A referendum on electoral reform may or may not be in the cards, but in the meantime the government should do everything it can to build buy-in to the committee process. I want to suggest two modest adjustments that could make a significant contribution: the release of an interim report on the issues; and a clear focus on electoral reform.The principal goal of electoral reform, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is to make every vote count. And the job of the special committee is to find the right approach.At their best, parliamentary committees can inform and elevate discussion by helping citizens work through difficult issues in a methodical way. Committees have the legitimacy and profile to set the pace for discussion and opinion leaders and media usually follow their lead.For most Canadians, the debate on electoral reform will begin next December when the final report is released. Its pages will carry much freight. The report must define the issues, recommend a solution, and provide the rationale for it.This is a lot for citizens to take in all at once, especially on such a complex and ambitious topic. Most Canadians won't try to work through the issues on their own. They will look to opinion leaders for guidance and direction and, normally, they would get it.This time things may be different. The stakes in this debate are very high; opinion leaders are already vetting the issues. By December their views will have crystalized and when the report comes out most will be far more interested in debating its recommendations than educating Canadians on the issues. Nevertheless, that's exactly what most Canadians will need.If the committee really wants an informed discussion, it should make a concerted effort to get Canadians involved in a discussion of the reasons for change before they get to the options next December.Staging the discussion through a two-step process—issues first, then options—would allow this discussion to unfold and improve the overall quality of the debate. This is standard practice in deliberative processes, where it is widely recognized that learning should precede decision-making.Stage One would consider why Canadians are dissatisfied with the system and what kinds of changes they think would improve it. There are lots of reasons people want reform, ranging from the vast differences in the size of ridings to the fact that the current system tends to regionalize representation in Parliament.Concerns like these should be clearly articulated and, as far as possible, prioritized. The findings would then be complied in an interim report and released about midway through the process. This interim report would spark a different kind of public discussion—more of a learning exercise than a debate. It would focus on clarifying concerns, many of which are widely shared, rather than arguing over solutions. Such a discussion would be valuable for several reasons:
- It would establish points of agreement between people who, if thrown directly into a debate over solutions, would simply disagree.
- It would provide a clear and authoritative statement of the changes Canadians want and how they think the proposed principles should shape a new system.
- It would help prepare citizens to understand and participate more fully in the Stage 2 debate over options.