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[np_storybar title=”Read Dion’s 2012 paper” link=”#codeword” ][/np_storybar]

The foreign minister of a Liberal government that seems unwilling to commit to having a referendum on electoral reform was once an advocate of doing so.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Stéphane Dion advocated for referendums on electoral reform in a 2012 policy paper Back to video

In a policy paper published in 2012, Stéphane Dion — then an MP for a Liberal Party that had descended to historic lows in the 2011 election and third-party status — wrote this: “Precedent makes holding a referendum necessary in Canada: changing the voting system would require popular support.”

It’s a far cry from the Liberal government’s current position, which is to avoid discussing the possibility of a referendum altogether — or even to suggest that referendums aren’t inclusive enough because some Canadians choose not to vote in them.

Dion acknowledged in the paper that referendums to change the voting system had recently been held in Prince Edward Island, Ontario and twice in British Columbia, all resulting in zero changes to the existing systems.