Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2024-02-05 11:30:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)",
        "fr": "Mme Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NPD)"
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"8175803\" data-originallang=\"en\">Mr. Speaker, I am so happy to stand today and speak in support of Motion No. 86. My colleague from <a data-HoCid=\"278788\" href=\"/politicians/lisa-marie-barron/\" title=\"Lisa Marie Barron\">Nanaimo\u2014Ladysmith</a> and the member for <a data-HoCid=\"278634\" href=\"/politicians/daniel-blaikie/\" title=\"Daniel Blaikie\">Elmwood\u2014Transcona</a> before her have done vitally important work to ensure that electoral reform is a discussion we are having in the House.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175804\" data-originallang=\"en\">We all know why we are in this place right now talking about this. It is because of the failure of the current government to live up to the promises it made to Canadians before being elected.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175805\" data-originallang=\"en\">I read somewhere that the current <a data-HoCid=\"214296\" href=\"/politicians/justin-trudeau/\" title=\"Justin Trudeau\">Prime Minister</a> had mentioned over 1,600 times during the election campaign that he was going to fix our electoral system. Of course, he did not do that. As soon as he had that taste of power, he chose a different route. I think that is why electoral reform is so important. It is to prevent this constant back and forth where we see Liberal, Conservative, Liberal, Conservative, without having to have a majority of votes.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175806\" data-originallang=\"en\">I am hearing a few heckles from the Conservatives. I actually want to touch on that, because, of course, I have been listening to my colleagues from the Conservatives talk about electoral reform, how it works and whatnot. I know that some of the members speaking are being a little disingenuous.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175807\" data-originallang=\"en\">For example, if one were to look at how Conservatives elect their own leaders, one would find that they do not believe that first past the post is the best way to do that. They use a form of electoral reform to elect their own leaders within their party. That is their party politics.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175808\" data-originallang=\"en\">One will often hear them talking in this place about how there is a \u201ccoalition\u201d between the New Democrats and the Liberals. Of course, they know very well that there is no coalition, that this is not what is happening. More importantly, we should recognize that coalitions are meant to be part of our electoral system and our parliamentary system.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175809\" data-originallang=\"en\">I know that this is not the culture in Canada to date, but that is the system within which we are working. If anyone ever says that coalitions are illegal, they do not reflect the will of the people or any of that, this is actually incorrect. While we do not have a coalition, I would say that coalitions are part of our electoral system. Moreover, in fact, we have seen many times that the Liberals and the Conservatives work very well together. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175810\" data-originallang=\"en\">My main thinking on this, in terms of why we need electoral reform, is that I feel our politics are becoming so much more divisive, so much more pushed to the sides. The problem is that the vast majority of Canadians do not live on the outside edges. Most Canadians are centrists. They want to see common sense. They want to see their politicians work together. They want to see us working on the things that matter to them. However, because of our political system, things are moved to the side. Things are moved to the edges. It is very dangerous. We are seeing this across the country.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175811\" data-originallang=\"en\">I would be remiss if I did not raise the issue of what is happening in my province of Alberta. This weekend, I was at a rally to protect trans kids, because Premier Smith, and perhaps we should call her \u201cMarlaina\u201d Smith, has decided to make an attack on trans kids.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175812\" data-originallang=\"en\">I have to say that the reason she is doing this is fully political. It is because, in Alberta, the centre, the vast majority of Albertans, are not controlling what our political parties do.