Protesters rally for electoral reform, saying Trudeau reneged on election promise

A group of about 30 protesters gathered in Winnipeg outside the Liberal Party offices on Broadway Saturday, chanting "What do we want? Electoral reform. When do want it? Yesterday."

The group joined protests across the country to denounce Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to abandon an election promise on electoral reform.

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"This was one step too far. This was a promise we all depended on," said organizer Mary Robinson, who is a member of the Winnipeg chapter of the Council of Canadians.

"It's one of the most important things because it will change everything else. If we can finally have our voices heard by being represented, that changes how things happen."

On Feb. 1, Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould's new public mandate letter was released, which said, "Changing the electoral system will not be in your mandate."

Trudeau committed to replacing the current first-past-the-post electoral system before the last federal election campaign. His government's first throne speech promised that the Liberals would "take action to ensure that 2015 will be the last federal election conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system."

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Since the plan was scrapped, Trudeau has been blasted by opposition MPs and members of the public.

"I really thought this one issue and this one prime minister on this one issue would be different," Robinson said.

"They just straight up reneged on it," said Nicolas Phillips, who joined Saturday's protest in Winnipeg. He said the election reform promise seemed sincere and he's disappointed.

"I know there are other solutions and this is part of the problem, they are shutting down the conversations before they even had it," he said.

More than two dozen similar protests were planned in communities across the country.