Referendum a nod to Reid’s reform Party roots

Nov 01, 2017

Scott Reid is one a very few active politicians in Canada who were active in Preston Mannings Reform Party. The Reform Party became the Canadian Alliance and eventually the Conservative Party of Canada under Stephen Harper.

But back in the Reform days ideas about reforming democracy were a major part of the party program, and were one of the attractions for the Ontario based Reid to join the party and begin working in Preston Manning’s office. Among the ideas taken on by the party were a commitment to direct democracy to deal with what are sometimes called “moral” issues such as abortion, same sex marriage, and assisted dying. The legalization of marijuana was one of the issues on the Reform party list for a direct vote.

That is one of the reasons why Scott Reid decided that, for the ninth time in is 18 year carreer, he would hold a vote of his constituents and follow the majority opinion when the vote is called in Parliament, which could happen in late November.

When contacted this week to answer a question about the number of voters who have responded to the referenda over the years, Reid said the numbers varied and since the ridings have changed twice, each time resulting in smaller numbers of constituents, it is hard to compare the numbers.

It is is clear from the numbers he provided that one of the major factors in the response to his mailouts is the nature of the issue at hand. The largest number of responses, over 9,000, was the vote on the Civil Marriages Act. His most recent referendum, which was not tied to an actual vote on an Act but on the stance Reid should take about whether a referendum should be required for a change in the system through which MP’s are elected, received under 1,500 responses.

“I don’t necessarily judge a process by the percentage of voters. Some decisions don’t need to reflect just the opinion of the MP, or as is mostly the case, their party. In some cases my constituents have had me vote against the wishes of my party,” he said.
Reid considers his referenda as one of the tools he uses to be responsive to the public and be effective as a politician. He held a referendum on riding boundaries in 2003, but ten years later he did not.

“The referendum was not particularly effective, so the next time around I engaged with municipal councils and local politicians in a different way, and I think it was a more effective way of influencing the result.”
Constituents who have received the mail out for the marijuana vote, can return them over the next couple of week’s, as Reid and his staff are committed to waiting until the vote in the house is pending before cutting off the vote and beginning to count the ballots.

The ballot also includes a second question, about whether 19 is the right age for marijuana to be legally available. That is a provincial and out of Reid’s jurisdiction but he will pass the results on to the provincial government, and local MP Randy Hillier.