About MDN

Created in 1999 by the initiative of the community to ensure that the question of the electoral system no longer depends exclusively on the decisions of political parties, the MDN helped to open a public debate and significantly promoted the participation of the population in it. MDN brings together organizations as well as citizens of all political allegiance who come together to defend the right to fair and equitable representation. As an autonomous and non-partisan community organization, the MDN has alliances with Quebec social movements and reformist organizations in Canada and Quebec.

It carries out public consultations, public education and mobilization campaigns and puts pressure on the political authorities. It provides analyses that allow people to understand the importance of replacing the current first-past-the-vote voting system with a system that produces proportional results. In 2011, it led the Solution démocratique campaign. Since 2016, it has been leading the Chaque voix compte campaign, which led to a cross-party agreement signed on May 9, 2018 by four of the five main political parties in Quebec. Under this agreement, a bill for the adoption of a compensatory mixed member proportional representation system with regional lists will be introduced in the National Assembly by October 1, 2019.

Let’s give ourselves the means to achieve our ambitions!
Let’s get involved to help the cause!

A word from our President

Quebec needs a new voting system

The replacement of the old British voting system in place in Quebec since 1792 has been discussed for more than a hundred years. After the failure of René Lévesque’s Parti Québécois and Jean Charest’s Liberal governments to reform their governments, which had promised to establish a proportional electoral system, MDN relaunched the change project in 2016. This led to a historic political agreement between the Coalition Avenir Québec, the Parti Québécois, Québec Solidaire and the Parti Vert, an agreement that was also supported by the NDP-Québec and the Conservative Party of Quebec. Together, all these parties received 75% of the votes in the general election of October 1, 2018.

Since that election, intense discussions have been taking place, especially with the parties present in the National Assembly, to ensure that a bill establishing a mixed, compensatory proportional representation system with regional lists is introduced in the coming weeks and adopted with the greatest possible consensus. The objective is that the next general election of 2022 will be held with the new system.

To ensure that all parties that promised this change keep their word, we need you, your financial generosity and your active support both in the public arena and in your personal networks of acquaintances and friends. By joining the movement today, you are actively contributing to bringing us closer to a truly representative democracy.

Thanks for responding to this important call for help. Studies on changes elsewhere show that it is the visible and audible support of citizens that has made the difference.

You can get involved in our movement by becoming a member of MDN.

Finally, I invite you to like our Facebook page and add us to your Twitter feed to keep up with the latest developments!

Jean-Pierre Charbonneau, President of MDN.

Our Advisory Committee

The advisory committee brings together citizens recognized for their experience and skills in the debates surrounding the reform of the electoral system in Québec. These individuals advise MDN on the best ways to advance the issue of proportionality in Quebec.

Composition of the advisory committee

JEAN ALLAIRE

CLAUDE BELAND

MARIE-FRANCE BENOÎT

MARCEL BLANCHET

JONATHAN BOUCHARD

PAUL CLICHE

WINNIE FROHN

LORRAINE GUAY

ÉMILIE GUIMOND

TANIA KONTOYANNI

GÉRALD LAROSE

RÉAL LAVERGNE

ALAIN MAROIS

MYRLANDE PIERRE

MARIE-FRANCE RAYNAULT

SÉBASTIEN RIVARD

STÉPHANE ROUILLON

DIMITRI ROUSSOPOULOS

MICHEL SEYMOUR

MIREILLE TREMBLAY

The Director General

The Director General

Jean-Sébastien Dufresne has been leading the Mouvement Démocratie Nouvelle since 2011, first as volunteer president for 7 years and then since 2018 as executive director. He previously founded Iciéla in 2004, an organization that mobilizes volunteers to promote a just, equitable, supportive and peaceful society through intercultural exchange activities. He represented youth organizations in the Montreal region as president of the Forum jeunesse de l’île de Montréal from 2009 to 2012 and was secretary of the Table de concertation des forums jeunesse régionaux du Québec. In 2008, he was named Personality of the Week at La Presse / Radio-Canada, one of the Top 30 under-30s who could influence the business world by Le Journal de Montréal in the same year and one of the five Great Montrealers by Le Devoir in 2011.

Our Board of Directors

In accordance with the Constitution and By-Laws, the 11-member Board of Directors aims to achieve parity between women and men and must be representative of the types of members (individuals and organizations), as well as regional and ethnocultural diversity, to the extent possible. It meets about 10 times a year to put into action the orientations desired by all members. Board meetings are open to all MDN members, which allows them to benefit from complementary expertise and stimulate exchanges. A four-person Executive Committee meets as required. In 2019, the Board of Directors includes: