During the federal election campaign last year, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau promised that if elected, he would ensure that 2015 would be the last year a federal election is decided using the first-past-the-post voting system.

Trudeau would go on to be made prime minister through the very system he vowed to change, but even so, his government is attempting to make good on its promise.

From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Yukon MP Larry Bagnell and Maryam Monsef, the federal minister of democratic institutions, will host a town hall discussion on electoral reform at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre.

Anyone with thoughts or concerns about how Canadians are represented in government is encouraged to come out and have a say.

For those curious about alternatives to the current system, Monsef will host a public information session at the Coast High Country Inn on Wednesday, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monsef will be in Whitehorse as part of a month-long, cross-Canada tour with the aim of discussing electoral reform with Canadians in every province and territory.

“I am truly grateful for the tremendous opportunity to go and meet with Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast and, most importantly, listen to their views on democracy,” she said in a statement last Friday.

“I am especially looking forward to hearing from Canadians who have not voted in the past, because our electoral system should work for each and every one of us.”

Under the current first-past-the-post voting system, an elector casts one vote for the candidate he wishes to represent his riding.

The candidate who gets more votes than any other candidate in the riding, wins. In other words, to win, the candidate needs to get the highest number of votes, but not necessarily the majority.

A version of the first-past-the-post system is used in the U.K. and the U.S.

Electoral reform advocates, like former federal returning officer Dave Brekke, take issue with a voting system they say doesn’t represent the interests of those who didn’t vote for the winning candidate.

“If you don’t vote for the winner, you had the same effect as your buddy who went for a beer, and it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Brekke, a Yukoner who started electoralchange.ca, a website that promotes electoral reform in Canada.

“You’ve got people unrepresented, and to me, a democracy is meant to represent and include people, that’s what makes it so good,” he said.

Brekke said there are alternative systems that would allow for more voters to feel “a connection” to their representative.

Bagnell is receptive to new ideas and is encouraging anyone who can’t make it out to the town hall on Thursday, to reach out to him by phone or email.

“A lot of people think that the present system doesn’t serve them as well as some other various systems around the world,” he said in an interview with the Star on Monday.

“I want to make sure I get input from as many people as possible, especially from rural Yukoners.”

Beyond options other than the first-past-the-post system, the government is floating the idea of mandatory voting, like they have in Australia, as a way to increase voter turnout.

At 68.49 per cent, voter turnout at the 2015 general election was the highest in more than two decades.

Still, this figure pales in comparison to Australia’s, where 95 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in its 2016 federal election.

Another issue on the table, said Bagnell, is that of a referendum on electoral reform.

Numbers from a Forum Research poll of 1,429 Canadian voters released in July found that about two thirds of those surveyed agreed that a referendum should be held before the voting system is overhauled.

Monsef is opposed to a referendum, said Bagnell, but the possibility of one taking place “hasn’t been ruled out.”

As part of the mission to reexamine the electoral system, the House of Commons formed a Special Committee on Electoral Reform made of representatives from all parties, including the Green Party and the Bloc Québécois.

The 12-member committee, which will be doing its own public consultations in cities across Canada, will be in Whitehorse on September 26.

Anyone interested in attending that meeting will have to register ahead of time, and more details about the event will be made available in the coming weeks.

By Sidney Cohen Star Reporter