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175813\" data-originallang=\"en\">Right now, in Alberta, the far right is controlling what our premier does. We saw this with Jason Kenney. He was not brought down by Albertans; he was brought down by the far right, extreme views of some Albertans, which do not represent the majority of people who cast a ballot in Alberta.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175814\" data-originallang=\"en\">Danielle Smith does not have to protect herself from the centrists. She needs to protect her job by actually going as far right as she can. Who cares about the most vulnerable minority groups in our provinces, who require real leadership from their premier? Who cares about kids who could lose their lives? As long as one keeps one's job, as long as one is able to do that, then one is in good shape.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175815\" data-originallang=\"en\">When I hear the Conservatives in here trying to heckle me and saying that first past the post is the most effective, I think we can see in our country that this is not what is happening. We even see it within the Conservative Party. Erin O'Toole was not brought down by the centrists within the party. He was brought down by the far right. The <a data-HoCid=\"291215\" href=\"/politicians/pierre-poilievre/\" title=\"Pierre Poilievre\">Leader of the Opposition</a> has to keep the people on the far right happy or lose his job. This is a problem with our electoral system.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175816\" data-originallang=\"en\">I spend a lot of time talking in schools. I used to be a teacher before I was elected. I love meeting with students and talking about our electoral processes. I always talk to them about this idea that we need representation. Our Parliament needs to look like our country. We need to have the same makeup and diversity that makes Canada so wonderful and so strong. It needs to be represented in our Parliament.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175817\" data-originallang=\"en\">The problem is that the current system makes it much harder to ensure that what happens in this House reflects what happens in our beautiful country of Canada. We do not see enough women or minority groups represented in politics. We do not see that diversity of age, ethnicity and language. All those pieces are missing when we have a first-past-the-post system.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175818\" data-originallang=\"en\">When I speak to young people, I always think that they should all be thinking about politics as a potential career, every one of them. We need more people who want to get engaged. We need more women and more diversity within our House of Commons. However, in the back of my mind, I always think it is really hard for women to engage. It is really divisive and hateful. We make it difficult for minority groups to participate, raise their concerns and raise their voices.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175819\" data-originallang=\"en\">I always use child care as a perfect example of that. I mean no offence to my colleagues who are older white men, but if we filled this place with old white men, would they care as much about child care as a young woman with small children would? Do we not think that there is some recognition that a 16-year-old who is going to be living on this planet a lot longer than me, or any other member, would care more about climate justice and climate change than somebody who is wrapping up their career?</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"8175803\" data-originallang=\"en\">Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, je me r\u00e9jouis de prendre la parole aujourd\u2019hui pour appuyer la motion M\u201186. La d\u00e9put\u00e9e de <a data-HoCid=\"278788\" href=\"/politicians/lisa-marie-barron/\" title=\"Lisa Marie Barron\">Nanaimo\u2014Ladysmith</a> et, avant elle, le d\u00e9put\u00e9 d\u2019<a data-HoCid=\"278634\" href=\"/politicians/daniel-blaikie/\" title=\"Daniel Blaikie\">Elmwood\u2014Transcona</a> se sont consid\u00e9rablement investis dans le dossier de la r\u00e9forme \u00e9lectorale afin que la Chambre puisse en \u00eatre finalement saisie.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175804\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Nous savons tous pourquoi nous discutons aujourd\u2019hui de cette question. C\u2019est parce que le gouvernement actuel n\u2019a pas tenu la promesse qu\u2019il a faite aux Canadiens pendant la campagne \u00e9lectorale.