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OTTAWA — Liberal minister Maryam Monsef accused a special committee studying electoral reform of not doing its job Thursday, even as committee members called their 333-page report an unprecedented show in cross-partisanship — and accused Monsef of either lying or not understanding the process.

During a raucous question period, the Minister of Democratic Institutions reiterated there’s “no consensus” on reform, drawing ire and mockery from the opposition. One MP said, incredulously, “people aren’t stupid.”

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In what became a sticking point, Monsef said the committee was asked to “recommend a specific system,” and “it did not do that.” But as opposition members pointed out Thursday afternoon, the committee’s mandate was to study various options — not to recommend a single alternative.

What the committee did recommend, in a report released Thursday morning, was a referendum on changing Canada’s voting system to proportional representation, where the share of seats more closely reflects the percentage of the popular vote each political party gets — the type of system a big majority of committee witnesses and public participants wanted.