Opposition

Meanwhile, the Progressive Conservative opposition refused to comment for the second straight day on whether they'd hold a referendum in 2020 if they win the provincial election on Sept. 28, 2018.

Liberal cabinet minister Victor Boudreau, who's overseeing the electoral reform discussions, pointed out the PCs also refused to join a committee of MLAs that the Liberals wanted to create to study the issue.

That boycott prevented the committee from being set up and led the government to appoint an independent commission instead.

"They've refused to participate every step of the way," Boudreau said. "So I'm not surprised with their reaction, but that's their position."

The Liberals will respond to other commission recommendations, including a proposal to adopt a ranked-ballot system in provincial elections, on Thursday.