Trudeau and Singh's teams quietly planning electoral reform legislation

As progress on some measures in the Liberal-NDP confidence-and-supply agreement continue to play out publicly, the two parties have quietly been in talks to table electoral reform legislation before the next federal vote.

As progress on some measures in the Liberal-NDP confidence-and-supply agreement continue to play out publicly, the two parties have quietly been in talks to table electoral reform legislation before the next federal vote.

Leading these negotiations on the political front, are Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, and NDP MP and democratic reform critic Daniel Blaikie.

In an interview with CTVNews.ca between NDP caucus retreat sessions in Edmonton, Blaikie said there has been "a fair amount of work done," towards drafting amendments to the Canada Elections Act.

While not a full-scale overhaul of the federal voting system as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau once promised, within the two-party confidence-and-supply agreement are a series of electoral reform proposals aimed at expanding "the ability for people to vote."

Specifically, the Liberals and New Democrats agreed to explore:

"I think if you look at all of those items… those are all things that will require some kind of legislative change," Blaikie said, adding that the working expectation is that the trio of reforms would be contained in one bill that could be passed in time for the next election.

"I think people on both sides are keen to try and hammer out those final details and have a product that can be tabled in the House of Commons… I'm optimistic that we will have a bill that certainly includes ways of implementing what was in the [deal]," Blaikie said.