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175805\" data-originallang=\"en\"> J\u2019ai lu quelque part que l\u2019actuel <a data-HoCid=\"214296\" href=\"/politicians/justin-trudeau/\" title=\"Justin Trudeau\">premier ministre</a> a dit plus de 1 600 fois pendant la campagne \u00e9lectorale qu\u2019il allait r\u00e9former notre syst\u00e8me \u00e9lectoral. Bien s\u00fbr, ce n\u2019est pas ce qu\u2019il a fait. D\u00e8s qu\u2019il a eu le pouvoir, il a choisi de proc\u00e9der autrement. C\u2019est pr\u00e9cis\u00e9ment la raison pour laquelle la r\u00e9forme \u00e9lectorale rev\u00eat une telle importance, car il faut emp\u00eacher cette alternance continuelle entre lib\u00e9raux et conservateurs m\u00eame en l\u2019absence d\u2019une majorit\u00e9 des voix.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175806\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Je vois que je me fais chahuter par quelques conservateurs. J\u2019ai \u00e9cout\u00e9 des d\u00e9put\u00e9s conservateurs parler de la r\u00e9forme \u00e9lectorale, du fait qu'elle fonctionne, etc. Je trouve que certains d\u2019entre eux sont de mauvaise foi.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175807\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Par exemple, quand on voit comment les conservateurs \u00e9lisent leur propre chef, il est \u00e9vident qu\u2019ils ne croient pas aux vertus du syst\u00e8me majoritaire uninominal \u00e0 un tour. Ils ont choisi un syst\u00e8me diff\u00e9rent pour \u00e9lire leur propre chef au sein du parti; c\u2019est la politique de leur parti.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175808\" data-originallang=\"en\"> On les entend souvent parler, dans cette Chambre, de ce qu\u2019ils appellent la \u00ab coalition \u00bb des n\u00e9o-d\u00e9mocrates et des lib\u00e9raux. Pourtant, ils savent parfaitement que ce n\u2019est pas une coalition; absolument pas. Il n\u2019en demeure pas moins que les coalitions sont cens\u00e9es faire partie de notre syst\u00e8me \u00e9lectoral et de notre syst\u00e8me parlementaire.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175809\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Je sais que ce n\u2019est pas tr\u00e8s fr\u00e9quent au Canada, mais c\u2019est le syst\u00e8me dans lequel nous fonctionnons. Nul ne peut dire que les coalitions sont ill\u00e9gales et qu\u2019elles ne refl\u00e8tent pas la volont\u00e9 du peuple. M\u00eame s\u2019il n\u2019y a pas aujourd\u2019hui de coalition, force est de reconna\u00eetre que cela fait partie de notre syst\u00e8me \u00e9lectoral. Sans compter que, dans les faits, il est arriv\u00e9 tr\u00e8s souvent que les lib\u00e9raux et les conservateurs travaillent tr\u00e8s bien ensemble.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175810\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Je pense surtout que nous avons besoin d\u2019une r\u00e9forme \u00e9lectorale parce que j'ai l'impression que notre sc\u00e8ne politique est de plus en plus clivante et que les d\u00e9bats y sont de plus en plus polaris\u00e9s. Or, la grande majorit\u00e9 des Canadiens ne sont pas extr\u00e9mistes; la plupart sont centristes. Ils veulent que leurs politiciens s\u2019en tiennent au bon sens. Ils veulent que leurs politiciens collaborent entre eux. Ils veulent nous voir travailler sur les enjeux qui leur tiennent \u00e0 c\u0153ur. Malheureusement, notre syst\u00e8me politique fait que tout cela est pouss\u00e9 aux extr\u00eames. Les enjeux sont polaris\u00e9s, et c\u2019est tr\u00e8s dangereux. C'est ce que l'on voit partout au pays.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175811\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Je m\u2019en voudrais de ne pas parler de ce qui se passe dans ma province, l\u2019Alberta. Ce week-end, j\u2019ai particip\u00e9 \u00e0 un rassemblement exigeant que l\u2019on prot\u00e8ge les enfants trans, parce que la premi\u00e8re ministre Smith, que nous devrions peut-\u00eatre appeler \u00ab Marlaina \u00bb Smith, a d\u00e9cid\u00e9 de s\u2019en prendre aux enfants trans.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175812\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Soulignons qu\u2019elle fait cela pour des raisons purement politiques. En Alberta, la grande majorit\u00e9 des Albertains, qui sont centristes, n\u2019ont aucune influence sur ce que font nos partis politiques.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175813\" data-originallang=\"en\"> \u00c0 l\u2019heure actuelle, en Alberta, l\u2019extr\u00eame droite dirige ce que fait notre premi\u00e8re ministre. Jason Kenney a subi le m\u00eame sort. Il n\u2019a pas \u00e9t\u00e9 renvers\u00e9 par les Albertains, mais par les opinions d'extr\u00eame droite de quelques Albertains qui ne repr\u00e9sentent pas la majorit\u00e9 des \u00e9lecteurs de notre province.