A number of concerned Yellowknifers want to let the prime minister know he dropped the ball on electoral reform just in time for his town hall Friday.
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Residents organized a letter writing campaign Wednesday night, where they took the time to write to Justin Trudeau and MP Michael McLeod to share their concerns on electoral reform and the government’s promise of change.
During his election campaign, Trudeau committed to scrapping the country’s first-past-the-post voting system in favour of something else.
But in a recent mandate letter issued to the minister of democratic institutions, there’s no mention of such a promise in time for the next federal election.
The decision has upset a lot of Canadians, and opposition leaders have called it a betrayal of trust.
“A lot of us were part of the engagement the federal government did when they came up to do meetings in Yellowknife, as well as the national survey on electoral reform,” said Tony Morris, one of the campaign’s organizers.
“A lot of us are passionate about electoral reform and believe that we do deserve a better system than what currently is in place.”
The campaign came as people across Canada are planning a ‘National Day of Action for Electoral Reform’ for this weekend, encouraging Canadians to get the message across that they want the Liberal government to keep its word.
“The government promised to change that system before the next election, so we’re holding them accountable for a broken promise,” Morris said.
Yellowknife’s Eli Purchase was one of the residents who attended the event.
He says he’s disappointed the prime minister won’t be delivering on his promise.
“Electoral reform is incredibly important,” Purchase said.
“We had a once-in-a-century opportunity to create a truly Canadian voting system that would be more representative and encourage politicians to work together and create policy and laws that are beneficial to all Canadians, and now we’re not going to have that opportunity according to Justin Trudeau.”
The organizers plan on delivering the letters to Trudeau at his town hall Friday.
Purchase said he will ‘definitely’ be there to bring up the topic of electoral reform to the prime minister.
RELATED: Trudeau stopping in Yellowknife on cross-country tour Friday
“We just want to let him know that this is an important issue,” he said.
Trudeau’s town hall meeting will take place at the Multiplex between 9:30 and 10:30 Friday morning.
