Catherine Bell, the NDP MP spearheading the Party's latest motion, got up in Question Period yesterday and asked the government about their polling exercise on electoral reform, explained in more detail in this article.

Turns out that the almost $1 million contract to conduct polling and focus groups on democratic reform (a much broader topic than voting reform, which may mean that the electoral system is not sufficiently addressed) will be going to the Winnipeg-based Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Apparently, they're "independent" but also think that the "old, low-performance policy paradigm and a tax regime that renders [the Prairies] less competitive". That doesn't sound centrist or independent to me. SourceWatch paints them as a Fraser Institute clone.

Bell and the NDP seem to think that this means they can't do a good job on the aforementioned contract. To me, this doesn't necessarily follow. There are lots of small-C conservatives that support voting reform, from Walter Robinson and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation to Conservatives like Hugh Segal. And believe it or not, Prime Minister Stephen Harper even once wrote an article supporting a PR system for elections to the House of Commons.

Although if the Frontier Centre doesn't get in touch with everyone's favorite multi-partisan campaign for electoral reform before they design the consultation process, then it's fair to conclude that this democratic reform study will be questionable.