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175814\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Danielle Smith n\u2019a pas besoin de se prot\u00e9ger des centristes. Pour conserver son poste, elle doit plut\u00f4t agir le plus \u00e0 droite possible. Pourquoi se soucier des groupes minoritaires les plus vuln\u00e9rables de nos provinces qui ont besoin d\u2019un v\u00e9ritable leadership de la part de leur premier ministre? Pourquoi se soucier des enfants qui risquent de perdre la vie? Tant qu\u2019un premier ministre r\u00e9ussit \u00e0 se maintenir en poste, il estime qu'il fait les choses comme il faut.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175815\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Les conservateurs me chahutent en criant que le syst\u00e8me uninominal majoritaire \u00e0 un tour est le plus efficace. Pourtant, je pense qu'on peut constater \u00e0 travers le pays que ce n'est pas le cas. On peut le constater m\u00eame au sein du Parti conservateur. Erin O\u2019Toole n\u2019a pas \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9chu de son poste par les centristes de son parti. Il a \u00e9t\u00e9 rejet\u00e9 par l\u2019extr\u00eame droite. Le <a data-HoCid=\"291215\" href=\"/politicians/pierre-poilievre/\" title=\"Pierre Poilievre\">chef de l\u2019opposition</a> doit faire plaisir aux gens de l\u2019extr\u00eame droite, sinon il va perdre son poste. Voil\u00e0 un v\u00e9ritable probl\u00e8me caus\u00e9 par notre syst\u00e8me \u00e9lectoral actuel.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175816\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Je passe beaucoup de temps \u00e0 parler dans les \u00e9coles. J\u2019\u00e9tais enseignante avant d\u2019\u00eatre \u00e9lue. J\u2019adore rencontrer des \u00e9tudiants et discuter de nos processus \u00e9lectoraux. Je leur dis toujours que nous avons besoin d\u2019\u00eatre bien repr\u00e9sent\u00e9s. Notre Parlement devrait ressembler \u00e0 notre pays. Nous devrions avoir la m\u00eame composition et la m\u00eame diversit\u00e9 qui font du Canada un pays si merveilleux et si fort. Notre Parlement devrait repr\u00e9senter le Canada.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175817\" data-originallang=\"en\">Le probl\u00e8me, avec le syst\u00e8me actuel, c'est qu'il fait en sorte qu'il est beaucoup plus difficile que la r\u00e9alit\u00e9 de notre beau pays se refl\u00e8te \u00e0 la Chambre. Les femmes et les groupes minoritaires ne sont pas suffisamment repr\u00e9sent\u00e9s en politique. On n'y constate pas la m\u00eame diversit\u00e9 sur les plans de l'\u00e2ge, de l'origine ethnique ou de la langue. Tous ces \u00e9l\u00e9ments sont absents du syst\u00e8me uninominal majoritaire \u00e0 un tour. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175818\" data-originallang=\"en\">Lorsque je discute avec des jeunes, je me dis toujours que chacun d'entre eux devrait songer \u00e0 faire carri\u00e8re en politique. Il faut qu'ils soient plus nombreux \u00e0 vouloir faire le saut en politique. Il faut davantage de femmes et de diversit\u00e9 \u00e0 la Chambre des communes. Par contre, au fond de moi, il y a toujours cette voix qui me rappelle \u00e0 quel point il est difficile pour les femmes de se lancer en politique. C'est vraiment un monde de discorde et de haine. Nous faisons en sorte qu'il est difficile pour les groupes minoritaires de participer, de faire part de leurs pr\u00e9occupations et de faire entendre leurs voix. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"8175819\" data-originallang=\"en\">J'utilise toujours les services de garde d'enfants comme exemple parfait de ce que je viens d'expliquer. Loin de moi l'id\u00e9e de vouloir manquer de respect \u00e0 mes coll\u00e8gues qui sont des hommes blancs d'un certain \u00e2ge, mais si nous remplissions la Chambre d'hommes blancs d'un certain \u00e2ge, est-ce que ceux-ci auraient autant d'int\u00e9r\u00eat pour les services de garde qu'une m\u00e8re avec de jeunes enfants? Peut-on convenir du fait qu'un jeune de 16 ans, qui va vivre sur cette plan\u00e8te bien plus longtemps que moi ou n'importe quel autre d\u00e9put\u00e9, risque de se pr\u00e9occuper bien plus des changements climatiques et de la justice climatique qu'une personne en fin de carri\u00e8re?</p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2024/2/5/heather-mcpherson-1/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/heather-mcpherson/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/4571/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "12552200",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Private Members' Business",
        "fr": "Affaires \u00e9manant des d\u00e9put\u00e9s"
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform",
        "fr": "L'assembl\u00e9e citoyenne sur la r\u00e9forme \u00e9lectorale"
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2024/2/5/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2024%2F2%2F5%2F"
    }
}